Watonwan County, Minnesota: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Watonwan County, Minnesota has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 23.9 out of 100, higher than about 23% of US counties, with winter storms, drought and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $8.0 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 11 federal disaster declarations that included Watonwan 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 23 tornadoes touching Watonwan County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 11,253 Buildings worth $3.7 billion Area 444 sq mi Risk rank in Minnesota 62 of 87 FIPS 27165
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 76.1 | $170,663 | about 22 a year | 418 |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 75.3 | $692,972 | about 13 a year | 336 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 68.0 | $1.9 million | about 11 a year | 213 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 55.9 | $634,079 | about 3.4 a year | 131 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 54.8 | $314,111 | about 4.3 a year | 164 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 44.4 | $1.0 million | about once every 3.0 years | 15 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 41.6 | $242,291 | about 5.2 a year | 83 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 37.2 | $45,463 | about once every 1.7 years | 39 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 24.9 | $2.9 million | about once every 1.6 years | 17 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 21.8 | $137 | about once every 22 years | — |
| Lightning | Very Low | 17.4 | $58,379 | about 38 a year | 44,570 strikes |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 10.7 | $10,380 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 9.2 | $2,873 | 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 11
Most common: Flood 6, Severe Storm 3, Hurricane 1, Drought 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1990s | 2 | Severe Storm ×2 |
| 2000s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 2010s | 4 | Flood ×3, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 1 | Flood |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Watonwan 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 23
| Tornadoes touching the county | 23 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | June (8) |
| Deadliest | 29 Mar 1998, F4, 73.5 mi path, 1 killed, 19 injured |
| Longest path | 29 Mar 1998, F4, 73.5 mi path, 1 killed, 19 injured |
| Most recent | 5 Aug 2024, EF1, 2.3 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 19 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 10 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 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 Watonwan County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watonwan County (this page) | — | Very Low | 23.9 | Winter weather |
| Brown County | 31 km | Relatively Low | 50.4 | Cold wave |
| Martin County | 34 km | Relatively Low | 45.5 | Winter weather |
| Blue Earth County | 44 km | Relatively Low | 72.2 | Strong wind |
| Cottonwood County | 45 km | Very Low | 27.7 | Winter weather |
| Nicollet County | 51 km | Relatively Low | 45.4 | Strong wind |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Minnesota, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 41.7 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 56.9 |
| Community risk factor | 1.07 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $8.0 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 Watonwan County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Minnesota · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Drought: Drought monitor for Minnesota
- 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 Watonwan County
What natural disasters is Watonwan County, Minnesota most at risk from?
Watonwan County, Minnesota has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 23.9 out of 100, higher than about 23% of US counties, with winter storms, drought and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $8.0 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Watonwan County had?
OpenFEMA lists 11 federal disaster declarations that included Watonwan 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 Watonwan County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 23 tornadoes touching Watonwan County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 29 Mar 1998, F4, 73.5 mi path, 1 killed, 19 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.