Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 73.0 out of 100, higher than about 73% of US counties, with drought, ice storms and hurricanes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $20 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 40 federal disaster declarations that included Avoyelles Parish since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4927-LA (Tropical Storm Arthur, declared 30 June 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 54 tornadoes touching Avoyelles Parish from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 39,654 Buildings worth $7.3 billion Area 874 sq mi Risk rank in Louisiana 29 of 64 FIPS 22009
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively High | 97.2 | $2.5 million | about 18 a year | 651 |
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 92.1 | $725,929 | about once every 1.1 years | 60 |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | 90.0 | $4.8 million | about once every 7.8 years | 46 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 84.4 | $3.1 million | about 1.2 a year | 23 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 84.3 | $3.2 million | about once every 1.4 years | 50 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 82.6 | $518,491 | about 76 a year | 132,278 strikes |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 78.5 | $878,583 | about 11 a year | 188 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 55.6 | $405,958 | about 1.4 a year | 55 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 52.1 | $192,412 | about once every 962 years | — |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 49.3 | $28,493 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 44.5 | $3.5 million | about once every 1.2 years | 24 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 42.6 | $123,475 | about 1.8 a year | 70 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 29.8 | $189 | about once every 7.9 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 28.4 | $17,503 | about 2 a year | 37 |
| Coastal flooding | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | — |
| Avalanche | 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 40
Most common: Hurricane 21, Flood 7, Coastal Storm 3, Severe Ice Storm 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 1970s | 4 | Flood ×2, Snowstorm, Severe Storm |
| 1980s | 2 | Tornado, Flood |
| 1990s | 2 | Hurricane, Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 9 | Hurricane ×8, Other |
| 2010s | 7 | Flood ×4, Hurricane ×2, Coastal Storm |
| 2020s | 15 | Hurricane ×9, Coastal Storm ×2, Severe Ice Storm ×2, Tropical Storm, Winter Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Avoyelles Parish
- Severe Winter Storm (2026, EM-3638-LA): 64 Louisiana counties designated.
- Tropical Storm Francine (2024, EM-3614-LA): 64 Louisiana counties designated.
- Tropical Storm Nicholas (2021, EM-3574-LA): 64 Louisiana counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Tropical Storm Arthur (2026), Tropical Storm Francine (2024), Tropical Storm Nicholas (2021), Hurricane Ida (2021), Tropical Storm Ida (2021), Tropical Storm Zeta (2020), Hurricane Delta (2020), Hurricane Sally (2020), Hurricane Laura (2020), Tropical Storm Cristobal (2020), Tropical Storm Barry (2019), Hurricane Isaac (2012), Tropical Storm Isaac (2012), Hurricane Gustav (2008), Hurricane Rita (2005), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Hurricane Lili (2002), Hurricane Andrew (1992), Hurricane Betsy (1965).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Louisiana also had 6 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 54
| Tornadoes touching the county | 54 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×2 |
| Peak month | November (12) |
| Deadliest | 31 Jan 1983, F3, 5 mi path, 1 killed, 2 injured |
| Longest path | 4 Dec 1993, F1, 20.5 mi path, 0 killed, 3 injured |
| Most recent | 20 Nov 2023, EF1, 9.6 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 28 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 15 | 24 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 9 |
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 Avoyelles Parish compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avoyelles Parish (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 73.0 | Drought |
| Rapides Parish | 52 km | Relatively Moderate | 84.3 | Lightning |
| St. Landry Parish | 53 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.2 | Drought |
| Concordia Parish | 54 km | Very Low | 31.6 | Drought |
| Evangeline Parish | 55 km | Relatively Low | 75.9 | Cold wave |
| Pointe Coupee Parish | 56 km | Relatively Low | 63.1 | Cold wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Louisiana, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 97.9 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 63.1 |
| Community risk factor | 1.66 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $20 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 Avoyelles Parish's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Louisiana · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Drought: Drought monitor for Louisiana
- Ice storm: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- 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 Avoyelles Parish
What natural disasters is Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana most at risk from?
Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 73.0 out of 100, higher than about 73% of US counties, with drought, ice storms and hurricanes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $20 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Avoyelles Parish had?
OpenFEMA lists 40 federal disaster declarations that included Avoyelles Parish since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4927-LA (Tropical Storm Arthur, declared 30 June 2026). Another 6 Louisiana declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Avoyelles Parish?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 54 tornadoes touching Avoyelles Parish from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 31 Jan 1983, F3, 5 mi path, 1 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.