Bryan County, Georgia: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Bryan County, Georgia has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 66.6 out of 100, higher than about 66% of US counties, with hurricanes, wildfires and heat waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $33 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 19 federal disaster declarations that included Bryan County since 1966, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4830-GA (Hurricane Helene, declared 30 September 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 9 tornadoes touching Bryan County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Georgia All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 44,426 Buildings worth $7.5 billion Area 459 sq mi Risk rank in Georgia 32 of 159 FIPS 13029
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 | 93.9 | $21 million | about once every 3.5 years | 114 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 80.0 | $526,421 | about once every 543 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 67.1 | $1.0 million | about 8.8 a year | 153 |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Moderate | 63.8 | $896,989 | about 3.7 a year | — |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 63.2 | $699,200 | about once every 442 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 41.8 | $6.6 million | about once every 3.5 years | 8 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 40.6 | $1.1 million | about once every 6.1 years | 8 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 35.8 | $175,441 | about 69 a year | 87,170 strikes |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 27.9 | $477,575 | about once every 1.9 years | 9.8 |
| Drought | Very Low | 20.7 | $6,091 | about 22 a year | 742 |
| Hail | Very Low | 18.6 | $84,279 | about 2 a year | 77 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 17.8 | $20,014 | about once every 1.5 years | 12 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 16.2 | $178,124 | about 1.3 a year | 48 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 12.8 | $57 | about once every 14 years | — |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 8.2 | $5,212 | about once every 2.7 years | 26 |
| 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 19
Most common: Hurricane 9, Tropical Storm 3, Severe Storm 2, Fire 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 2 | Drought, Freezing |
| 1990s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 2 | Fire, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 6 | Hurricane ×6 |
| 2020s | 4 | Tropical Storm ×3, Hurricane |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Bryan County
- Hurricane Helene (2024, EM-3616-GA): 159 Georgia counties designated.
- Hurricane Irma (2017, DR-4338-GA): 159 Georgia counties designated.
- Hurricane Irma (2017, EM-3387-GA): 159 Georgia counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Helene (2024), Tropical Storm Debby (2024), Hurricane Debby (2024), Hurricane Dorian (2019), Hurricane Michael (2018), Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Matthew (2016), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Floyd (1999).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Georgia also had 6 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 9
| Tornadoes touching the county | 9 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (4) |
| Deadliest | 9 Apr 1998, F2, 24.5 mi path, 4 killed, 31 injured |
| Longest path | 9 Apr 1998, F2, 24.5 mi path, 4 killed, 31 injured |
| Most recent | 5 Apr 2022, EF4, 14.4 mi path, 1 killed, 12 injured |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 7 / 61 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
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 Bryan County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryan County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 66.6 | Hurricane |
| Liberty County | 21 km | Relatively Moderate | 83.0 | Hurricane |
| Chatham County | 29 km | Relatively High | 97.4 | Hurricane |
| Effingham County | 40 km | Relatively Low | 59.1 | Hurricane |
| Long County | 41 km | Very Low | 8.0 | Hurricane |
| Evans County | 44 km | Very Low | 21.9 | Hurricane |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Georgia, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 13.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 75.1 |
| Community risk factor | 0.81 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $33 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 Bryan County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Georgia · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- 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 Bryan County
What natural disasters is Bryan County, Georgia most at risk from?
Bryan County, Georgia has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 66.6 out of 100, higher than about 66% of US counties, with hurricanes, wildfires and heat waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $33 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Bryan County had?
OpenFEMA lists 19 federal disaster declarations that included Bryan County since 1966, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4830-GA (Hurricane Helene, declared 30 September 2024). Another 6 Georgia declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Bryan County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 9 tornadoes touching Bryan County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 9 Apr 1998, F2, 24.5 mi path, 4 killed, 31 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.