St. Charles County, Missouri: Natural Disaster Risk and History
St. Charles County, Missouri has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 92.6 out of 100, higher than about 92% of US counties, with strong winds, hail and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $215 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 26 federal disaster declarations that included St. Charles County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4665-MO (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 8 August 2022). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 43 tornadoes touching St. Charles County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 405,183 Buildings worth $91 billion Area 598 sq mi Risk rank in Missouri 4 of 115 FIPS 29183
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strong wind | Very High | 98.1 | $9.7 million | about 5.9 a year | 225 |
| Hail | Relatively High | 97.6 | $9.3 million | about 5.3 a year | 201 |
| Tornado | Relatively High | 96.4 | $28 million | about once every 2.2 years | 38 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 95.6 | $12 million | about 15 a year | 157 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | 94.6 | $22 million | about once every 211 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 94.2 | $116 million | about 2.1 a year | 58 |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 92.8 | $143,665 | about once every 2.3 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 92.7 | $15 million | about 1.7 a year | 33 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 89.7 | $2.0 million | about 51 a year | 346,999 strikes |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 89.0 | $657,907 | about 8.8 a year | 167 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 71.6 | $416,063 | about 1.3 a year | 87 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 58.8 | $134,953 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 32.3 | $56,087 | about 1.9 a year | 70 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 22.8 | $13,128 | about once every 121 years | 2 |
| 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 3, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 1970s | 3 | Tornado, Drought, Severe Storm |
| 1980s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1990s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood ×2 |
| 2000s | 9 | Severe Storm ×4, Severe Ice Storm ×3, Hurricane, Flood |
| 2010s | 6 | Severe Storm ×3, Flood ×3 |
| 2020s | 1 | Flood |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included St. Charles 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 43
| Tornadoes touching the county | 43 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×7 |
| Peak month | May (10) |
| Deadliest | 10 Dec 2021, EF3, 27.3 mi path, 1 killed, 2 injured |
| Longest path | 31 May 2013, EF3, 31.7 mi path, 0 killed, 8 injured |
| Most recent | 4 Nov 2024, EF0, 6.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 106 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 17 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 8 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 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 St. Charles County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Charles County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 92.6 | Strong wind |
| St. Louis County | 25 km | Relatively High | 99.3 | Heat wave |
| Lincoln County | 39 km | Relatively Low | 67.1 | Heat wave |
| St. Louis City | 41 km | Relatively High | 98.7 | Heat wave |
| Warren County | 42 km | Relatively Low | 55.3 | Heat wave |
| Calhoun County, IL | 43 km | Very Low | 6.1 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Missouri, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 95.1 |
| Community risk factor | 0.60 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $215 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 St. Charles County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Missouri · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Hail: Weather alerts for Missouri
- 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 St. Charles County
What natural disasters is St. Charles County, Missouri most at risk from?
St. Charles County, Missouri has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 92.6 out of 100, higher than about 92% of US counties, with strong winds, hail and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $215 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has St. Charles County had?
OpenFEMA lists 26 federal disaster declarations that included St. Charles County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4665-MO (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 8 August 2022). Another 4 Missouri declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit St. Charles County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 43 tornadoes touching St. Charles County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 10 Dec 2021, EF3, 27.3 mi path, 1 killed, 2 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.