Kauai County, Hawaii: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Kauai County, Hawaii has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 84.4 out of 100, higher than about 84% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $61 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Kauai County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4952-HI (Hurricane Lowell, declared 7 October 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 6 tornadoes touching Kauai County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 73,136 Buildings worth $16 billion Area 1,279 sq mi Risk rank in Hawaii 4 of 5 FIPS 15007
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 Moderate | 95.4 | $166,069 | about once every 5.8 years | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 93.1 | $2.6 million | about once every 203 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 90.6 | $48 million | about 5.8 a year | 163 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 83.8 | $1.0 million | about 79 a year | 332,599 strikes |
| Tsunami | Relatively Moderate | 75.4 | $8.6 million | about once every 1.5 years | 147 |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | 64.9 | $395,399 | about once every 9.6 years | 13 |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Low | 49.8 | $140,358 | about once every 3.8 years | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 42.8 | $210,182 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Very Low | 26.4 | $17,655 | about 4.2 a year | 329 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 2.4 | $4,975 | about once every 119 years | 3 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 1.4 | $5,808 | about once every 150 years | 1 |
| Cold wave | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Hail | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Heat wave | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Volcanic activity | 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 17
Most common: Hurricane 6, Flood 4, Severe Storm 4, Tropical Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 1980s | 1 | Typhoon |
| 1990s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 2000s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood, Earthquake |
| 2010s | 5 | Hurricane ×3, Flood, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 5 | Hurricane ×2, Tropical Storm, Flood, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Kauai 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 Lowell (2026), Tropical Storm Nolo (2026), Hurricane Douglas (2020), Hurricane Lane (2018), Tropical Storm Olivia (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 6
| Tornadoes touching the county | 6 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×1 |
| Peak month | December (4) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 9 Jan 2005, F0, 5 mi path |
| Most recent | 13 Dec 2008, EF0, 0.9 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 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 Kauai County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kauai County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 84.4 | Landslide |
| Honolulu County | 179 km | Relatively High | 98.8 | Lightning |
| Kalawao County | 290 km | Very Low | 0.1 | Earthquake |
| Maui County | 340 km | Relatively Moderate | 93.1 | Volcanic activity |
| Hawaii County | 503 km | Relatively High | 98.5 | Volcanic activity |
| Aleutians East Borough, AK | 3712 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 22.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 85.1 |
| Community risk factor | 0.91 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $61 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 Kauai County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Hawaii · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- 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 Kauai County
What natural disasters is Kauai County, Hawaii most at risk from?
Kauai County, Hawaii has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 84.4 out of 100, higher than about 84% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $61 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Kauai County had?
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Kauai County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4952-HI (Hurricane Lowell, declared 7 October 2026). Another 10 Hawaii declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Kauai County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 6 tornadoes touching Kauai 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.