Pickens County, Georgia: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Pickens 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 landslides, lightning and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $11 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 21 federal disaster declarations that included Pickens County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3657-GA (Hurricane Isaias, declared 9 October 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 13 tornadoes touching Pickens County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Georgia All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 33,175 Buildings worth $7.3 billion Area 235 sq mi Risk rank in Georgia 83 of 159 FIPS 13227
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 74.4 | $8,897 | about once every 1.4 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 69.6 | $495,465 | about 61 a year | 63,555 strikes |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 62.4 | $1.9 million | about once every 7.8 years | 10 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 61.1 | $1.5 million | about 2.3 a year | 43 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 59.8 | $83,269 | about once every 599 years | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 59.0 | $436,046 | about once every 413 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 48.0 | $527,378 | about 3.4 a year | 129 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 45.5 | $222,806 | about 5.3 a year | 203 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 45.3 | $5.8 million | about once every 1.9 years | 15 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 41.3 | $32,890 | about once every 56 years | 6 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 39.7 | $52,496 | about once every 1.3 years | 54 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 37.7 | $54,808 | about 37 a year | 1,071 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 18.6 | $16,239 | about 6.1 a year | 115 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 16.8 | $44,867 | about once every 1.6 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 21
Most common: Hurricane 6, Severe Storm 5, Severe Ice Storm 3, Tropical Storm 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Drought, Tornado |
| 1990s | 4 | Severe Storm, Hurricane, Tornado, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 7 | Severe Ice Storm ×3, Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm ×2 |
| 2020s | 5 | Tropical Storm ×2, Winter Storm, Severe Storm, Hurricane |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Pickens 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 Isaias (2026), Hurricane Helene (2024), Tropical Storm Zeta (2021), Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Hurricane Opal (1995).
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 13
| Tornadoes touching the county | 13 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×2 |
| Peak month | April (5) |
| Deadliest | 27 Mar 1994, F3, 40 mi path, 9 killed, 70 injured |
| Longest path | 27 Mar 1994, F4, 49 mi path, 3 killed, 20 injured |
| Most recent | 20 Jul 2023, EF0, 2.5 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 18 / 162 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 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 Pickens County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pickens County (this page) | — | Very Low | 34.8 | Landslide |
| Cherokee County | 25 km | Relatively Moderate | 85.3 | Tornado |
| Gilmer County | 25 km | Relatively Low | 68.1 | Landslide |
| Dawson County | 27 km | Very Low | 21.9 | Lightning |
| Gordon County | 38 km | Relatively Low | 67.2 | Drought |
| Forsyth County | 41 km | Relatively Moderate | 86.1 | Tornado |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Georgia, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 36.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 39.2 |
| Community risk factor | 1.03 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $11 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 Pickens County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Georgia · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Georgia
- 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 Pickens County
What natural disasters is Pickens County, Georgia most at risk from?
Pickens 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 landslides, lightning and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $11 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Pickens County had?
OpenFEMA lists 21 federal disaster declarations that included Pickens County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3657-GA (Hurricane Isaias, declared 9 October 2026). Another 6 Georgia declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Pickens County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 13 tornadoes touching Pickens County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 27 Mar 1994, F3, 40 mi path, 9 killed, 70 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.