Calhoun County, Illinois: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Calhoun County, Illinois has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 6.1 out of 100, higher than about 6% of US counties, with landslides, heat waves and drought scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $4.1 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 23 federal disaster declarations that included Calhoun County since 1969, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4728-IL (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 15 August 2023). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 7 tornadoes touching Calhoun County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Illinois All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 4,437 Buildings worth $735 million Area 286 sq mi Risk rank in Illinois 100 of 102 FIPS 17013
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 Low | 86.4 | $43,994 | about once every 2.4 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 59.6 | $686,305 | about 11 a year | 148 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 38.3 | $68,994 | about 3.6 a year | 91 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 33.8 | $124,763 | about once every 256 years | — |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 20.8 | $291,518 | about 2.3 a year | 43 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 18.8 | $260,794 | about once every 4.2 years | 8 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 16.1 | $2.3 million | about once every 1.2 years | 24 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 16.1 | $166,520 | about 5.9 a year | 225 |
| Hail | Very Low | 14.6 | $58,940 | about 5 a year | 189 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 10.3 | $41,472 | about 49 a year | 24,282 strikes |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 7.6 | $992 | about once every 132 years | 0 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 7.1 | $6,246 | about 9.1 a year | 173 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 4.8 | $2,710 | about 1.2 a year | 78 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 0.6 | $309 | 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 23
Most common: Flood 11, Severe Storm 7, Snowstorm 2, Severe Ice Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1970s | 3 | Flood ×3 |
| 1980s | 4 | Flood ×2, Severe Storm ×2 |
| 1990s | 5 | Severe Storm ×3, Snowstorm, Flood |
| 2000s | 5 | Severe Storm, Severe Ice Storm, Hurricane, Tornado, Flood |
| 2010s | 3 | Flood ×2, Snowstorm |
| 2020s | 1 | Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Calhoun County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3230-IL): 102 Illinois counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Tornadoes and Flooding (2002, DR-1416-IL): 68 Illinois counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm (2011, DR-1960-IL): 65 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 7
| Tornadoes touching the county | 7 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×2 |
| Peak month | May (2) |
| Deadliest | 12 Mar 2006, F2, 67 mi path, 0 killed, 20 injured |
| Longest path | 12 Mar 2006, F2, 67 mi path, 0 killed, 20 injured |
| Most recent | 31 Dec 2010, EF0, 3.6 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 24 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 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 Calhoun County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calhoun County (this page) | — | Very Low | 6.1 | Landslide |
| Lincoln County, MO | 28 km | Relatively Low | 67.1 | Heat wave |
| Jersey County | 28 km | Very Low | 18.9 | Landslide |
| Greene County | 32 km | Very Low | 13.0 | Landslide |
| St. Charles County, MO | 43 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.6 | Strong wind |
| Pike County, MO | 47 km | Very Low | 40.3 | Heat wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Illinois, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 17.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 75.0 |
| Community risk factor | 0.86 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $4.1 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 Calhoun County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Illinois · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- Drought: Drought monitor 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 Calhoun County
What natural disasters is Calhoun County, Illinois most at risk from?
Calhoun County, Illinois has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 6.1 out of 100, higher than about 6% of US counties, with landslides, heat waves and drought scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $4.1 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Calhoun County had?
OpenFEMA lists 23 federal disaster declarations that included Calhoun County since 1969, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4728-IL (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 15 August 2023). Another 2 Illinois declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Calhoun County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 7 tornadoes touching Calhoun County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 12 Mar 2006, F2, 67 mi path, 0 killed, 20 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.