Highlands County, Florida: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Highlands County, Florida has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 89.4 out of 100, higher than about 89% of US counties, with strong winds, hurricanes and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $47 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 35 federal disaster declarations that included Highlands County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4834-FL (Hurricane Milton, declared 11 October 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 49 tornadoes touching Highlands County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 101,136 Buildings worth $20 billion Area 1,118 sq mi Risk rank in Florida 31 of 67 FIPS 12055
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 | Very High | 99.8 | $13 million | about once every 1.8 years | 22 |
| Hurricane | Relatively High | 95.7 | $16 million | about once every 3.7 years | 108 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 95.3 | $1.1 million | about 97 a year | 562,537 strikes |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 92.7 | $1.3 million | about once every 130 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 82.5 | $2.6 million | about once every 1.1 years | 21 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 78.4 | $11 million | about once every 2.2 years | 13 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 75.4 | $1.6 million | about 3.7 a year | 70 |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 73.1 | $364,759 | about 19 a year | 679 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 72.6 | $595,920 | about 3.2 a year | 51 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 41.6 | $110,215 | about 1.3 a year | 51 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 30.8 | $194 | about once every 9.4 years | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 28.0 | $35,719 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Winter weather | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Coastal flooding | 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 35
Most common: Hurricane 19, Fire 5, Severe Storm 4, Tropical Storm 3.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Freezing |
| 1990s | 9 | Hurricane ×4, Fire ×3, Severe Storm, Freezing |
| 2000s | 12 | Hurricane ×6, Severe Storm ×2, Fire ×2, Coastal Storm, Freezing |
| 2010s | 5 | Hurricane ×4, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 8 | Hurricane ×5, Tropical Storm ×3 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Highlands 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 Debby (2024), Tropical Storm Debby (2024), Hurricane Nicole (2022), Tropical Storm Nicole (2022), Hurricane Ian (2022), Tropical Storm Ian (2022), Hurricane Dorian (2019), Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Matthew (2016), Tropical Storm Debby (2012), Tropical Storm Fay (2008), Hurricane Wilma (2005), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Jeanne (2004), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Hurricane Frances (2004), Tropical Storm Bonnie (2004), Tropical Storm Gabrielle (2001), Hurricane Irene (1999), Tropical Storm Irene (1999), Hurricane Floyd (1999), Hurricane Grorges (1998).
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 49
| Tornadoes touching the county | 49 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×4 |
| Peak month | June (15) |
| Deadliest | 2 Feb 1983, F2, 1 mi path, 1 killed, 6 injured |
| Longest path | 17 Sep 2000, F0, 17 mi path |
| Most recent | 9 Oct 2024, EF1, 6.8 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 2 / 19 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 26 | 19 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 4 | 14 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
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 Highlands County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 89.4 | Strong wind |
| Glades County | 44 km | Relatively Low | 48.0 | Wildfire |
| Okeechobee County | 44 km | Relatively Low | 80.3 | Hurricane |
| Hardee County | 49 km | Relatively Low | 69.2 | Strong wind |
| DeSoto County | 49 km | Relatively Moderate | 81.6 | Hurricane |
| Charlotte County | 73 km | Relatively High | 95.2 | Hurricane |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Florida, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 94.1 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 5.7 |
| Community risk factor | 1.79 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $47 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 Highlands County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Florida · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Florida
- 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 Highlands County
What natural disasters is Highlands County, Florida most at risk from?
Highlands County, Florida has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 89.4 out of 100, higher than about 89% of US counties, with strong winds, hurricanes and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $47 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Highlands County had?
OpenFEMA lists 35 federal disaster declarations that included Highlands County since 1977, 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 Highlands County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 49 tornadoes touching Highlands County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 2 Feb 1983, F2, 1 mi path, 1 killed, 6 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.