Reno County, Kansas: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Reno County, Kansas has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 80.2 out of 100, higher than about 80% of US counties, with ice storms, strong winds and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $45 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 22 federal disaster declarations that included Reno County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4883-KS (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 22 July 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 90 tornadoes touching Reno County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Kansas All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 61,884 Buildings worth $15 billion Area 1,285 sq mi Risk rank in Kansas 5 of 105 FIPS 20155
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 | Very High | 96.9 | $2.4 million | about once a year | 68 |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 96.6 | $3.9 million | about 7.2 a year | 274 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 95.5 | $4.3 million | about once every 231 years | — |
| Hail | Relatively High | 94.3 | $2.8 million | about 11 a year | 432 |
| Tornado | Relatively High | 93.3 | $10 million | about 1.5 a year | 73 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 86.3 | $316,856 | about 12 a year | 221 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 84.6 | $2.1 million | about 12 a year | 152 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 80.5 | $3.9 million | about 1.7 a year | 33 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 70.9 | $14 million | about 1.7 a year | 48 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 51.3 | $165,300 | about 62 a year | 1,939 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 50.3 | $246,702 | about 48 a year | 204,685 strikes |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 40.3 | $164,651 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Landslide | Very Low | 11.5 | $37 | about once every 7.1 years | — |
| 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 22
Most common: Severe Storm 14, Fire 3, Flood 3, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 2 | Severe Storm, Flood |
| 1990s | 2 | Tornado, Flood |
| 2000s | 9 | Severe Storm ×7, Fire, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 5 | Severe Storm ×4, Fire |
| 2020s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Fire |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Reno 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 90
| Tornadoes touching the county | 90 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F5 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (37) |
| Deadliest | 13 Mar 1990, F5, 48 mi path, 1 killed, 60 injured |
| Longest path | 22 Apr 1964, F3, 59.7 mi path, 0 killed, 2 injured |
| Most recent | 18 May 2025, EF3, 32.7 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 83 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 57 | 14 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 7 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 26 | 13 | 2 |
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 Reno County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reno County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 80.2 | Ice storm |
| Kingman County | 44 km | Very Low | 35.6 | Ice storm |
| Rice County | 45 km | Very Low | 28.5 | Hail |
| Stafford County | 56 km | Very Low | 23.1 | Drought |
| Harvey County | 59 km | Very Low | 38.9 | Winter weather |
| McPherson County | 62 km | Very Low | 39.2 | 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 73.8 |
| Community risk factor | 1.00 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $45 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 Reno 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
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- 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 Reno County
What natural disasters is Reno County, Kansas most at risk from?
Reno County, Kansas has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 80.2 out of 100, higher than about 80% of US counties, with ice storms, strong winds and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $45 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Reno County had?
OpenFEMA lists 22 federal disaster declarations that included Reno County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4883-KS (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 22 July 2025). Another 4 Kansas declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Reno County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 90 tornadoes touching Reno County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 13 Mar 1990, F5, 48 mi path, 1 killed, 60 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.