Bureau County, Illinois: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Bureau County, Illinois has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 62.3 out of 100, higher than about 62% of US counties, with drought, tornadoes and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $22 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Bureau County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4461-IL (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 19 September 2019). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 47 tornadoes touching Bureau County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Illinois All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 33,213 Buildings worth $17 billion Area 882 sq mi Risk rank in Illinois 42 of 102 FIPS 17011
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively High | 94.6 | $2.4 million | about 9 a year | 231 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 81.7 | $4.2 million | about once every 1.2 years | 33 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 80.5 | $884,634 | about 3.9 a year | 147 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 76.1 | $1.1 million | about 5.9 a year | 223 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 74.0 | $1.1 million | about once every 694 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 69.9 | $2.1 million | about 5.1 a year | 97 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 66.4 | $4,193 | about once every 5.3 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 63.4 | $9.9 million | about once every 1.2 years | 24 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 61.1 | $139,179 | about once every 1.6 years | 43 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 48.2 | $338,544 | about 6.5 a year | 105 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 43.6 | $51,438 | about 15 a year | 281 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 36.3 | $138,813 | about 43 a year | 148,163 strikes |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 25.1 | $9,222 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 13.0 | $4,291 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| 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 15
Most common: Flood 6, Snowstorm 5, Severe Storm 3, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 4 | Flood ×3, Snowstorm |
| 1980s | 2 | Flood, Severe Storm |
| 1990s | 2 | Snowstorm, Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 4 | Snowstorm ×2, Severe Storm, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 3 | Flood ×2, Snowstorm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Bureau County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3230-IL): 102 Illinois counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm (2011, DR-1960-IL): 65 Illinois counties designated.
- Il-Winter Storm 1/1/99 (1999, EM-3134-IL): 52 Illinois 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. Illinois also had 2 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 47
| Tornadoes touching the county | 47 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×3 |
| Peak month | May (11) |
| Deadliest | 6 Dec 1951, F3, 21.9 mi path, 1 killed, 1 injured |
| Longest path | 17 Jul 1972, F1, 29.6 mi path |
| Most recent | 20 Apr 2025, EF1, 1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 1 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 16 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 4 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 8 |
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 Bureau County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bureau County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 62.3 | Drought |
| Putnam County | 30 km | Very Low | 9.2 | Drought |
| Stark County | 41 km | Very Low | 7.3 | Drought |
| Lee County | 42 km | Relatively Low | 54.4 | Strong wind |
| Marshall County | 44 km | Very Low | 27.2 | Drought |
| Whiteside County | 51 km | Relatively Low | 65.8 | Drought |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Illinois, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 41.7 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 80.1 |
| Community risk factor | 1.06 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $22 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 Bureau County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Illinois · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Drought: Drought monitor for Illinois
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning now?
- Hail: Weather alerts for Illinois
- 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 Bureau County
What natural disasters is Bureau County, Illinois most at risk from?
Bureau County, Illinois has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 62.3 out of 100, higher than about 62% of US counties, with drought, tornadoes and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $22 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Bureau County had?
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Bureau County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4461-IL (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 19 September 2019). Another 2 Illinois declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Bureau County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 47 tornadoes touching Bureau County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 6 Dec 1951, F3, 21.9 mi path, 1 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.