Putnam County, Indiana: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Putnam County, Indiana has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 42.8 out of 100, higher than about 42% of US counties, with strong winds, landslides and winter storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $14 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Putnam County since 1990, 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 22 tornadoes touching Putnam County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 36,701 Buildings worth $8.3 billion Area 488 sq mi Risk rank in Indiana 46 of 92 FIPS 18133
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 79.4 | $1.4 million | about 4.6 a year | 177 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 78.6 | $14,600 | about once every 3.1 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 74.0 | $167,421 | about 9.8 a year | 186 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 69.3 | $799,266 | about once every 407 years | — |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 68.8 | $560,752 | about 3.9 a year | 149 |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 65.1 | $418,164 | about 2.5 a year | 91 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 63.0 | $2.1 million | about once every 2.7 years | 18 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 61.8 | $1.6 million | about 3.2 a year | 61 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 52.4 | $445,790 | about 4.6 a year | 65 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 52.3 | $100,556 | about once every 1.7 years | 40 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 48.1 | $6.6 million | about 1.6 a year | 44 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 30.9 | $119,446 | about 48 a year | 75,023 strikes |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 19.5 | $5,981 | about once every 100 years | 4 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 10.0 | $3,359 | 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 18
Most common: Severe Storm 12, Flood 2, Snowstorm 2, Winter Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 6 | Severe Storm ×4, Snowstorm, Flood |
| 2000s | 8 | Severe Storm ×6, Snowstorm, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 2 | Severe Storm ×2 |
| 2020s | 2 | Flood, Winter Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Putnam 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 22
| Tornadoes touching the county | 22 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (7) |
| Deadliest | 2 Jun 1990, F2, 3.5 mi path, 1 killed, 6 injured |
| Longest path | 27 May 1973, F2, 77.9 mi path |
| Most recent | 16 May 2025, EF0, 0.4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 15 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 6 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
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 Putnam County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Putnam County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 42.8 | Strong wind |
| Hendricks County | 31 km | Relatively Low | 76.8 | Winter weather |
| Parke County | 33 km | Very Low | 27.6 | Landslide |
| Clay County | 38 km | Very Low | 27.0 | Earthquake |
| Owen County | 39 km | Very Low | 35.1 | Landslide |
| Morgan County | 40 km | Relatively Low | 63.5 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Indiana, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 31.5 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 70.9 |
| Community risk factor | 0.98 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $14 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 Putnam County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Indiana · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- 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 Putnam County
What natural disasters is Putnam County, Indiana most at risk from?
Putnam County, Indiana has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 42.8 out of 100, higher than about 42% of US counties, with strong winds, landslides and winter storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $14 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Putnam County had?
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Putnam County since 1990, 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 Putnam County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 22 tornadoes touching Putnam County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 2 Jun 1990, F2, 3.5 mi path, 1 killed, 6 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.