Ottawa County, Kansas: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Ottawa County, Kansas has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 16.9 out of 100, higher than about 16% of US counties, with ice storms, hail and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $6.8 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Ottawa 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 35 tornadoes touching Ottawa County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Kansas All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 5,735 Buildings worth $1.7 billion Area 729 sq mi Risk rank in Kansas 63 of 105 FIPS 20143
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 89.9 | $958,543 | about 1.1 a year | 73 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 74.9 | $726,687 | about 8.8 a year | 332 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 72.6 | $224,103 | about once every 833 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 54.1 | $76,797 | about 12 a year | 220 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 43.9 | $1.1 million | about once every 1.5 years | 33 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 42.3 | $459,277 | about 5.6 a year | 212 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 36.4 | $200,594 | about 13 a year | 185 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 33.8 | $38,459 | about 7.5 a year | 224 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 24.0 | $3.0 million | about 1.2 a year | 33 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 11.3 | $11,948 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Landslide | Very Low | 8.4 | $20 | about once every 7.5 years | — |
| Lightning | Very Low | 7.1 | $23,581 | about 47 a year | 49,372 strikes |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 6.4 | $35,102 | about 2.8 a year | 53 |
| 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 16
Most common: Severe Storm 12, Flood 2, Winter Storm 1, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Severe Storm, Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 4 | Severe Storm ×3, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 4 | Severe Storm ×4 |
| 2020s | 5 | Severe Storm ×4, Winter Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Ottawa 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 35
| Tornadoes touching the county | 35 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (16) |
| Deadliest | 5 May 2007, EF2, 11 mi path, 1 killed, 5 injured |
| Longest path | 18 Oct 1979, F2, 71.4 mi path, 0 killed, 11 injured |
| Most recent | 2 May 2018, EF0 |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 26 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 18 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 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 Ottawa County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa County (this page) | — | Very Low | 16.9 | Ice storm |
| Cloud County | 39 km | Very Low | 20.2 | Hail |
| Saline County | 39 km | Relatively Low | 66.2 | Winter weather |
| Clay County | 48 km | Very Low | 16.4 | Ice storm |
| Lincoln County | 49 km | Very Low | 13.5 | Hail |
| Dickinson County | 52 km | Relatively Low | 49.1 | Ice storm |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Kansas, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 33.2 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 63.0 |
| Community risk factor | 1.00 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $6.8 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 Ottawa County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Kansas · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Ice storm: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Hail: Weather alerts for Kansas
- 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 Ottawa County
What natural disasters is Ottawa County, Kansas most at risk from?
Ottawa County, Kansas has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 16.9 out of 100, higher than about 16% of US counties, with ice storms, hail and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $6.8 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Ottawa County had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Ottawa 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 Ottawa County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 35 tornadoes touching Ottawa County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 5 May 2007, EF2, 11 mi path, 1 killed, 5 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.