Butler County, Kentucky: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Butler County, Kentucky has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 18.1 out of 100, higher than about 18% of US counties, with hail, earthquakes and ice storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $6.1 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 28 federal disaster declarations that included Butler County since 1969, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4937-KY (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 1 September 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 10 tornadoes touching Butler County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Kentucky All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 12,364 Buildings worth $2.6 billion Area 436 sq mi Risk rank in Kentucky 103 of 120 FIPS 21031
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 81.4 | $861,624 | about 3.2 a year | 120 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 67.0 | $602,103 | about once every 274 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 65.8 | $158,212 | about 1.1 a year | 71 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 48.4 | $468,814 | about 5.7 a year | 218 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 45.6 | $958,615 | about once every 2.9 years | 10 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 44.0 | $787 | about once every 1.3 years | — |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 38.2 | $186,216 | about 6.2 a year | 92 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 31.3 | $26,052 | about 2 a year | 91 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 25.0 | $20,907 | about 7 a year | 133 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 23.7 | $2.5 million | about 3.6 a year | 100 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 22.7 | $69,541 | about 54 a year | 38,792 strikes |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 21.6 | $227,887 | about once every 1.1 years | 17 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 19.6 | $5,084 | about once every 119 years | 2 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 5.3 | $1,529 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| 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 28
Most common: Severe Storm 16, Flood 4, Snowstorm 3, Severe Ice Storm 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 1 | Tornado |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 3 | Snowstorm ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 5 | Severe Ice Storm ×2, Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 7 | Severe Storm ×4, Flood ×2, Snowstorm |
| 2020s | 10 | Severe Storm ×9, Winter Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Butler County
- Severe Winter Storm (2026, EM-3633-KY): 120 Kentucky counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding (2025, EM-3626-KY): 120 Kentucky counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, and Landslides (2025, EM-3624-KY): 120 Kentucky 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. Kentucky also had 4 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 10
| Tornadoes touching the county | 10 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×3 |
| Peak month | April (5) |
| Deadliest | 27 Apr 1971, F3, 27.4 mi path, 1 killed, 0 injured |
| Longest path | 26 May 2024, EF1, 40 mi path |
| Most recent | 26 May 2024, EF1, 40 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 1 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 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 Butler County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butler County (this page) | — | Very Low | 18.1 | Hail |
| Warren County | 33 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.5 | Hail |
| Ohio County | 34 km | Relatively Low | 54.2 | Ice storm |
| Edmonson County | 39 km | Very Low | 11.0 | Hail |
| Muhlenberg County | 41 km | Relatively Low | 53.2 | Ice storm |
| Grayson County | 41 km | Relatively Low | 45.3 | Hail |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Kentucky, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 51.9 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 18.6 |
| Community risk factor | 1.17 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $6.1 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 Butler County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Kentucky · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Hail: Weather alerts for Kentucky
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Ice storm: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- 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 Butler County
What natural disasters is Butler County, Kentucky most at risk from?
Butler County, Kentucky has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 18.1 out of 100, higher than about 18% of US counties, with hail, earthquakes and ice storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $6.1 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Butler County had?
OpenFEMA lists 28 federal disaster declarations that included Butler County since 1969, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4937-KY (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 1 September 2026). Another 4 Kentucky declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Butler County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 10 tornadoes touching Butler County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 27 Apr 1971, F3, 27.4 mi path, 1 killed, 0 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.