Nicollet County, Minnesota: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Nicollet County, Minnesota has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 45.4 out of 100, higher than about 45% of US counties, with strong winds, winter storms and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $18 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 20 federal disaster declarations that included Nicollet County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4797-MN (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 28 June 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 29 tornadoes touching Nicollet County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Minnesota All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 34,438 Buildings worth $9.8 billion Area 472 sq mi Risk rank in Minnesota 39 of 87 FIPS 27103
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 86.8 | $2.2 million | about 4 a year | 152 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 79.4 | $254,855 | about 21 a year | 401 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 77.2 | $954,058 | about 5.4 a year | 204 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 73.6 | $3.2 million | about 11 a year | 207 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 63.1 | $429,604 | about 14 a year | 378 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 63.1 | $4,201 | about once every 16 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 57.0 | $2.0 million | about once every 2.6 years | 22 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 52.1 | $520,757 | about 5.2 a year | 85 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 50.3 | $8.5 million | about once every 1.3 years | 22 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 36.6 | $56,820 | about once every 2.3 years | 29 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 17.3 | $7,738 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Lightning | Very Low | 10.8 | $45,968 | about 37 a year | 64,003 strikes |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 7.6 | $9,178 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | 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 20
Most common: Flood 13, Severe Storm 3, Tornado 2, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 3 | Flood ×3 |
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1990s | 5 | Flood ×2, Severe Storm ×2, Tornado |
| 2000s | 2 | Hurricane, Flood |
| 2010s | 8 | Flood ×6, Severe Storm, Tornado |
| 2020s | 1 | Flood |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Nicollet County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3242-MN): 87 Minnesota counties designated.
- Drought (1976, EM-3013-MN): 78 Minnesota counties designated.
- Flooding (1969, DR-255-MN): 70 Minnesota 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. Minnesota also had 9 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 29
| Tornadoes touching the county | 29 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×2 |
| Peak month | June (11) |
| Deadliest | 24 Aug 2006, F3, 33 mi path, 1 killed, 37 injured |
| Longest path | 23 Jun 1952, F2, 104.8 mi path, 0 killed, 10 injured |
| Most recent | 4 Sep 2025, EF0, 3.5 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 2 / 50 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 18 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 5 |
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 Nicollet County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicollet County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 45.4 | Strong wind |
| Sibley County | 26 km | Very Low | 23.0 | Strong wind |
| Blue Earth County | 38 km | Relatively Low | 72.2 | Strong wind |
| Brown County | 40 km | Relatively Low | 50.4 | Cold wave |
| Le Sueur County | 41 km | Very Low | 22.8 | Strong wind |
| Watonwan County | 51 km | Very Low | 23.9 | Winter weather |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Minnesota, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 15.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 99.0 |
| Community risk factor | 0.83 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $18 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 Nicollet County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Minnesota · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Hail: Weather alerts for Minnesota
- 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 Nicollet County
What natural disasters is Nicollet County, Minnesota most at risk from?
Nicollet County, Minnesota has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 45.4 out of 100, higher than about 45% of US counties, with strong winds, winter storms and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $18 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Nicollet County had?
OpenFEMA lists 20 federal disaster declarations that included Nicollet County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4797-MN (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 28 June 2024). Another 9 Minnesota declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Nicollet County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 29 tornadoes touching Nicollet County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 24 Aug 2006, F3, 33 mi path, 1 killed, 37 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.