Kalawao County, Hawaii: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Kalawao County, Hawaii has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 0.1 out of 100, among the lowest of all US counties, with earthquakes, wildfires and coastal flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $260,404 a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 1 federal disaster declaration that included Kalawao County since 1992, not counting 1 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-961-HI (Hurricane Iniki, declared 12 September 1992). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Kalawao County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 82 Buildings worth $93 million Area 53 sq mi Risk rank in Hawaii 5 of 5 FIPS 15005
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Very Low | 26.5 | $41,212 | about once every 72 years | — |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 19.4 | $5,788 | about once every 254 years | — |
| Coastal flooding | Very Low | 18.2 | $92 | about once every 3.1 years | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 18.2 | — | about once every 1,000 years | 1 |
| Tsunami | Very Low | 10.8 | $55,790 | about once every 1.5 years | 147 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 10.4 | $1,650 | about once every 15 years | 6 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 1.1 | $1 | about once every 157 years | — |
| Tornado | Very Low | 1.0 | $104 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| Hail | Very Low | 0.8 | $16 | about once every 147 years | 0.4 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 0.8 | — | about once every 578 years | 1 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 0.7 | $154,513 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 0.3 | $1,237 | about 43 a year | 7,107 strikes |
| Cold wave | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | about 18 a year | 455 |
| Heat wave | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Ice storm | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Winter weather | 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 1
Most common: Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 1 | Hurricane |
The last 1
Widest declarations that included Kalawao County
- Hurricane Iniki (1992, DR-961-HI): 5 Hawaii counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Iniki (1992).
Not counted above: 1 COVID-19 ("Biological") declaration — in 2020 every US county was included. Hawaii also had 10 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 0
No tornado in NOAA's Storm Prediction Center record touched Kalawao County between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Kalawao County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalawao County (this page) | — | Very Low | 0.1 | Earthquake |
| Maui County | 53 km | Relatively Moderate | 93.1 | Volcanic activity |
| Honolulu County | 111 km | Relatively High | 98.8 | Lightning |
| Hawaii County | 230 km | Relatively High | 98.5 | Volcanic activity |
| Kauai County | 290 km | Relatively Moderate | 84.4 | Landslide |
| Marin County, CA | 3774 km | Relatively High | 96.4 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Hawaii, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 78.5 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 99.9 |
| Community risk factor | 1.30 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $260,404 |
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 Kalawao County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Hawaii · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Coastal flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Hurricanes and storms 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 Kalawao County
What natural disasters is Kalawao County, Hawaii most at risk from?
Kalawao County, Hawaii has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 0.1 out of 100, among the lowest of all US counties, with earthquakes, wildfires and coastal flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $260,404 a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Kalawao County had?
OpenFEMA lists 1 federal disaster declaration that included Kalawao County since 1992, not counting 1 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-961-HI (Hurricane Iniki, declared 12 September 1992). Another 10 Hawaii declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Kalawao County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Kalawao County from 1950 to 2025.
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.