Buchanan County, Missouri: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Buchanan County, Missouri has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 74.4 out of 100, higher than about 74% of US counties, with hail, heat waves and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $35 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 26 federal disaster declarations that included Buchanan County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4612-MO (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 1 September 2021). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Buchanan County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Missouri All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 84,731 Buildings worth $20 billion Area 419 sq mi Risk rank in Missouri 25 of 115 FIPS 29021
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 90.2 | $1.9 million | about 8.6 a year | 328 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 89.8 | $3.2 million | about 12 a year | 154 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 89.7 | $7.4 million | about once every 3.4 years | 16 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 86.2 | $5.8 million | about 3.5 a year | 67 |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 85.2 | $1.7 million | about 6.4 a year | 244 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 83.0 | $24,977 | about once every 3.9 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 78.0 | $702,405 | about 48 a year | 205,967 strikes |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 73.6 | $164,390 | about 11 a year | 215 |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 72.3 | $633,104 | about 19 a year | 518 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 72.2 | $262,355 | about once every 1.3 years | 53 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 68.5 | $13 million | about 3.7 a year | 104 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 57.8 | $78,496 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 45.0 | $219,429 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hurricane | No Rating | 0.0 | — | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| 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 26
Most common: Severe Storm 11, Flood 9, Severe Ice Storm 4, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 5 | Flood ×3, Drought, Severe Storm |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 9 | Severe Ice Storm ×4, Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 8 | Severe Storm ×5, Flood ×3 |
| 2020s | 1 | Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Buchanan County
- Severe Winter Storm (2011, EM-3317-MO): 115 Missouri counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storm (2009, EM-3303-MO): 115 Missouri counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storms (2007, EM-3281-MO): 115 Missouri 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. Missouri also had 4 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 20
| Tornadoes touching the county | 20 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (5) |
| Deadliest | 16 Jun 1973, F2, 6 mi path, 0 killed, 14 injured |
| Longest path | 29 Jun 1960, F2, 25.1 mi path |
| Most recent | 19 May 2025, EF0, 4.3 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 19 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 3 |
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 Buchanan County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buchanan County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 74.4 | Hail |
| Platte County | 31 km | Relatively Low | 71.4 | Heat wave |
| Doniphan County, KS | 32 km | Very Low | 14.0 | Landslide |
| Clinton County | 35 km | Relatively Low | 56.2 | Hail |
| Andrew County | 36 km | Very Low | 22.1 | Landslide |
| DeKalb County | 43 km | Very Low | 16.0 | Drought |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Missouri, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 32.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 89.9 |
| Community risk factor | 0.98 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $35 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 Buchanan County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Missouri · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Hail: Weather alerts for Missouri
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- 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 Buchanan County
What natural disasters is Buchanan County, Missouri most at risk from?
Buchanan County, Missouri has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 74.4 out of 100, higher than about 74% of US counties, with hail, heat waves and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $35 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Buchanan County had?
OpenFEMA lists 26 federal disaster declarations that included Buchanan County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4612-MO (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 1 September 2021). Another 4 Missouri declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Buchanan County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Buchanan County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 16 Jun 1973, F2, 6 mi path, 0 killed, 14 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.