Steele County, Minnesota: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Steele County, Minnesota has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 37.2 out of 100, higher than about 37% of US counties, with strong winds, hail and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $22 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Steele 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 28 tornadoes touching Steele County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Minnesota All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 37,400 Buildings worth $14 billion Area 437 sq mi Risk rank in Minnesota 48 of 87 FIPS 27147
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 Moderate | 79.7 | $2.4 million | about 4.1 a year | 156 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 77.3 | $1.4 million | about 5.1 a year | 195 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 71.0 | $4.8 million | about once every 2.7 years | 25 |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 64.2 | $695,711 | about 14 a year | 392 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 55.3 | $2.1 million | about 1 a year | 193 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 43.3 | $95,703 | about 21 a year | 389 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 42.2 | $9.7 million | about once every 1.3 years | 21 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 31.5 | $636 | about once every 19 years | — |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 25.5 | $188,355 | about 4.2 a year | 68 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 20.2 | $128,079 | about 38 a year | 61,235 strikes |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 18.1 | $24,850 | about once every 1.8 years | 39 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 10.5 | $6,097 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 9.5 | $17,211 | 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 15
Most common: Flood 6, Severe Storm 5, Tornado 1, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1990s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood, Severe Ice Storm |
| 2000s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 5 | Flood ×3, Severe Storm, Tornado |
| 2020s | 1 | Flood |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Steele County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3242-MN): 87 Minnesota counties designated.
- Drought (1976, EM-3013-MN): 78 Minnesota counties designated.
- Flooding (1965, DR-188-MN): 65 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 28
| Tornadoes touching the county | 28 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | June (7) |
| Deadliest | 30 Apr 1967, F4, 38.7 mi path, 5 killed, 35 injured |
| Longest path | 17 May 1982, F3, 46 mi path |
| Most recent | 15 Dec 2021, EF0, 6.4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 5 / 36 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 12 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
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 Steele County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steele County (this page) | — | Very Low | 37.2 | Strong wind |
| Waseca County | 29 km | Very Low | 24.7 | Drought |
| Dodge County | 29 km | Very Low | 14.2 | Drought |
| Rice County | 37 km | Relatively Low | 75.4 | Strong wind |
| Freeborn County | 40 km | Relatively Low | 51.0 | Drought |
| Mower County | 54 km | Relatively Low | 67.3 | Drought |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Minnesota, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 98.2 |
| Community risk factor | 0.56 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $22 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 Steele County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Minnesota · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Hail: Weather alerts for Minnesota
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning 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 Steele County
What natural disasters is Steele County, Minnesota most at risk from?
Steele County, Minnesota has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 37.2 out of 100, higher than about 37% of US counties, with strong winds, hail and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $22 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Steele County had?
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Steele 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 Steele County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 28 tornadoes touching Steele County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 30 Apr 1967, F4, 38.7 mi path, 5 killed, 35 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.