Riley County, Kansas: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Riley County, Kansas has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 58.5 out of 100, higher than about 58% of US counties, with winter storms, ice storms and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $29 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Riley County since 1966, 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 Riley County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 71,953 Buildings worth $16 billion Area 628 sq mi Risk rank in Kansas 16 of 105 FIPS 20161
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 | 94.0 | $862,391 | about 12 a year | 224 |
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 91.7 | $1.6 million | about once a year | 68 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 89.5 | $1.9 million | about once every 424 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 84.3 | $7.3 million | about once every 1.8 years | 21 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 81.5 | $27,941 | about once every 4.1 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 80.0 | $2.2 million | about 13 a year | 191 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 64.9 | $593,936 | about 49 a year | 112,301 strikes |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 59.9 | $13 million | about 1.3 a year | 36 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 57.6 | $992,396 | about 5.5 a year | 211 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 55.8 | $478,273 | about 8.7 a year | 332 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 33.3 | $144,446 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Very Low | 24.8 | $17,041 | about 7.2 a year | 315 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 13.2 | $183,579 | about 3.1 a year | 58 |
| 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 13, Hurricane 1, Flood 1, Tornado 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Tornado |
| 1970s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 1990s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 5 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 6 | Severe Storm ×6 |
| 2020s | 2 | Severe Storm ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Riley 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 | June (11) |
| Deadliest | 8 Jun 1966, F3, 13.8 mi path, 0 killed, 50 injured |
| Longest path | 18 Oct 1979, F2, 71.4 mi path, 0 killed, 11 injured |
| Most recent | 6 May 2024, EF0, 1.2 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 62 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 18 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
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 Riley County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riley County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 58.5 | Winter weather |
| Geary County | 33 km | Very Low | 40.6 | Winter weather |
| Pottawatomie County | 35 km | Very Low | 30.9 | Wildfire |
| Clay County | 37 km | Very Low | 16.4 | Ice storm |
| Marshall County | 57 km | Very Low | 21.4 | Wildfire |
| Wabaunsee County | 60 km | Very Low | 14.6 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Kansas, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 64.1 |
| Community risk factor | 0.72 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $29 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 Riley 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 Riley County
What natural disasters is Riley County, Kansas most at risk from?
Riley County, Kansas has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 58.5 out of 100, higher than about 58% of US counties, with winter storms, ice storms and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $29 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Riley County had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Riley County since 1966, 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 Riley County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 35 tornadoes touching Riley County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 8 Jun 1966, F3, 13.8 mi path, 0 killed, 50 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.