Sedgwick County, Kansas: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Sedgwick County, Kansas has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 96.6 out of 100, higher than about 96% of US counties, with ice storms, tornadoes and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $256 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Sedgwick County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4287-KS (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 20 October 2016). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 91 tornadoes touching Sedgwick County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 523,609 Buildings worth $110 billion Area 1,019 sq mi Risk rank in Kansas 1 of 105 FIPS 20173
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 | 99.8 | $8.1 million | about once every 1.4 years | 49 |
| Tornado | Very High | 99.3 | $53 million | about once a year | 57 |
| Cold wave | Very High | 99.3 | $51 million | about 1.6 a year | 30 |
| Hail | Relatively High | 99.0 | $12 million | about 1 a year | 389 |
| Heat wave | Relatively High | 98.5 | $19 million | about 14 a year | 173 |
| Lightning | Very High | 98.1 | $3.4 million | about 5 a year | 628,030 strikes |
| Winter weather | Very High | 97.3 | $1.1 million | about 11 a year | 206 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 96.1 | $101 million | about 3.6 a year | 101 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 94.4 | $3.3 million | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 87.9 | $2.0 million | about 7.1 a year | 270 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 75.2 | $1.2 million | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 63.6 | $386,537 | about 4 a year | 1,526 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 49.2 | $1,382 | about once every 7.8 years | — |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 42.7 | $40,415 | about once every 163 years | 2 |
| 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 8, Flood 3, Tornado 2, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 2 | Severe Storm, Flood |
| 1990s | 5 | Tornado ×2, Severe Storm, Other, Flood |
| 2000s | 6 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane, Severe Ice Storm |
| 2010s | 2 | Severe Storm ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Sedgwick 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 & Flooding (1973, DR-378-KS): 64 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 91
| Tornadoes touching the county | 91 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F5 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (24) |
| Deadliest | 26 Apr 1991, F5, 46 mi path, 17 killed, 225 injured |
| Longest path | 13 May 1965, F3, 62.5 mi path, 0 killed, 10 injured |
| Most recent | 29 Apr 2022, EF3, 12.7 mi path, 0 killed, 3 injured |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 26 / 499 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 51 | 16 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 16 | 11 | 7 | 17 | 22 | 6 | 11 | 1 |
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 Sedgwick County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sedgwick County (this page) | — | Relatively High | 96.6 | Ice storm |
| Harvey County | 40 km | Very Low | 38.9 | Winter weather |
| Sumner County | 50 km | Relatively Low | 48.8 | Hail |
| Butler County | 56 km | Relatively Low | 74.4 | Wildfire |
| Kingman County | 61 km | Very Low | 35.6 | Ice storm |
| Reno County | 62 km | Relatively Low | 80.2 | Ice storm |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Kansas, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 29.9 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 70.4 |
| Community risk factor | 0.97 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $256 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 Sedgwick 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
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning now?
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- 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 Sedgwick County
What natural disasters is Sedgwick County, Kansas most at risk from?
Sedgwick County, Kansas has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 96.6 out of 100, higher than about 96% of US counties, with ice storms, tornadoes and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $256 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Sedgwick County had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Sedgwick County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4287-KS (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 20 October 2016). Another 4 Kansas declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Sedgwick County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 91 tornadoes touching Sedgwick County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 26 Apr 1991, F5, 46 mi path, 17 killed, 225 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.