Bonner County, Idaho: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Bonner County, Idaho has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 77.3 out of 100, higher than about 77% of US counties, with avalanches, landslides and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $35 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Bonner County since 1967, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4917-ID (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 30 June 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 4 tornadoes touching Bonner County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Idaho All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 46,954 Buildings worth $12 billion Area 1,938 sq mi Risk rank in Idaho 5 of 44 FIPS 16017
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche | Relatively High | 94.6 | $3.2 million | about once every 4.3 years | 7 |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 93.9 | $95,683 | about once every 1.3 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 87.0 | $28 million | about once every 1.6 years | 17 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 86.5 | $290,010 | about 27 a year | 515 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 82.7 | $522,911 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 71.6 | $2.2 million | about 1.4 a year | 27 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 71.3 | $222,992 | about once every 9.2 years | 7 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 55.8 | $353,301 | about once every 606 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 53.9 | $424,346 | about 2.8 a year | 27 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 46.9 | $197,512 | about 2 a year | 67,783 strikes |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 20.4 | $176,188 | about once every 5.0 years | 8 |
| Drought | Very Low | 13.4 | $110 | about 17 a year | 728 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 10.3 | $64,678 | about once every 24 years | 2 |
| Hail | Very Low | 5.5 | $13,680 | about once every 4.6 years | 8.3 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | 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: Severe Storm 7, Fire 3, Flood 3, Straight-Line Winds 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Fire |
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 1980s | 1 | Volcanic Eruption |
| 1990s | 3 | Severe Storm ×3 |
| 2000s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 2010s | 5 | Flood ×2, Severe Storm ×2, Fire |
| 2020s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Straight-Line Winds, Fire |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Bonner County
- Hurricane Katrina (2005, EM-3244-ID): 44 Idaho counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Flooding, Mud and Landslides (1997, DR-1154-ID): 18 Idaho counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Snowmelt, Land/Mud Slides, Flooding (1997, DR-1177-ID): 12 Idaho counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Idaho also had 8 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 4
| Tornadoes touching the county | 4 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (1) |
| Deadliest | 19 Aug 1978, F1, 1.9 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Longest path | 25 Jun 2004, F0, 4 mi path |
| Most recent | 25 Jun 2004, F0, 4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 1 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 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 Bonner County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonner County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 77.3 | Avalanche |
| Boundary County | 53 km | Very Low | 26.1 | Landslide |
| Pend Oreille County, WA | 56 km | Very Low | 28.0 | Landslide |
| Kootenai County | 70 km | Relatively Low | 79.0 | Landslide |
| Lincoln County, MT | 92 km | Relatively Low | 64.3 | Wildfire |
| Stevens County, WA | 93 km | Relatively Low | 60.3 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Idaho, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 44.9 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 33.7 |
| Community risk factor | 1.10 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $35 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 Bonner County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Idaho · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- 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 Bonner County
What natural disasters is Bonner County, Idaho most at risk from?
Bonner County, Idaho has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 77.3 out of 100, higher than about 77% of US counties, with avalanches, landslides and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $35 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Bonner County had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Bonner County since 1967, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4917-ID (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 30 June 2026). Another 8 Idaho declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Bonner County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 4 tornadoes touching Bonner County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 19 Aug 1978, F1, 1.9 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.