Otsego County, Michigan: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Otsego County, Michigan has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 18.4 out of 100, higher than about 18% of US counties, with hail, landslides and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.6 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 5 federal disaster declarations that included Otsego County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4880-MI (Severe Winter Storm, declared 22 July 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 6 tornadoes touching Otsego County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Michigan All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 25,061 Buildings worth $8.4 billion Area 532 sq mi Risk rank in Michigan 71 of 83 FIPS 26137
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 Low | 71.8 | $671,386 | about once a year | 38 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 64.9 | $4,229 | about once every 6.6 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 64.1 | $436,665 | about 25 a year | 38,770 strikes |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 61.5 | $1.7 million | about 1.7 a year | 33 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 45.0 | $38,266 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 42.9 | $494,288 | about once every 1.1 years | 34 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 29.0 | $3.8 million | about once every 28 years | 1 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 27.9 | $492,257 | about once every 13 years | 5 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 18.0 | $5,513 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 17.7 | $53,691 | about once every 1.4 years | 12 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 13.5 | $12,112 | about 33 a year | 619 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 10.1 | $10,771 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 10.0 | $5,752 | about once every 13 years | 5 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| 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 5
Most common: Snowstorm 2, Severe Ice Storm 1, Hurricane 1, Drought 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Snowstorm, Drought |
| 1990s | 1 | Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 2020s | 1 | Severe Ice Storm |
The last 5
Widest declarations that included Otsego County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3225-MI): 83 Michigan counties designated.
- Blizzards & Snowstorms (1978, EM-3057-MI): 83 Michigan counties designated.
- Drought (1977, EM-3035-MI): 44 Michigan 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. Michigan also had 3 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 6
| Tornadoes touching the county | 6 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×2 |
| Peak month | July (3) |
| Deadliest | 20 May 2022, EF3, 17.5 mi path, 2 killed, 44 injured |
| Longest path | 20 May 2022, EF3, 17.5 mi path, 2 killed, 44 injured |
| Most recent | 20 May 2022, EF3, 17.5 mi path, 2 killed, 44 injured |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 2 / 46 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 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 Otsego County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otsego County (this page) | — | Very Low | 18.4 | Hail |
| Montmorency County | 37 km | Very Low | 15.9 | Landslide |
| Crawford County | 38 km | Very Low | 18.0 | Winter weather |
| Antrim County | 43 km | Very Low | 25.8 | Cold wave |
| Cheboygan County | 48 km | Relatively Low | 59.5 | Inland flooding |
| Charlevoix County | 52 km | Very Low | 22.3 | Cold wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Michigan, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 26.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 62.9 |
| Community risk factor | 0.94 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $7.6 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 Otsego County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Michigan · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Hail: Weather alerts for Michigan
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Michigan
- 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 Otsego County
What natural disasters is Otsego County, Michigan most at risk from?
Otsego County, Michigan has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 18.4 out of 100, higher than about 18% of US counties, with hail, landslides and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.6 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Otsego County had?
OpenFEMA lists 5 federal disaster declarations that included Otsego County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4880-MI (Severe Winter Storm, declared 22 July 2025). Another 3 Michigan declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Otsego County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 6 tornadoes touching Otsego County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 20 May 2022, EF3, 17.5 mi path, 2 killed, 44 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.