Wolfe County, Kentucky: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Wolfe County, Kentucky has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 18.5 out of 100, higher than about 18% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.8 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 32 federal disaster declarations that included Wolfe County since 1978, 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 3 tornadoes touching Wolfe County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Kentucky All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 6,562 Buildings worth $1.2 billion Area 225 sq mi Risk rank in Kentucky 102 of 120 FIPS 21237
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 89.2 | $28,746 | about once every 1.4 years | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 63.8 | $62,010 | about once every 358 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 42.6 | $2.9 million | about 1.2 a year | 33 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 42.1 | $106,202 | about 3.3 a year | 126 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 39.7 | $24,953 | about 15 a year | 293 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 32.5 | $179,290 | about 5 a year | 189 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 31.2 | $8,667 | about once every 43 years | 6 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 30.0 | $41,223 | about once every 617 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 26.4 | $52,208 | about 51 a year | 19,903 strikes |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 26.2 | $193,491 | about 1.1 a year | 20 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 24.8 | $52,466 | about 2.5 a year | 43 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 21.4 | $146,678 | about once every 18 years | 4 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 17.0 | $6,649 | about once every 2.8 years | 25 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 16.2 | $11 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | about 4.3 a year | 112 |
| 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 32
Most common: Severe Storm 14, Flood 8, Snowstorm 4, Severe Ice Storm 3.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 5 | Snowstorm ×3, Severe Storm, Flood |
| 2000s | 6 | Severe Storm ×3, Severe Ice Storm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 8 | Severe Storm ×5, Flood ×2, Snowstorm |
| 2020s | 11 | Severe Storm ×5, Flood ×3, Winter Storm, Tropical Storm, Severe Ice Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Wolfe 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 Helene (2024), 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 3
| Tornadoes touching the county | 3 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×1 |
| Peak month | February (1) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 28 Feb 2011, EF1, 0.3 mi path |
| Most recent | 9 Apr 2011, EF0, 0.3 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 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 Wolfe County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfe County (this page) | — | Very Low | 18.5 | Landslide |
| Menifee County | 24 km | Very Low | 6.2 | Landslide |
| Lee County | 25 km | Very Low | 7.5 | Landslide |
| Breathitt County | 28 km | Relatively Low | 64.7 | Landslide |
| Morgan County | 29 km | Very Low | 22.1 | Landslide |
| Powell County | 31 km | Very Low | 31.2 | Strong wind |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Kentucky, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 95.3 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 1.4 |
| Community risk factor | 1.89 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $3.8 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 Wolfe County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Kentucky · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods recorded
- 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 Wolfe County
What natural disasters is Wolfe County, Kentucky most at risk from?
Wolfe County, Kentucky has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 18.5 out of 100, higher than about 18% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.8 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Wolfe County had?
OpenFEMA lists 32 federal disaster declarations that included Wolfe County since 1978, 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 Wolfe County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Wolfe County from 1950 to 2025.
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.