Walton County, Florida: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Walton County, Florida has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 88.6 out of 100, higher than about 88% of US counties, with hurricanes, lightning and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $68 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 42 federal disaster declarations that included Walton County since 1975, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4955-FL (Hurricane Isaias, declared 27 October 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 69 tornadoes touching Walton County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Florida All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 75,211 Buildings worth $22 billion Area 1,424 sq mi Risk rank in Florida 33 of 67 FIPS 12131
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Relatively High | 97.4 | $47 million | about once every 4.2 years | 96 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 95.1 | $1.7 million | about 83 a year | 287,149 strikes |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 85.6 | $5.0 million | about once a year | 54 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 75.7 | $254,684 | about once every 719 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 69.4 | $807,611 | about 6 a year | 76 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 68.3 | $11 million | about 1.4 a year | 40 |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Moderate | 62.2 | $605,427 | about 2.1 a year | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 52.3 | $946,729 | about 1.9 a year | 27 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 46.4 | $208,577 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Landslide | Very Low | 45.4 | $897 | about once every 5.7 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 39.7 | $377,156 | about 1.6 a year | 50 |
| Drought | Very Low | 23.0 | $7,250 | about 21 a year | 700 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 22.9 | $18,840 | about once every 3.4 years | 4.2 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 18.2 | $12,533 | about once every 25 years | 2 |
| Hail | Very Low | 15.5 | $47,846 | about once every 1.1 years | 36 |
| 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 42
Most common: Hurricane 23, Severe Storm 6, Fire 5, Tropical Storm 4.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 3 | Flood ×2, Hurricane |
| 1990s | 10 | Hurricane ×4, Fire ×2, Severe Storm ×2, Flood ×2 |
| 2000s | 10 | Hurricane ×6, Severe Storm ×2, Fire ×2 |
| 2010s | 7 | Hurricane ×5, Severe Storm ×2 |
| 2020s | 12 | Hurricane ×7, Tropical Storm ×4, Fire |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Walton 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 Isaias (2026), Hurricane Helene (2024), Tropical Storm Helene (2024), Hurricane Debby (2024), Tropical Storm Debby (2024), Hurricane Ian (2022), Tropical Storm Ian (2022), Tropical Storm Fred (2021), Hurricane Sally (2020), Hurricane Dorian (2019), Hurricane Michael (2018), Hurricane Irma (2017), Tropical Storm Fay (2008), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Dennis (2005), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Hurricane Frances (2004), Tropical Storm Bonnie (2004), Hurricane Georges (1998), Hurricane Grorges (1998), Hurricane Opal (1995), Hurricane Erin (1995), Tropical Storm Alberto (1994), Hurricane Frederic (1979).
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 69
| Tornadoes touching the county | 69 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | January (10) |
| Deadliest | 26 May 1973, F2, 105.4 mi path, 1 killed, 4 injured |
| Longest path | 26 May 1973, F2, 105.4 mi path, 1 killed, 4 injured |
| Most recent | 10 May 2025, EF1, 8 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 11 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 38 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 21 |
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 Walton County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walton County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 88.6 | Hurricane |
| Holmes County | 41 km | Relatively Low | 49.4 | Hurricane |
| Okaloosa County | 42 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.5 | Lightning |
| Washington County | 48 km | Relatively Low | 59.4 | Hurricane |
| Geneva County, AL | 57 km | Relatively Low | 53.4 | Hurricane |
| Bay County | 67 km | Relatively Moderate | 94.1 | Hurricane |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Florida, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 51.7 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 60.7 |
| Community risk factor | 1.14 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $68 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 Walton County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Florida · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Florida
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning 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.
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 Walton County
What natural disasters is Walton County, Florida most at risk from?
Walton County, Florida has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 88.6 out of 100, higher than about 88% of US counties, with hurricanes, lightning and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $68 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Walton County had?
OpenFEMA lists 42 federal disaster declarations that included Walton County since 1975, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4955-FL (Hurricane Isaias, declared 27 October 2026). Another 31 Florida declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Walton County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 69 tornadoes touching Walton County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 26 May 1973, F2, 105.4 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.