Vanderburgh County, Indiana: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Vanderburgh County, Indiana has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 91.3 out of 100, higher than about 91% of US counties, with earthquakes, tornadoes and strong winds scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $96 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Vanderburgh County since 1991, 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 35 tornadoes touching Vanderburgh County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Indiana All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 180,120 Buildings worth $43 billion Area 239 sq mi Risk rank in Indiana 3 of 92 FIPS 18163
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | 97.2 | $32 million | about once every 158 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively High | 95.9 | $13 million | about once every 6.0 years | 18 |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 95.9 | $3.1 million | about 4.2 a year | 161 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 95.8 | $739,587 | about 8.2 a year | 155 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 93.4 | $4.3 million | about 8.4 a year | 116 |
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 92.5 | $1.1 million | about 1.2 a year | 78 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 89.8 | $36 million | about 4.3 a year | 119 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 86.0 | $5.0 million | about 1.1 a year | 21 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 82.9 | $983,210 | about 3 a year | 113 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 79.9 | $681,987 | about 52 a year | 204,996 strikes |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 52.8 | $167,157 | about 5.1 a year | 140 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 42.8 | $35,993 | about once every 101 years | 1 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 31.2 | $14,273 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Landslide | Very Low | 22.9 | $147 | about once every 4.6 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 11, Flood 3, Winter Storm 1, Tornado 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood |
| 2000s | 10 | Severe Storm ×7, Tornado, Hurricane, Snowstorm |
| 2010s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood |
| 2020s | 2 | Winter Storm, Flood |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Vanderburgh 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 35
| Tornadoes touching the county | 35 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (10) |
| Deadliest | 11 Apr 1979, F2, 10 mi path, 1 killed, 2 injured |
| Longest path | 2 Apr 2025, EF1, 17 mi path |
| Most recent | 13 Jun 2025, EF0, 1.3 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 12 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 11 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
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 Vanderburgh County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanderburgh County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 91.3 | Earthquake |
| Posey County | 25 km | Relatively Low | 46.3 | Earthquake |
| Henderson County, KY | 25 km | Relatively Low | 73.2 | Earthquake |
| Warrick County | 28 km | Relatively Low | 65.1 | Earthquake |
| Gibson County | 32 km | Relatively Low | 48.0 | Drought |
| Spencer County | 51 km | Very Low | 39.4 | Earthquake |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Indiana, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 48.5 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 86.0 |
| Community risk factor | 1.10 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $96 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 Vanderburgh County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Indiana · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning 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 Vanderburgh County
What natural disasters is Vanderburgh County, Indiana most at risk from?
Vanderburgh County, Indiana has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 91.3 out of 100, higher than about 91% of US counties, with earthquakes, tornadoes and strong winds scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $96 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Vanderburgh County had?
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Vanderburgh County since 1991, 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 Vanderburgh County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 35 tornadoes touching Vanderburgh County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 11 Apr 1979, F2, 10 mi path, 1 killed, 2 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.