Alachua County, Florida: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Alachua County, Florida has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 90.3 out of 100, higher than about 90% of US counties, with lightning, hurricanes and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $90 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 33 federal disaster declarations that included Alachua County since 1993, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4834-FL (Hurricane Milton, declared 11 October 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 45 tornadoes touching Alachua County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 277,984 Buildings worth $48 billion Area 979 sq mi Risk rank in Florida 30 of 67 FIPS 12001
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Very High | 97.7 | $2.9 million | about 84 a year | 496,933 strikes |
| Hurricane | Relatively High | 96.7 | $34 million | about once every 4.5 years | 78 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 95.2 | $3.8 million | about once every 267 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively High | 90.3 | $7.7 million | about once every 1.9 years | 33 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 88.6 | $35 million | about 1.2 a year | 34 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 86.3 | $2.3 million | about 3.3 a year | 58 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 80.9 | $1.4 million | about once a year | 39 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 65.6 | $648,974 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 58.3 | $1.4 million | about 1.8 a year | 35 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 41.3 | $77,434 | about 2 a year | 644 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 35.1 | $474 | about once every 8.8 years | — |
| Hail | Very Low | 17.9 | $65,261 | about 1.8 a year | 69 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 12.5 | $10,460 | about once every 19 years | 1 |
| Coastal flooding | No Rating | 0.0 | — | about once every 100 years | — |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Ice storm | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| 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 33
Most common: Hurricane 17, Tropical Storm 5, Fire 5, Severe Storm 4.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 5 | Fire ×3, Severe Storm, Tornado |
| 2000s | 9 | Hurricane ×4, Severe Storm ×2, Fire ×2, Freezing |
| 2010s | 5 | Hurricane ×5 |
| 2020s | 14 | Hurricane ×8, Tropical Storm ×5, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Alachua County
- Hurricane Ian (2022, DR-4673-FL): 67 Florida counties designated.
- Tropical Storm Ian (2022, EM-3584-FL): 67 Florida counties designated.
- Hurricane Dorian (2019, EM-3419-FL): 67 Florida counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Milton (2024), Hurricane Helene (2024), Tropical Storm Helene (2024), Hurricane Debby (2024), Tropical Storm Debby (2024), Hurricane Idalia (2023), Tropical Storm Idalia (2023), Hurricane Nicole (2022), Tropical Storm Nicole (2022), Hurricane Ian (2022), Tropical Storm Ian (2022), Tropical Storm Elsa (2021), Hurricane Eta (2020), Hurricane Dorian (2019), Hurricane Michael (2018), Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Hermine (2016), Tropical Storm Fay (2008), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Jeanne (2004), Hurricane Frances (2004), Tropical Storm Bonnie (2004).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Florida also had 31 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 45
| Tornadoes touching the county | 45 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×8 |
| Peak month | June (6) |
| Deadliest | 12 Mar 1993, F1, 0.8 mi path, 1 killed, 4 injured |
| Longest path | 4 Apr 1973, F2, 39 mi path, 0 killed, 4 injured |
| Most recent | 18 Sep 2021, EF0, 0.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 23 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 24 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
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 Alachua County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alachua County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 90.3 | Lightning |
| Bradford County | 36 km | Very Low | 36.9 | Hurricane |
| Union County | 41 km | Very Low | 10.9 | Hurricane |
| Gilchrist County | 43 km | Very Low | 28.0 | Hurricane |
| Levy County | 54 km | Relatively Low | 66.1 | Hurricane |
| Clay County | 59 km | Relatively Moderate | 81.1 | Lightning |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Florida, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 34.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 81.0 |
| Community risk factor | 1.01 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $90 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 Alachua County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Florida · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Florida
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- 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 Alachua County
What natural disasters is Alachua County, Florida most at risk from?
Alachua County, Florida has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 90.3 out of 100, higher than about 90% of US counties, with lightning, hurricanes and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $90 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Alachua County had?
OpenFEMA lists 33 federal disaster declarations that included Alachua County since 1993, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4834-FL (Hurricane Milton, declared 11 October 2024). Another 31 Florida declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Alachua County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 45 tornadoes touching Alachua County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 12 Mar 1993, F1, 0.8 mi path, 1 killed, 4 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.