Winston County, Mississippi: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Winston County, Mississippi has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 39.9 out of 100, higher than about 39% of US counties, with tornadoes, strong winds and hurricanes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.7 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Winston County since 1977, 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 35 tornadoes touching Winston County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 17,714 Buildings worth $3.2 billion Area 616 sq mi Risk rank in Mississippi 56 of 82 FIPS 28159
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 Moderate | 79.2 | $2.3 million | about once every 1.5 years | 35 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 77.8 | $742,141 | about 2.6 a year | 100 |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | 72.5 | $455,956 | about once every 14 years | 26 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 68.5 | $447,029 | about once every 377 years | — |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 66.4 | $296,422 | about 3.5 a year | 134 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 63.6 | $420,570 | about 12 a year | 186 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 60.8 | $889,013 | about 1.1 a year | 21 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 59.9 | $82,436 | about once every 1.1 years | 63 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 58.1 | $153,371 | about 14 a year | 441 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 52.2 | $155,075 | about 69 a year | 67,451 strikes |
| Landslide | Very Low | 47.7 | $729 | about once every 2.7 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 44.4 | $32,786 | about 3.1 a year | 59 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 35.5 | $12,158 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 22.2 | $1.6 million | about 1.1 a year | 32 |
| 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 16
Most common: Hurricane 7, Severe Storm 4, Winter Storm 2, Severe Ice Storm 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Severe Storm, Snowstorm |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Ice Storm |
| 2000s | 5 | Hurricane ×4, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2020s | 5 | Winter Storm ×2, Hurricane ×2, Severe Ice Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Winston 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 Isaac (2012), Hurricane Gustav (2008), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Dennis (2005), Hurricane Ivan (2004).
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 35
| Tornadoes touching the county | 35 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F5 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (19) |
| Deadliest | 28 Apr 2014, EF4, 33.4 mi path, 10 killed, 84 injured |
| Longest path | 4 Apr 1957, F2, 40.7 mi path, 0 killed, 4 injured |
| Most recent | 5 Jan 2025, EF1, 4.3 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 16 / 110 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 19 | 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 Winston County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winston County (this page) | — | Very Low | 39.9 | Tornado |
| Choctaw County | 35 km | Very Low | 11.5 | Strong wind |
| Neshoba County | 38 km | Relatively Low | 58.3 | Tornado |
| Oktibbeha County | 40 km | Relatively Low | 62.8 | Earthquake |
| Noxubee County | 43 km | Very Low | 29.0 | Drought |
| Attala County | 51 km | Very Low | 34.2 | Tornado |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Mississippi, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 96.7 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 39.4 |
| Community risk factor | 1.69 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $7.7 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 Winston 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?
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- 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 Winston County
What natural disasters is Winston County, Mississippi most at risk from?
Winston County, Mississippi has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 39.9 out of 100, higher than about 39% of US counties, with tornadoes, strong winds and hurricanes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.7 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Winston County had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Winston County since 1977, 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 Winston County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 35 tornadoes touching Winston County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 28 Apr 2014, EF4, 33.4 mi path, 10 killed, 84 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.