Honolulu County, Hawaii: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Honolulu County, Hawaii has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 98.8 out of 100, higher than about 98% of US counties, with lightning, landslides and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $517 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 23 federal disaster declarations that included Honolulu County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4951-HI (Hurricane Lala, declared 7 October 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Honolulu County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Hawaii All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 1,013,620 Buildings worth $165 billion Area 2,188 sq mi Risk rank in Hawaii 1 of 5 FIPS 15003
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Very High | 100.0 | $13 million | about 77 a year | 1,081,291 strikes |
| Landslide | Relatively High | 99.6 | $4.0 million | about once every 3.2 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Very High | 99.3 | $330 million | about 5.9 a year | 166 |
| Wildfire | Relatively High | 99.0 | $27 million | about once every 68 years | — |
| Earthquake | Relatively High | 98.6 | $93 million | about once every 115 years | — |
| Tsunami | Relatively High | 92.3 | $48 million | about once every 1.5 years | 147 |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Moderate | 75.6 | $1.8 million | about once every 2.9 years | — |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | 73.3 | $880,426 | about once every 54 years | 19 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 61.4 | $159,100 | about once every 144 years | 0 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 33.2 | $687,813 | about once every 48 years | 10 |
| Drought | Very Low | 13.5 | $147 | about 2 a year | 371 |
| Hail | Very Low | 10.9 | $39,216 | about once every 86 years | 0.5 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 7.9 | $63,866 | about once every 151 years | 1 |
| Cold wave | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Heat wave | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Volcanic activity | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Winter weather | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Avalanche | 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 23
Most common: Flood 6, Hurricane 5, Fire 4, Severe Storm 4.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 1980s | 2 | Flood, Typhoon |
| 1990s | 3 | Flood, Severe Storm, Hurricane |
| 2000s | 7 | Fire ×3, Severe Storm ×2, Flood, Earthquake |
| 2010s | 4 | Hurricane ×2, Flood, Tsunami |
| 2020s | 6 | Hurricane ×2, Tropical Storm, Flood, Fire, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Honolulu County
- Hurricane Iniki (1992, DR-961-HI): 5 Hawaii counties designated.
- Tropical Storm Nolo (2026, EM-3654-HI): 4 Hawaii counties designated.
- Hurricane Douglas (2020, EM-3529-HI): 4 Hawaii counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Lala (2026), Tropical Storm Nolo (2026), Hurricane Douglas (2020), Tropical Storm Olivia (2018), Hurricane Lane (2018), Hurricane Iniki (1992), Typhoon Iwa (1982).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Hawaii also had 10 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 20
| Tornadoes touching the county | 20 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×3 |
| Peak month | February (5) |
| Deadliest | 28 Mar 1963, F1, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Longest path | 21 Jan 1957, F1, 2.5 mi path |
| Most recent | 23 Apr 2015, EF0, 1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 2 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 11 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
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 Honolulu County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honolulu County (this page) | — | Relatively High | 98.8 | Lightning |
| Kalawao County | 111 km | Very Low | 0.1 | Earthquake |
| Maui County | 161 km | Relatively Moderate | 93.1 | Volcanic activity |
| Kauai County | 179 km | Relatively Moderate | 84.4 | Landslide |
| Hawaii County | 329 km | Relatively High | 98.5 | Volcanic activity |
| Aleutians East Borough, AK | 3786 km | Very Low | 21.3 | Volcanic activity |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Hawaii, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 25.9 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 62.6 |
| Community risk factor | 0.94 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $517 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 Honolulu County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Hawaii · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Hawaii
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods recorded
- 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 Honolulu County
What natural disasters is Honolulu County, Hawaii most at risk from?
Honolulu County, Hawaii has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 98.8 out of 100, higher than about 98% of US counties, with lightning, landslides and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $517 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Honolulu County had?
OpenFEMA lists 23 federal disaster declarations that included Honolulu County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4951-HI (Hurricane Lala, declared 7 October 2026). Another 10 Hawaii declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Honolulu County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Honolulu County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 28 Mar 1963, F1, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 1 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.