Houston County, Georgia: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Houston County, Georgia has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 70.5 out of 100, higher than about 70% of US counties, with heat waves, lightning and hurricanes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $33 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Houston County since 1966, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3642-GA (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 26 tornadoes touching Houston County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Georgia All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 163,485 Buildings worth $29 billion Area 384 sq mi Risk rank in Georgia 26 of 159 FIPS 13153
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 92.5 | $4.4 million | about 7.3 a year | 124 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 85.9 | $1.1 million | about 64 a year | 208,072 strikes |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | 80.5 | $2.3 million | about once every 8.8 years | 25 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 79.4 | $4.4 million | about once every 4.3 years | 10 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 79.1 | $1.7 million | about once every 510 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 71.6 | $16 million | about once every 1.6 years | 17 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 70.5 | $647,663 | about 2.4 a year | 89 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 68.1 | $174,471 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 67.4 | $509,482 | about 4 a year | 1,120 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 66.7 | $1.0 million | about 1.5 a year | 57 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 44.8 | $891,818 | about once every 3.8 years | 5 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 42.5 | $68,557 | about once every 2.7 years | 25 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 37.5 | $635 | about once every 11 years | — |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 18.1 | $18,030 | about once every 1.9 years | 10 |
| 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 15
Most common: Hurricane 6, Severe Storm 2, Winter Storm 1, Tropical Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1990s | 3 | Severe Storm, Tornado, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 5 | Hurricane ×4, Severe Ice Storm |
| 2020s | 2 | Winter Storm, Tropical Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Houston 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), 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 26
| Tornadoes touching the county | 26 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (8) |
| Deadliest | 30 Apr 1953, F4, 1 mi path, 18 killed, 300 injured |
| Longest path | 5 Apr 1957, F2, 75 mi path, 2 killed, 5 injured |
| Most recent | 31 Mar 2025, EF0, 6.9 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 21 / 318 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 6 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 4 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 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 Houston County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 70.5 | Heat wave |
| Peach County | 19 km | Very Low | 22.5 | Drought |
| Pulaski County | 31 km | Very Low | 18.2 | Drought |
| Bleckley County | 32 km | Very Low | 25.7 | Heat wave |
| Twiggs County | 32 km | Very Low | 8.5 | Drought |
| Dooly County | 36 km | Very Low | 14.9 | Drought |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Georgia, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 22.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 65.7 |
| Community risk factor | 0.91 |
| 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 Houston County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Georgia · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Georgia
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- 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 Houston County
What natural disasters is Houston County, Georgia most at risk from?
Houston County, Georgia has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 70.5 out of 100, higher than about 70% of US counties, with heat waves, lightning and hurricanes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $33 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Houston County had?
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Houston County since 1966, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3642-GA (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). Another 6 Georgia declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Houston County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 26 tornadoes touching Houston County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 30 Apr 1953, F4, 1 mi path, 18 killed, 300 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.