Hancock County, Mississippi: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Hancock County, Mississippi has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 82.7 out of 100, higher than about 82% of US counties, with hurricanes, lightning and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $38 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 31 federal disaster declarations that included Hancock County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4930-MS (Tropical Storm Arthur, declared 3 August 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 61 tornadoes touching Hancock County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Mississippi All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 46,025 Buildings worth $9.4 billion Area 558 sq mi Risk rank in Mississippi 10 of 82 FIPS 28045
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Relatively High | 95.2 | $18 million | about once every 4.6 years | 72 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 91.2 | $999,807 | about 86 a year | 166,643 strikes |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 90.4 | $1.1 million | about once every 133 years | — |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively High | 86.2 | $3.3 million | about 6.1 a year | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 78.1 | $1.1 million | about 14 a year | 220 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 76.6 | $2.6 million | about once every 2.0 years | 43 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 67.2 | $9.1 million | about once every 1.4 years | 20 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 61.0 | $1.1 million | about once a year | 19 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 55.8 | $168,295 | about 21 a year | 616 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 55.2 | $251,117 | about 1.8 a year | 69 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 44.7 | $157,146 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 36.9 | $35,573 | about once every 2.2 years | 28 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 35.3 | $273,883 | about 1.5 a year | 51 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 35.3 | $28,928 | about once every 1.2 years | 16 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 17.8 | $69 | about once every 14 years | — |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| 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 31
Most common: Hurricane 21, Severe Storm 5, Winter Storm 2, Tropical Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 4 | Hurricane, Severe Storm, Snowstorm, Flood |
| 1990s | 4 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm ×2 |
| 2000s | 8 | Hurricane ×7, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 4 | Hurricane ×4 |
| 2020s | 11 | Hurricane ×7, Winter Storm ×2, Tropical Storm, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Hancock 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: Tropical Storm Arthur (2026), Hurricane Ida (2021), Hurricane Zeta (2020), Hurricane Delta (2020), Hurricane Sally (2020), Hurricane Marco (2020), Hurricane Nate (2017), Hurricane Isaac (2012), Tropical Storm Isaac (2012), Hurricane Gustav (2008), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Dennis (2005), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Tropical Storm Isidore (2002), Tropical Storm Allison (2001), Hurricane Georges (1998), Hurricane Frederic (1979).
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 61
| Tornadoes touching the county | 61 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (17) |
| Deadliest | 19 May 1980, F3, 13.1 mi path, 0 killed, 8 injured |
| Longest path | 20 Apr 1982, F2, 18 mi path |
| Most recent | 10 Apr 2024, EF1, 2.9 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 14 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 27 | 24 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 6 | 14 |
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 Hancock County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hancock County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 82.7 | Hurricane |
| Harrison County | 37 km | Relatively High | 95.6 | Hurricane |
| Pearl River County | 40 km | Relatively Moderate | 86.1 | Hurricane |
| St. Tammany Parish, LA | 43 km | Relatively High | 96.6 | Hurricane |
| Stone County | 55 km | Relatively Low | 52.0 | Hurricane |
| Orleans Parish, LA | 58 km | Relatively High | 98.3 | Hurricane |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Mississippi, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 74.7 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 73.3 |
| Community risk factor | 1.34 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $38 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 Hancock County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Mississippi · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Mississippi
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- 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 Hancock County
What natural disasters is Hancock County, Mississippi most at risk from?
Hancock County, Mississippi has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 82.7 out of 100, higher than about 82% of US counties, with hurricanes, lightning and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $38 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Hancock County had?
OpenFEMA lists 31 federal disaster declarations that included Hancock County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4930-MS (Tropical Storm Arthur, declared 3 August 2026). Another 3 Mississippi declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Hancock County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 61 tornadoes touching Hancock County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 19 May 1980, F3, 13.1 mi path, 0 killed, 8 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.