Cook County, Georgia: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Cook County, Georgia has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 34.8 out of 100, higher than about 34% of US counties, with hurricanes, lightning and drought scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $8.6 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Cook County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4830-GA (Hurricane Helene, declared 30 September 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Cook County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 17,209 Buildings worth $4.0 billion Area 236 sq mi Risk rank in Georgia 82 of 159 FIPS 13075
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 Moderate | 86.2 | $3.4 million | about once every 3.8 years | 67 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 56.9 | $234,263 | about 72 a year | 75,156 strikes |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 55.8 | $167,629 | about 24 a year | 749 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 53.0 | $1.1 million | about once every 7.8 years | 13 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 47.8 | $675,819 | about 1.6 a year | 30 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 45.6 | $27,766 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 43.9 | $150,671 | about once every 847 years | — |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 38.1 | $161,958 | about 4.6 a year | 74 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 27.6 | $207,032 | about 1.4 a year | 53 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 27.0 | $2.4 million | about once every 4.7 years | 6 |
| Hail | Very Low | 23.9 | $67,875 | about 1.6 a year | 60 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 12.9 | $8,065 | about once every 2.7 years | 7 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 4.0 | $1,263 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 3.2 | $3 | about once every 35 years | — |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Coastal flooding | 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 16
Most common: Hurricane 8, Tropical Storm 3, Severe Storm 2, Tornado 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1990s | 2 | Severe Storm, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 5 | Hurricane ×4, Tornado |
| 2020s | 5 | Tropical Storm ×3, Hurricane ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Cook 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 Idalia (2023), Hurricane Michael (2018), Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Tropical Storm Frances (2004).
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 20
| Tornadoes touching the county | 20 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (7) |
| Deadliest | 22 Jan 2017, EF3, 24.7 mi path, 11 killed, 45 injured |
| Longest path | 23 Apr 2020, EF1, 37.2 mi path |
| Most recent | 22 Jan 2023, EF2, 5.9 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 11 / 46 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 6 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
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 Cook County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook County (this page) | — | Very Low | 34.8 | Hurricane |
| Berrien County | 23 km | Very Low | 39.3 | Hurricane |
| Colquitt County | 32 km | Relatively Low | 70.5 | Hurricane |
| Tift County | 35 km | Relatively Low | 56.0 | Hurricane |
| Lanier County | 37 km | Very Low | 6.8 | Hurricane |
| Brooks County | 38 km | Very Low | 42.1 | Lightning |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Georgia, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 69.3 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 20.8 |
| Community risk factor | 1.34 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $8.6 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 Cook 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
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Georgia
- Drought: Drought monitor for Georgia
- 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 Cook County
What natural disasters is Cook County, Georgia most at risk from?
Cook County, Georgia has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 34.8 out of 100, higher than about 34% of US counties, with hurricanes, lightning and drought scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $8.6 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Cook County had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Cook County since 1977, 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 Cook County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Cook County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 22 Jan 2017, EF3, 24.7 mi path, 11 killed, 45 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.