Geary County, Kansas: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Geary County, Kansas has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 40.6 out of 100, higher than about 40% of US counties, with winter storms, ice storms and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $18 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 14 federal disaster declarations that included Geary County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4940-KS (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 1 September 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 22 tornadoes touching Geary County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 36,621 Buildings worth $7.0 billion Area 409 sq mi Risk rank in Kansas 27 of 105 FIPS 20061
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 86.9 | $446,811 | about 12 a year | 229 |
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 84.7 | $826,021 | about once a year | 68 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 82.0 | $696,980 | about once every 395 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 81.3 | $5.9 million | about once every 2.9 years | 17 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 67.2 | $1.1 million | about 13 a year | 184 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 65.6 | $5,624 | about once every 5.6 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 60.1 | $1.0 million | about 5.8 a year | 220 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 47.7 | $299,727 | about 5 a year | 76,837 strikes |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 40.8 | $7.0 million | about 1.1 a year | 30 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 40.6 | $255,701 | about 8.9 a year | 338 |
| Drought | Very Low | 25.8 | $19,743 | about 17 a year | 476 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 21.2 | $44,385 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 9.3 | $93,896 | about 2.5 a year | 48 |
| Hurricane | 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 14
Most common: Severe Storm 11, Winter Storm 1, Hurricane 1, Flood 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 1990s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 4 | Severe Storm ×3, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 4 | Severe Storm ×4 |
| 2020s | 4 | Severe Storm ×3, Winter Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Geary 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 22
| Tornadoes touching the county | 22 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (6) |
| Deadliest | 11 Jun 2008, EF3, 15.3 mi path, 1 killed, 3 injured |
| Longest path | 13 Mar 1990, F2, 55 mi path |
| Most recent | 15 Aug 2019, unrated, 3.8 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 6 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 8 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
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 Geary County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geary County (this page) | — | Very Low | 40.6 | Winter weather |
| Riley County | 33 km | Relatively Low | 58.5 | Winter weather |
| Morris County | 36 km | Very Low | 27.4 | Wildfire |
| Dickinson County | 38 km | Relatively Low | 49.1 | Ice storm |
| Wabaunsee County | 48 km | Very Low | 14.6 | Wildfire |
| Clay County | 53 km | Very Low | 16.4 | Ice storm |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Kansas, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 48.5 |
| Community risk factor | 0.75 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $18 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 Geary County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Kansas · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Ice storm: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- 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 Geary County
What natural disasters is Geary County, Kansas most at risk from?
Geary County, Kansas has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 40.6 out of 100, higher than about 40% of US counties, with winter storms, ice storms and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $18 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Geary County had?
OpenFEMA lists 14 federal disaster declarations that included Geary County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4940-KS (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 1 September 2026). Another 4 Kansas declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Geary County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 22 tornadoes touching Geary County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 11 Jun 2008, EF3, 15.3 mi path, 1 killed, 3 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.