Lake County, Indiana: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Lake County, Indiana has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 95.9 out of 100, higher than about 95% of US counties, with cold waves, tornadoes and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $191 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 22 federal disaster declarations that included Lake County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4933-IN (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 25 August 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 41 tornadoes touching Lake County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 498,479 Buildings worth $115 billion Area 633 sq mi Risk rank in Indiana 2 of 92 FIPS 18089
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 | Very High | 99.4 | $47 million | about 3.6 a year | 69 |
| Tornado | Very High | 99.1 | $41 million | about once every 2.4 years | 29 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 96.2 | $90 million | about 2.4 a year | 67 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 94.3 | $576,051 | about 14 a year | 267 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 92.8 | $3.9 million | about 3.2 a year | 51 |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 92.8 | $2.3 million | about 5.5 a year | 173 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 92.6 | $1.3 million | about 44 a year | 492,412 strikes |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 89.1 | $4.3 million | about once every 735 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 76.6 | $299,020 | about once every 1.2 years | 48 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 71.4 | $560,473 | about 3.7 a year | 145 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 66.1 | $119,846 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Landslide | Very Low | 54.7 | $1,753 | about once every 9.4 years | — |
| Coastal flooding | Very Low | 41.2 | $20,212 | about once every 81 years | — |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 18.6 | $4,936 | about once every 157 years | 0 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | about once every 207 years | 28 |
| 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 22
Most common: Severe Storm 11, Flood 5, Snowstorm 4, Winter Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Snowstorm |
| 1990s | 4 | Flood ×2, Snowstorm, Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 11 | Severe Storm ×8, Snowstorm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 2 | Flood, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 4 | Flood ×2, Winter Storm, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Lake 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 41
| Tornadoes touching the county | 41 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×3 |
| Peak month | June (15) |
| Deadliest | 12 Nov 1965, F3, 4.1 mi path, 0 killed, 14 injured |
| Longest path | 8 Jun 1981, F1, 20.9 mi path |
| Most recent | 19 Mar 2025, EF0, 1.9 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 24 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 12 | 17 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 4 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 12 |
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 | 95.9 | Cold wave |
| Porter County | 27 km | Relatively Moderate | 81.4 | Tornado |
| Jasper County | 49 km | Very Low | 32.8 | Cold wave |
| Will County, IL | 50 km | Relatively High | 97.3 | Cold wave |
| Kankakee County, IL | 51 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.2 | Cold wave |
| Newton County | 51 km | Very Low | 11.7 | Cold wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Indiana, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 48.7 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 73.3 |
| Community risk factor | 1.11 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $191 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 Indiana · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning now?
- 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 Lake County
What natural disasters is Lake County, Indiana most at risk from?
Lake County, Indiana has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 95.9 out of 100, higher than about 95% of US counties, with cold waves, tornadoes and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $191 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Lake County had?
OpenFEMA lists 22 federal disaster declarations that included Lake County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4933-IN (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 25 August 2026). Another 3 Indiana declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Lake County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 41 tornadoes touching Lake County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 12 Nov 1965, F3, 4.1 mi path, 0 killed, 14 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.