Elk County, Kansas: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Elk County, Kansas has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 14.6 out of 100, higher than about 14% of US counties, with wildfires, ice storms and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $4.2 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Elk County since 1976, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4869-KS (Severe Winter Storm, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, and Wildfires, declared 21 May 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 30 tornadoes touching Elk County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Kansas All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 2,483 Buildings worth $1.2 billion Area 657 sq mi Risk rank in Kansas 73 of 105 FIPS 20049
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 91.7 | $1.2 million | about once every 138 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 51.4 | $64,097 | about once every 1.8 years | 37 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 50.8 | $1,000 | about once every 6.3 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 45.8 | $76,773 | about 46 a year | 1,169 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 45.6 | $157,232 | about 8.1 a year | 309 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 38.3 | $30,330 | about 9.1 a year | 173 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 38.0 | $552,310 | about once every 1.9 years | 14 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 30.3 | $98,435 | about 15 a year | 186 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 29.0 | $201,535 | about 6.5 a year | 249 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 22.5 | $189,365 | about 1.4 a year | 26 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 19.2 | $18,735 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 17.8 | $1.5 million | about once every 1.2 years | 23 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 17.4 | $3,420 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 13.9 | $33,909 | about 51 a year | 46,495 strikes |
| 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 14, Flood 2, Hurricane 1, Severe Ice Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 8 | Severe Storm ×6, Hurricane, Severe Ice Storm |
| 2010s | 6 | Severe Storm ×6 |
| 2020s | 2 | Severe Storm ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Elk County
- Severe Winter Storms (2007, EM-3282-KS): 105 Kansas counties designated.
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3236-KS): 105 Kansas counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding,landslides,and Mudslides (2019, DR-4449-KS): 70 Kansas 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. Kansas also had 4 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 30
| Tornadoes touching the county | 30 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×2 |
| Peak month | April (9) |
| Deadliest | 26 Apr 1991, F3, 14 mi path, 1 killed, 2 injured |
| Longest path | 26 Apr 1984, F1, 28 mi path |
| Most recent | 27 Apr 2024, EF1 |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 2 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 9 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 9 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
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 Elk County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elk County (this page) | — | Very Low | 14.6 | Wildfire |
| Chautauqua County | 34 km | Very Low | 12.1 | Wildfire |
| Wilson County | 46 km | Very Low | 18.0 | Drought |
| Greenwood County | 47 km | Very Low | 24.5 | Ice storm |
| Montgomery County | 53 km | Relatively Low | 73.4 | Tornado |
| Cowley County | 58 km | Relatively Low | 69.1 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Kansas, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 81.2 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 29.7 |
| Community risk factor | 1.47 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $4.2 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 Elk County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Kansas · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Ice storm: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Landslide: Landslides 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 Elk County
What natural disasters is Elk County, Kansas most at risk from?
Elk County, Kansas has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 14.6 out of 100, higher than about 14% of US counties, with wildfires, ice storms and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $4.2 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Elk County had?
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Elk County since 1976, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4869-KS (Severe Winter Storm, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, and Wildfires, declared 21 May 2025). Another 4 Kansas declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Elk County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 30 tornadoes touching Elk County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 26 Apr 1991, F3, 14 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.