Lafayette Parish, Louisiana: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Lafayette Parish, Louisiana has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 95.2 out of 100, higher than about 95% of US counties, with lightning, hurricanes and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $190 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 41 federal disaster declarations that included Lafayette Parish since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3638-LA (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 43 tornadoes touching Lafayette Parish from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Louisiana All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 241,618 Buildings worth $51 billion Area 272 sq mi Risk rank in Louisiana 6 of 64 FIPS 22055
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Very High | 98.7 | $3.9 million | about 84 a year | 432,373 strikes |
| Hurricane | Very High | 98.4 | $98 million | about once every 6.0 years | 44 |
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 97.6 | $19 million | about 1.1 a year | 20 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 93.1 | $4.6 million | about 1 a year | 176 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 93.0 | $57 million | about 1.8 a year | 49 |
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 90.3 | $1.0 million | about once every 1.5 years | 45 |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 86.7 | $1.4 million | about 19 a year | 574 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 68.7 | $554,738 | about 1.4 a year | 54 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 68.4 | $760,284 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 66.8 | $929,937 | about once every 1.6 years | 25 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 65.3 | $2.3 million | about once every 4.4 years | 36 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 53.0 | $57,891 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Low | 45.0 | $51,220 | about once every 83 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 42.7 | $53,054 | about once a year | 19 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 23.2 | $172 | about once every 31 years | — |
| 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 41
Most common: Hurricane 24, Flood 7, Coastal Storm 4, Severe Ice Storm 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 1970s | 4 | Hurricane ×2, Flood, Snowstorm |
| 1980s | 3 | Flood ×3 |
| 1990s | 2 | Flood, Hurricane |
| 2000s | 10 | Hurricane ×7, Severe Storm, Other, Coastal Storm |
| 2010s | 5 | Hurricane ×3, Coastal Storm, Flood |
| 2020s | 16 | Hurricane ×10, Coastal Storm ×2, Severe Ice Storm ×2, Winter Storm, Flood |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Lafayette 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 Francine (2024), Tropical Storm Nicholas (2021), Hurricane Ida (2021), Tropical Storm Ida (2021), Hurricane Zeta (2021), Tropical Storm Zeta (2020), Hurricane Delta (2020), Hurricane Sally (2020), Hurricane Laura (2020), Tropical Storm Cristobal (2020), Hurricane Barry (2019), Tropical Storm Barry (2019), Tropical Storm Harvey (2017), Hurricane Isaac (2012), Hurricane Gustav (2008), Hurricane Rita (2005), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Hurricane Lili (2002), Tropical Storm Allison (2001), Hurricane Andrew (1992), Tropical Storm Allison (1989), Hurricane Carmen (1974), Hurricane Edith (1971), 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 43
| Tornadoes touching the county | 43 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (8) |
| Deadliest | 7 Nov 1957, F1, 2 mi path, 2 killed, 13 injured |
| Longest path | 6 Jun 1977, F1, 23.1 mi path |
| Most recent | 14 Apr 2018, EF2, 4.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 2 / 41 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 13 | 20 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 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 Lafayette Parish compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lafayette Parish (this page) | — | Relatively High | 95.2 | Lightning |
| Acadia Parish | 35 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.6 | Hurricane |
| St. Landry Parish | 44 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.2 | Drought |
| St. Martin Parish | 45 km | Relatively Moderate | 87.3 | Hurricane |
| Iberia Parish | 47 km | Relatively Moderate | 90.6 | Hurricane |
| Vermilion Parish | 47 km | Relatively Moderate | 84.8 | Drought |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Louisiana, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 32.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 72.8 |
| Community risk factor | 0.99 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $190 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 Lafayette Parish's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Louisiana · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Louisiana
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- 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 Lafayette Parish
What natural disasters is Lafayette Parish, Louisiana most at risk from?
Lafayette Parish, Louisiana has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 95.2 out of 100, higher than about 95% of US counties, with lightning, hurricanes and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $190 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Lafayette Parish had?
OpenFEMA lists 41 federal disaster declarations that included Lafayette Parish since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3638-LA (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). Another 6 Louisiana declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Lafayette Parish?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 43 tornadoes touching Lafayette Parish from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 7 Nov 1957, F1, 2 mi path, 2 killed, 13 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.