Floyd County, Kentucky: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Floyd County, Kentucky has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 94.2 out of 100, higher than about 94% of US counties, with inland (river and flash) flooding, landslides and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $106 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 46 federal disaster declarations that included Floyd County since 1967, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3633-KY (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 2 tornadoes touching Floyd County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Kentucky All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 35,808 Buildings worth $16 billion Area 400 sq mi Risk rank in Kentucky 2 of 120 FIPS 21071
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 97.8 | $102 million | about 3.3 a year | 93 |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 90.7 | $43,086 | about 1.2 a year | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 86.3 | $562,661 | about once every 92 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 78.5 | $135,030 | about 16 a year | 294 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 71.1 | $702,239 | about 3.6 a year | 136 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 68.7 | $368,676 | about 3.2 a year | 122 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 64.2 | $408,938 | about once every 735 years | — |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 58.3 | $878 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 58.2 | $376,259 | about 2.6 a year | 43 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 56.7 | $208,519 | about 51 a year | 94,621 strikes |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 50.8 | $53,646 | about once every 58 years | 4 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 44.8 | $545,397 | about once every 1.1 years | 17 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 35.6 | $487,887 | about once every 16 years | 1 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 29.4 | $21,519 | about once every 7.5 years | 10 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | about 4.9 a year | 189 |
| 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 46
Most common: Severe Storm 21, Flood 12, Snowstorm 4, Severe Ice Storm 3.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1980s | 4 | Flood ×3, Severe Storm |
| 1990s | 7 | Snowstorm ×3, Severe Storm ×2, Fire, Tornado |
| 2000s | 13 | Severe Storm ×8, Severe Ice Storm ×2, Fire ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 8 | Severe Storm ×4, Flood ×3, Snowstorm |
| 2020s | 11 | Severe Storm ×6, Flood ×3, Winter Storm, Severe Ice Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Floyd 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 2
| Tornadoes touching the county | 2 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×2 |
| Peak month | April (1) |
| Deadliest | 9 Sep 1970, F1, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 2 injured |
| Longest path | 4 Apr 2011, EF1, 0.4 mi path |
| Most recent | 4 Apr 2011, EF1, 0.4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 2 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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 Floyd County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floyd County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 94.2 | Inland flooding |
| Knott County | 29 km | Relatively Low | 52.1 | Landslide |
| Pike County | 32 km | Relatively Moderate | 87.9 | Landslide |
| Magoffin County | 33 km | Very Low | 35.0 | Landslide |
| Johnson County | 33 km | Relatively Low | 71.1 | Landslide |
| Martin County | 34 km | Relatively Low | 49.9 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Kentucky, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 84.3 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 42.7 |
| Community risk factor | 1.49 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $106 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 Floyd County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Kentucky · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods recorded
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- 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 Floyd County
What natural disasters is Floyd County, Kentucky most at risk from?
Floyd County, Kentucky has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 94.2 out of 100, higher than about 94% of US counties, with inland (river and flash) flooding, landslides and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $106 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Floyd County had?
OpenFEMA lists 46 federal disaster declarations that included Floyd County since 1967, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3633-KY (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). Another 4 Kentucky declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Floyd County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 2 tornadoes touching Floyd County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 9 Sep 1970, F1, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 2 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.