Wheeler County, Georgia: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Wheeler County, Georgia has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 6.4 out of 100, higher than about 6% of US counties, with hurricanes, heat waves and drought scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $2.2 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Wheeler 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 9 tornadoes touching Wheeler County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 7,437 Buildings worth $1.0 billion Area 303 sq mi Risk rank in Georgia 146 of 159 FIPS 13309
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 Low | 72.3 | $449,570 | about once every 5.2 years | 59 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 47.1 | $200,121 | about 8 a year | 132 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 46.0 | $66,701 | about 27 a year | 742 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 35.9 | $71,721 | about once every 595 years | — |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 34.0 | $11,261 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 31.4 | $339,785 | about once every 6.3 years | 3 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 25.9 | $56,822 | about 68 a year | 36,543 strikes |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 14.8 | $5,741 | about once every 4.7 years | 15 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 13.4 | $67,678 | about 1.4 a year | 52 |
| Hail | Very Low | 11.7 | $23,154 | about 2.2 a year | 82 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 10.2 | $827,133 | about once every 4.0 years | 7 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 9.5 | $42,483 | about once every 3.8 years | 5 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 3.7 | $3 | about once every 22 years | — |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 2.4 | $829 | about once every 2.7 years | 7 |
| 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 7, Tropical Storm 2, Severe Storm 2, Tornado 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1980s | 1 | Tornado |
| 1990s | 2 | Severe Storm, Tornado |
| 2000s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 4 | Hurricane ×4 |
| 2020s | 4 | Tropical Storm ×2, Winter Storm, Hurricane |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Wheeler 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 Debby (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 9
| Tornadoes touching the county | 9 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×8 |
| Peak month | May (3) |
| Deadliest | 26 Sep 2024, EF1, 0.7 mi path, 2 killed, 0 injured |
| Longest path | 9 May 2024, EF0, 7.2 mi path |
| Most recent | 26 Sep 2024, EF1, 0.7 mi path, 2 killed, 0 injured |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 2 / 1 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 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 Wheeler County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeler County (this page) | — | Very Low | 6.4 | Hurricane |
| Montgomery County | 19 km | Very Low | 7.8 | Hurricane |
| Telfair County | 29 km | Very Low | 23.5 | Hurricane |
| Treutlen County | 35 km | Very Low | 2.1 | Hurricane |
| Jeff Davis County | 36 km | Very Low | 28.2 | Hurricane |
| Toombs County | 37 km | Very Low | 42.7 | Hurricane |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Georgia, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 90.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 6.2 |
| Community risk factor | 1.69 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $2.2 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 Wheeler 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
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- 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 Wheeler County
What natural disasters is Wheeler County, Georgia most at risk from?
Wheeler County, Georgia has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 6.4 out of 100, higher than about 6% of US counties, with hurricanes, heat waves and drought scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $2.2 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Wheeler County had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Wheeler 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 Wheeler County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 9 tornadoes touching Wheeler County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 26 Sep 2024, EF1, 0.7 mi path, 2 killed, 0 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.