DeSoto County, Mississippi: Natural Disaster Risk and History
DeSoto County, Mississippi has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 89.0 out of 100, higher than about 89% of US counties, with tornadoes, earthquakes and heat waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $86 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 14 federal disaster declarations that included DeSoto County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4899-MS (Severe Winter Storm, declared 6 February 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 28 tornadoes touching DeSoto County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 185,280 Buildings worth $34 billion Area 501 sq mi Risk rank in Mississippi 4 of 82 FIPS 28033
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado | Relatively High | 96.8 | $19 million | about once every 3.3 years | 25 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | 96.2 | $24 million | about once every 146 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 96.1 | $8.2 million | about 22 a year | 354 |
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 91.7 | $9.0 million | about 1.5 a year | 28 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 90.3 | $1.4 million | about 62 a year | 154,969 strikes |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 80.1 | $22 million | about 2.3 a year | 64 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 76.5 | $1.3 million | about 1.3 a year | 48 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 76.5 | $11,683 | about once every 1.7 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 72.3 | $276,014 | about once a year | 69 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 67.9 | $164,148 | about once every 741 years | — |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 61.3 | $434,214 | about 2.9 a year | 111 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 49.7 | $79,958 | about once every 37 years | 10 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 48.7 | $145,732 | about 12 a year | 399 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 43.3 | $57,150 | about 4.8 a year | 91 |
| 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 14
Most common: Severe Storm 5, Hurricane 4, Winter Storm 2, Flood 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Snowstorm, Severe Storm |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 3 | Flood ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 5 | Winter Storm ×2, Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included DeSoto County
- Severe Winter Storm (2026, DR-4899-MS): 82 Mississippi counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storm (2026, EM-3640-MS): 82 Mississippi counties designated.
- Hurricane Ida (2021, DR-4626-MS): 82 Mississippi counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Ida (2021), Hurricane Gustav (2008), Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Mississippi also had 3 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 28
| Tornadoes touching the county | 28 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×10 |
| Peak month | January (5) |
| Deadliest | 27 Nov 1973, F2, 4.1 mi path, 1 killed, 50 injured |
| Longest path | 28 Apr 1962, F2, 34.6 mi path, 1 killed, 6 injured |
| Most recent | 18 May 2025, EF1, 0.4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 2 / 104 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 9 | 9 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 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 DeSoto County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeSoto County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 89.0 | Tornado |
| Tate County | 25 km | Very Low | 41.2 | Earthquake |
| Shelby County, TN | 35 km | Relatively High | 99.4 | Cold wave |
| Tunica County | 43 km | Very Low | 36.3 | Earthquake |
| Marshall County | 46 km | Relatively Low | 71.2 | Earthquake |
| Crittenden County, AR | 47 km | Relatively Moderate | 83.0 | Earthquake |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Mississippi, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 26.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 42.1 |
| Community risk factor | 0.95 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $86 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 DeSoto County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Mississippi · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning now?
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- 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 DeSoto County
What natural disasters is DeSoto County, Mississippi most at risk from?
DeSoto County, Mississippi has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 89.0 out of 100, higher than about 89% of US counties, with tornadoes, earthquakes and heat waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $86 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has DeSoto County had?
OpenFEMA lists 14 federal disaster declarations that included DeSoto County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4899-MS (Severe Winter Storm, declared 6 February 2026). Another 3 Mississippi declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit DeSoto County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 28 tornadoes touching DeSoto County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 27 Nov 1973, F2, 4.1 mi path, 1 killed, 50 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.