Thomas County, Georgia: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Thomas County, Georgia has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 66.0 out of 100, higher than about 66% of US counties, with hurricanes, lightning and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $20 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 19 federal disaster declarations that included Thomas County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3657-GA (Hurricane Isaias, declared 9 October 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Thomas County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Georgia All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 45,777 Buildings worth $12 billion Area 558 sq mi Risk rank in Georgia 34 of 159 FIPS 13275
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 | 91.9 | $8.7 million | about once every 4.1 years | 68 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 77.8 | $521,866 | about 74 a year | 140,093 strikes |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 72.8 | $1.9 million | about 1.6 a year | 31 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 71.2 | $150,577 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 61.0 | $482,160 | about 5.1 a year | 82 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 57.3 | $6.6 million | about once every 1.6 years | 17 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 53.8 | $151,619 | about 26 a year | 896 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 51.2 | $1.0 million | about once every 3.1 years | 16 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 48.4 | $200,955 | about once every 926 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 33.4 | $263,009 | about 1.6 a year | 61 |
| Hail | Very Low | 33.0 | $107,412 | about 1.3 a year | 48 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 27.9 | $21,590 | about once every 3.2 years | 6 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 14.5 | $46 | about once every 14 years | — |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 8.6 | $3,376 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| 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 19
Most common: Hurricane 8, Tropical Storm 4, Severe Storm 3, Tornado 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1990s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Snowstorm, Flood |
| 2000s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 5 | Hurricane ×4, Tornado |
| 2020s | 6 | Tropical Storm ×4, Hurricane ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Thomas 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 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 ×2 |
| Peak month | April (8) |
| Deadliest | 13 Feb 2000, F3, 15 mi path, 7 killed, 15 injured |
| Longest path | 22 Jan 2017, EF2, 18.7 mi path, 0 killed, 3 injured |
| Most recent | 7 Apr 2025, EF1, 4.6 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 7 / 19 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
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 Thomas County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 66.0 | Hurricane |
| Grady County | 30 km | Relatively Low | 53.0 | Hurricane |
| Brooks County | 32 km | Very Low | 42.1 | Lightning |
| Colquitt County | 39 km | Relatively Low | 70.5 | Hurricane |
| Jefferson County, FL | 47 km | Very Low | 39.0 | Hurricane |
| Mitchell County | 48 km | Relatively Low | 63.0 | Hurricane |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Georgia, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 70.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 61.9 |
| Community risk factor | 1.31 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $20 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 Thomas 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
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages 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 Thomas County
What natural disasters is Thomas County, Georgia most at risk from?
Thomas County, Georgia has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 66.0 out of 100, higher than about 66% of US counties, with hurricanes, lightning and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $20 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Thomas County had?
OpenFEMA lists 19 federal disaster declarations that included Thomas County since 1977, 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 Thomas County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Thomas County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 13 Feb 2000, F3, 15 mi path, 7 killed, 15 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.