Broward County, Florida: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Broward County, Florida has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 99.5 out of 100, higher than about 99% of US counties, with lightning, hurricanes and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $648 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 41 federal disaster declarations that included Broward County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4834-FL (Hurricane Milton, declared 11 October 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 146 tornadoes touching Broward County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 1,940,829 Buildings worth $301 billion Area 1,322 sq mi Risk rank in Florida 2 of 67 FIPS 12011
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 | 100.0 | $12 million | about 99 a year | 1,955,115 strikes |
| Hurricane | Very High | 99.8 | $280 million | about once every 3.4 years | 110 |
| Inland flooding | Very High | 99.4 | $289 million | about 2.5 a year | 69 |
| Heat wave | Relatively High | 98.8 | $20 million | about 5.7 a year | 49 |
| Coastal flooding | Very High | 97.0 | $14 million | about 2.6 a year | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 97.0 | $6.5 million | about once every 89 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively High | 96.3 | $14 million | about once every 1.3 years | 104 |
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 95.2 | $10 million | about 1.5 a year | 26 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 80.2 | $1.2 million | about once a year | 37 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 67.0 | $3,940 | about once every 6.8 years | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 40.9 | $142,370 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 34.7 | $34,354 | about 15 a year | 490 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 34.2 | $123,831 | about once every 1.3 years | 30 |
| Winter weather | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Ice storm | 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 41
Most common: Hurricane 25, Freezing 5, Severe Storm 4, Fire 3.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 1970s | 2 | Freezing ×2 |
| 1980s | 2 | Freezing, Human Cause |
| 1990s | 12 | Hurricane ×5, Fire ×3, Severe Storm ×2, Tornado, Freezing |
| 2000s | 10 | Hurricane ×7, Severe Storm ×2, Freezing |
| 2010s | 6 | Hurricane ×6 |
| 2020s | 8 | Hurricane ×6, Flood, Tropical Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Broward 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 Nicole (2022), Tropical Storm Nicole (2022), Hurricane Ian (2022), Tropical Storm Ian (2022), Hurricane Isaias (2020), Hurricane Dorian (2019), Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Matthew (2016), Tropical Storm Fay (2008), Hurricane Wilma (2005), Tropical Storm Rita (2005), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Jeanne (2004), Hurricane Frances (2004), Tropical Storm Bonnie (2004), Hurricane Irene (1999), Tropical Storm Irene (1999), Hurricane Floyd (1999), Hurricane Grorges (1998), Hurricane Andrew (1992), Hurricane Betsy (1965).
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 146
| Tornadoes touching the county | 146 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×3 |
| Peak month | June (22) |
| Deadliest | 1 Mar 1980, F3, 7.8 mi path, 1 killed, 33 injured |
| Longest path | 17 Mar 1983, F2, 52.5 mi path, 0 killed, 2 injured |
| Most recent | 9 Oct 2024, unrated, 4.7 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 96 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 96 | 35 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 10 | 11 | 35 | 33 | 17 | 23 | 12 |
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 Broward County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broward County (this page) | — | Relatively High | 99.5 | Lightning |
| Palm Beach County | 53 km | Relatively High | 99.2 | Hurricane |
| Miami-Dade County | 60 km | Very High | 99.6 | Hurricane |
| Hendry County | 81 km | Relatively Low | 78.7 | Lightning |
| Collier County | 85 km | Relatively High | 98.9 | Hurricane |
| Monroe County | 98 km | Relatively Moderate | 91.6 | Coastal flooding |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Florida, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 55.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 44.2 |
| Community risk factor | 1.18 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $648 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 Broward 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
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods recorded
- 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 Broward County
What natural disasters is Broward County, Florida most at risk from?
Broward County, Florida has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 99.5 out of 100, higher than about 99% of US counties, with lightning, hurricanes and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $648 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Broward County had?
OpenFEMA lists 41 federal disaster declarations that included Broward County since 1965, 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 Broward County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 146 tornadoes touching Broward County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 1 Mar 1980, F3, 7.8 mi path, 1 killed, 33 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.