Lake County, Illinois: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Lake County, Illinois has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 96.0 out of 100, higher than about 96% of US counties, with tornadoes, cold waves and strong winds scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $266 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Lake County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4116-IL (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, declared 10 May 2013). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 21 tornadoes touching Lake County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 713,483 Buildings worth $185 billion Area 1,382 sq mi Risk rank in Illinois 4 of 102 FIPS 17097
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado | Very High | 98.9 | $47 million | about once every 1.5 years | 16 |
| Cold wave | Very High | 98.9 | $43 million | about 4.6 a year | 86 |
| Strong wind | Very High | 98.3 | $7.8 million | about 5.5 a year | 74 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 97.2 | $155 million | about 2 a year | 56 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 93.7 | $2.0 million | about 37 a year | 513,664 strikes |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 92.5 | $5.0 million | about 2.5 a year | 37 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 88.4 | $2.0 million | about 4.1 a year | 158 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 85.7 | $3.8 million | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 63.2 | $195,721 | about once every 2.2 years | 11 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 62.4 | $124,841 | about 16 a year | 294 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 46.7 | $1,418 | about once every 11 years | — |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 44.9 | $43,965 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 40.8 | $90,851 | about 7.2 a year | 287 |
| Coastal flooding | Very Low | 29.8 | $5,762 | about once every 73 years | — |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 18.2 | $6,518 | about once every 174 years | 2 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| 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: Snowstorm 5, Flood 4, Severe Storm 3, Tornado 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Tornado ×2 |
| 1970s | 2 | Snowstorm, Flood |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 3 | Snowstorm, Severe Storm, Flood |
| 2000s | 5 | Severe Storm ×2, Snowstorm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 2 | Flood, Snowstorm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Lake 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 21
| Tornadoes touching the county | 21 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×3 |
| Peak month | April (7) |
| Deadliest | 11 Apr 1965, F4, 9.1 mi path, 6 killed, 75 injured |
| Longest path | 26 Sep 1959, F1, 12.1 mi path, 0 killed, 14 injured |
| Most recent | 27 Feb 2024, EF1, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 7 / 215 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
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 Lake County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake County (this page) | — | Relatively High | 96.0 | Tornado |
| Kenosha County, WI | 28 km | Relatively Moderate | 85.0 | Cold wave |
| McHenry County | 37 km | Relatively Moderate | 90.8 | Cold wave |
| Racine County, WI | 47 km | Relatively Moderate | 85.4 | Cold wave |
| DuPage County | 53 km | Relatively High | 97.6 | Cold wave |
| Kane County | 55 km | Relatively High | 94.6 | Cold wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Illinois, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 14.1 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 78.1 |
| Community risk factor | 0.82 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $266 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 Lake County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Illinois · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning now?
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Strong wind: Power outages 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 Lake County
What natural disasters is Lake County, Illinois most at risk from?
Lake County, Illinois has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 96.0 out of 100, higher than about 96% of US counties, with tornadoes, cold waves and strong winds scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $266 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Lake County had?
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Lake County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4116-IL (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, declared 10 May 2013). Another 2 Illinois declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Lake County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 21 tornadoes touching Lake County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 11 Apr 1965, F4, 9.1 mi path, 6 killed, 75 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.