San Diego County, California: Natural Disaster Risk and History
San Diego County, California has a Very High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 99.7 out of 100, higher than about 99% of US counties, with wildfires, inland (river and flash) flooding and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $1.5 billion a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 49 federal disaster declarations that included San Diego County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4758-CA (Severe Storm and Flooding, declared 19 February 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 27 tornadoes touching San Diego County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 3,295,981 Buildings worth $639 billion Area 4,572 sq mi Risk rank in California 6 of 58 FIPS 06073
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Very High | 100.0 | $430 million | about once every 38 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Very High | 99.7 | $648 million | about 7.9 a year | 221 |
| Earthquake | Relatively High | 99.7 | $426 million | about once every 9.4 years | — |
| Landslide | Relatively High | 99.5 | $3.1 million | about 177 a year | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively High | 98.7 | $24 million | about 1 a year | 107 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 80.9 | $828,726 | about 11 a year | 262,215 strikes |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 77.0 | $825,180 | about once every 10 years | 3.7 |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Moderate | 72.8 | $1.5 million | about 1.7 a year | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 64.4 | $2.3 million | about once every 3.3 years | 17 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 59.4 | $298,802 | about 54 a year | 1,659 |
| Tsunami | Relatively Low | 52.3 | $1.6 million | about once every 2.6 years | 83 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 52.0 | $642,040 | about once every 5.4 years | 7 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 48.3 | $66,667 | about 3.7 a year | 65 |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 33.9 | $3 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 32.2 | $137 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 8.3 | $1,416 | about once every 93 years | 3 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 3.1 | $521 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| Ice storm | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
Score: FEMA's percentile among US counties that face the hazard (higher = more risk). Expected loss: FEMA's modelled average yearly loss to buildings, people (as a statistical value) and crops. How often: FEMA's annualised frequency of the hazard in the county; for some hazards it counts event-days, so it is a rough guide, not a forecast. "Not Applicable" means FEMA does not model that hazard here.
Federal disaster declarations 49
Most common: Fire 28, Flood 12, Severe Storm 5, Freezing 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1970s | 3 | Flood ×2, Fire |
| 1980s | 4 | Flood ×2, Fire, Coastal Storm |
| 1990s | 7 | Severe Storm ×3, Fire ×2, Flood, Freezing |
| 2000s | 19 | Fire ×15, Severe Storm ×2, Freezing, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 10 | Fire ×8, Flood ×2 |
| 2020s | 4 | Flood ×3, Fire |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included San Diego County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3248-CA): 58 California counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storms, Flooding Landslides, Mud Flow (1995, DR-1046-CA): 57 California counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (2023, DR-4683-CA): 44 California counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. California also had 30 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 27
| Tornadoes touching the county | 27 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×8 |
| Peak month | February (8) |
| Deadliest | 8 Oct 1961, F1, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 3 injured |
| Longest path | 8 Feb 1998, F0, 3 mi path |
| Most recent | 22 Apr 2019, unrated, 0.3 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 4 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 18 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 |
Deaths and injuries are for each tornado's whole path, which can run beyond this county. F-scale ratings before February 2007, Enhanced Fujita (EF) after.
How San Diego County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego County (this page) | — | Very High | 99.7 | Wildfire |
| Riverside County | 104 km | Very High | 99.9 | Wildfire |
| Orange County | 121 km | Very High | 99.8 | Earthquake |
| Imperial County | 127 km | Relatively High | 96.5 | Earthquake |
| Los Angeles County | 199 km | Very High | 100.0 | Earthquake |
| San Bernardino County | 208 km | Very High | 99.8 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in California, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 24.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 8.3 |
| Community risk factor | 0.95 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $1.5 billion |
FEMA scales expected losses up where social vulnerability is high (people who may find it harder to prepare, evacuate or recover) and down where community resilience is high. A factor above 1 raises the risk score. For social vulnerability a high rating is worse; for resilience a high rating is better.
Prepare for San Diego County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for California · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods recorded
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Your property's flood zone: FEMA Flood Map Service Center ↗ — this page cannot tell you that.
- Official preparedness guidance: Ready.gov ↗ and your county emergency management office.
What this page shows, and what it misses
FEMA's National Risk Index rates a whole county against every other US county; it is a planning-level estimate for nationwide comparison, not a flood-zone map and not a substitute for a local risk assessment or the risk to one home. Declarations are presidential disaster, emergency and fire management declarations that named this county; state declarations and SBA or USDA designations are not included. Tornadoes are counted when the county is one of up to four listed on the track; 670 tornadoes that crossed a state line carry no county list in NOAA's file and are left out.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Risk Index Dataset: National Risk Index Counties - v1.20.0 (December 2025). Retrieved from https://services.arcgis.com/XG15cJAlne2vxtgt/ArcGIS/rest/services/National_Risk_Index_Counties/FeatureServer/0/query on November 2, 2026, 1:20 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2, retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries on November 2, 2026, 1:21 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Tornado records: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, Severe Weather Database, tornadoes 1950–2025 (https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/data/1950-2025_actual_tornadoes.csv, downloaded 2 November 2026). Public domain; not endorsed by NOAA. Compiled by Global Incident Tracker.
Questions about San Diego County
What natural disasters is San Diego County, California most at risk from?
San Diego County, California has a Very High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 99.7 out of 100, higher than about 99% of US counties, with wildfires, inland (river and flash) flooding and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $1.5 billion a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has San Diego County had?
OpenFEMA lists 49 federal disaster declarations that included San Diego County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4758-CA (Severe Storm and Flooding, declared 19 February 2024). Another 30 California declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit San Diego County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 27 tornadoes touching San Diego County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 8 Oct 1961, F1, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 3 injured (deaths and injuries are for the whole path).
Is the National Risk Index a flood zone map?
No. The National Risk Index is a planning-level estimate for a whole county, built for nationwide comparison. It does not tell you the flood zone or the risk of a single property: for that, look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) and ask your local floodplain manager.