Benton County, Indiana: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Benton County, Indiana has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 4.9 out of 100, higher than about 4% of US counties, with cold waves, earthquakes and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.3 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 19 federal disaster declarations that included Benton County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3641-IN (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 24 tornadoes touching Benton County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Indiana All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 8,719 Buildings worth $2.3 billion Area 411 sq mi Risk rank in Indiana 91 of 92 FIPS 18007
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 42.6 | $790,688 | about 3.5 a year | 66 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 41.5 | $182,476 | about once every 585 years | — |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 40.4 | $196,686 | about 3 a year | 116 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 29.5 | $540,805 | about once every 2.8 years | 18 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 23.5 | $9,032 | about once every 48 years | 6 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 22.3 | $81,481 | about 4.2 a year | 68 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 21.8 | $21,097 | about 9.3 a year | 176 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 21.4 | $213,961 | about 4.3 a year | 164 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 15.2 | $70 | about once every 16 years | — |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 10.5 | $5,869 | about once a year | 67 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 8.5 | $1.3 million | about once every 1.6 years | 18 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 6.0 | $20,806 | about 46 a year | 52,846 strikes |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 1.2 | $531 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| 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 19
Most common: Severe Storm 9, Snowstorm 4, Flood 2, Winter Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Snowstorm, Tornado |
| 1990s | 5 | Severe Storm ×2, Snowstorm, Severe Ice Storm, Flood |
| 2000s | 8 | Severe Storm ×5, Snowstorm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 2 | Flood, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 2 | Winter Storm, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Benton County
- Severe Winter Storm (2026, EM-3641-IN): 92 Indiana counties designated.
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3238-IN): 92 Indiana counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storms and Flooding (2005, DR-1573-IN): 87 Indiana 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. Indiana also had 3 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 24
| Tornadoes touching the county | 24 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | March (5) |
| Deadliest | 3 Apr 1974, F4, 108.7 mi path, 18 killed, 285 injured |
| Longest path | 3 Apr 1974, F4, 108.7 mi path, 18 killed, 285 injured |
| Most recent | 31 Mar 2023, EF2, 11.5 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 18 / 288 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 13 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 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 Benton County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benton County (this page) | — | Very Low | 4.9 | Cold wave |
| Warren County | 29 km | Very Low | 5.8 | Landslide |
| Newton County | 40 km | Very Low | 11.7 | Cold wave |
| White County | 41 km | Very Low | 38.5 | Cold wave |
| Tippecanoe County | 43 km | Relatively Moderate | 81.8 | Cold wave |
| Iroquois County, IL | 46 km | Relatively Low | 74.0 | Cold wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Indiana, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 28.3 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 67.9 |
| Community risk factor | 0.96 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $3.3 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 Benton County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Indiana · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Hail: Weather alerts for Indiana
- 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 Benton County
What natural disasters is Benton County, Indiana most at risk from?
Benton County, Indiana has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 4.9 out of 100, higher than about 4% of US counties, with cold waves, earthquakes and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.3 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Benton County had?
OpenFEMA lists 19 federal disaster declarations that included Benton County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3641-IN (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). Another 3 Indiana declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Benton County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 24 tornadoes touching Benton County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 3 Apr 1974, F4, 108.7 mi path, 18 killed, 285 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.