Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 91.8 out of 100, higher than about 91% of US counties, with strong winds, hurricanes and coastal flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $104 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 31 federal disaster declarations that included Greater Bridgeport Planning Region since 1978, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4820-CT (Severe Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 20 September 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 4 tornadoes touching Greater Bridgeport Planning Region from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 325,728 Buildings worth $62 billion Area 241 sq mi Risk rank in Connecticut 5 of 9 FIPS 09120
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 95.3 | $3.0 million | about 4.1 a year | 98 |
| Hurricane | Relatively High | 95.1 | $22 million | about once every 5.6 years | 46 |
| Coastal flooding | Very High | 94.8 | $11 million | about 6.2 a year | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 93.9 | $61 million | about 3.5 a year | 99 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 88.7 | $356,496 | about 13 a year | 149 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 86.4 | $3.0 million | about once every 741 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 85.6 | $601,267 | about 1.4 a year | 58 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 77.6 | $1.3 million | about 5.6 a year | 55 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 60.0 | $318,380 | about 26 a year | 111,844 strikes |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 51.3 | $958,412 | about once a year | 12 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 46.5 | $1,046 | about once every 17 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 41.7 | $881,755 | about once every 15 years | 0 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 23.9 | $9,447 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hail | Very Low | 21.8 | $74,884 | about 2.1 a year | 82 |
| Drought | Very Low | 18.5 | $2,646 | about 1.3 a year | 98 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Volcanic activity | 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 31
Most common: Hurricane 11, Severe Storm 8, Snowstorm 8, Flood 3.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Snowstorm |
| 1980s | 3 | Flood ×2, Hurricane |
| 1990s | 4 | Snowstorm ×2, Hurricane, Flood |
| 2000s | 6 | Snowstorm ×4, Severe Storm, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 11 | Severe Storm ×5, Hurricane ×4, Tornado, Snowstorm |
| 2020s | 6 | Hurricane ×4, Severe Storm ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
- Hurricane Henri (2021, EM-3564-CT): 9 Connecticut counties designated.
- Tropical Storm Isaias (2021, DR-4580-CT): 9 Connecticut counties designated.
- Tropical Storm Isaias (2020, EM-3535-CT): 9 Connecticut counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Ida (2021), Hurricane Henri (2021), Tropical Storm Isaias (2021), Tropical Storm Isaias (2020), Hurricane Sandy (2012), Tropical Storm Irene (2011), Hurricane Irene (2011), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Floyd (1999), Hurricane Gloria (1985).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Connecticut also had 2 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 4
| Tornadoes touching the county | 4 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×4 |
| Peak month | August (2) |
| Deadliest | 24 Jun 2010, EF1, 0.2 mi path, 0 killed, 3 injured |
| Longest path | 9 Jul 1996, F1, 0.4 mi path |
| Most recent | 24 Jun 2010, EF1, 0.2 mi path, 0 killed, 3 injured |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 3 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 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 Greater Bridgeport Planning Region compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Bridgeport Planning Region (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 91.8 | Strong wind |
| Western Connecticut Planning Region | 20 km | Relatively High | 96.3 | Inland flooding |
| Naugatuck Valley Planning Region | 33 km | Relatively Moderate | 93.2 | Inland flooding |
| South Central Connecticut Planning Region | 35 km | Relatively High | 95.1 | Hurricane |
| Westchester County, NY | 44 km | Relatively High | 96.2 | Strong wind |
| Putnam County, NY | 48 km | Very Low | 39.8 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Connecticut, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 45.3 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 59.9 |
| Community risk factor | 1.09 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $104 million |
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 Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Connecticut · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Coastal flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Hurricanes and storms now
- 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. Connecticut now uses nine planning regions: older declarations and tornadoes listed by the eight former counties are assigned to every planning region that shares a town with that county, so a region can show events that hit only part of it.
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 Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
What natural disasters is Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut most at risk from?
Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 91.8 out of 100, higher than about 91% of US counties, with strong winds, hurricanes and coastal flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $104 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Greater Bridgeport Planning Region had?
OpenFEMA lists 31 federal disaster declarations that included Greater Bridgeport Planning Region since 1978, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4820-CT (Severe Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 20 September 2024). Another 2 Connecticut declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Greater Bridgeport Planning Region?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 4 tornadoes touching Greater Bridgeport Planning Region from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 24 Jun 2010, EF1, 0.2 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.