Kent County, Delaware: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Kent County, Delaware has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 84.5 out of 100, higher than about 84% of US counties, with cold waves, winter storms and hurricanes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $56 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Kent County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4916-DE (Severe Winter Storm, declared 29 May 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 24 tornadoes touching Kent County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 181,705 Buildings worth $37 billion Area 806 sq mi Risk rank in Delaware 3 of 3 FIPS 10001
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 93.7 | $10 million | about once every 1.3 years | 15 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 92.8 | $533,602 | about 7.8 a year | 148 |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | 91.3 | $10 million | about once every 9.2 years | 38 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 87.6 | $2.6 million | about 5.3 a year | 84 |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 84.9 | $1.3 million | about 5.5 a year | 161 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 82.9 | $24 million | about 1.4 a year | 39 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 80.7 | $1.8 million | about once every 730 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 73.4 | $584,905 | about 34 a year | 151,829 strikes |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Moderate | 69.6 | $1.1 million | about 3.7 a year | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 68.6 | $2.5 million | about once every 2.9 years | 21 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 67.7 | $204,880 | about once every 2.3 years | 23 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 64.9 | $126,329 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 60.0 | $770,153 | about 4.7 a year | 137 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 45.9 | $235,586 | about 1.6 a year | 64 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 30.2 | $330 | about once every 12 years | — |
| 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 15
Most common: Hurricane 7, Snowstorm 4, Winter Storm 1, Severe Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Drought |
| 1990s | 4 | Snowstorm ×2, Severe Storm, Flood |
| 2000s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Snowstorm |
| 2010s | 5 | Hurricane ×4, Snowstorm |
| 2020s | 2 | Winter Storm, Hurricane |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Kent County
- Hurricane Sandy (2012, DR-4090-DE): 3 Delaware counties designated.
- Hurricane Sandy (2012, EM-3357-DE): 3 Delaware counties designated.
- Hurricane Irene (2011, EM-3336-DE): 3 Delaware counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Tropical Storm Isaias (2020), Hurricane Sandy (2012), Hurricane Irene (2011), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Isabel (2003).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Delaware also had 1 statewide declaration with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 24
| Tornadoes touching the county | 24 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×5 |
| Peak month | July (9) |
| Deadliest | 21 Jul 1983, F2, 1 mi path, 2 killed, 9 injured |
| Longest path | 4 Aug 2020, EF2, 35.8 mi path |
| Most recent | 1 Jul 2021, EF1, 3.9 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 2 / 56 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 7 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
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 Kent County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 84.5 | Cold wave |
| Caroline County, MD | 33 km | Relatively Low | 45.7 | Drought |
| Queen Anne's County, MD | 38 km | Very Low | 35.6 | Drought |
| Kent County, MD | 44 km | Very Low | 27.5 | Drought |
| Sussex County | 49 km | Relatively Moderate | 94.1 | Cold wave |
| Cumberland County, NJ | 51 km | Relatively Moderate | 82.6 | Winter weather |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Delaware, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 32.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 68.2 |
| Community risk factor | 0.99 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $56 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 Kent County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Delaware · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- 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 Kent County
What natural disasters is Kent County, Delaware most at risk from?
Kent County, Delaware has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 84.5 out of 100, higher than about 84% of US counties, with cold waves, winter storms and hurricanes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $56 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Kent County had?
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Kent County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4916-DE (Severe Winter Storm, declared 29 May 2026). Another 1 Delaware declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Kent County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 24 tornadoes touching Kent County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 21 Jul 1983, F2, 1 mi path, 2 killed, 9 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.