Nebraska Natural Disaster Risk by County

Most exposed counties, hazard by hazard

Top 10 by FEMA hazard risk score

Tornado 93 rated

#	County	Rating	Loss a year
1	Douglas County	Very High	$64 million
2	Lancaster County	Relatively High	$42 million
3	Sarpy County	Relatively High	$29 million
4	Platte County	Relatively High	$8.6 million
5	Hall County	Relatively Moderate	$8.3 million
6	Dodge County	Relatively Moderate	$6.4 million
7	Madison County	Relatively Moderate	$5.7 million
8	Adams County	Relatively Moderate	$4.8 million
9	Gage County	Relatively Moderate	$4.4 million
10	Dakota County	Relatively Moderate	$3.2 million

Inland flooding 93 rated

#	County	Rating	Loss a year
1	Douglas County	Relatively High	$88 million
2	Lancaster County	Relatively Moderate	$34 million
3	Sarpy County	Relatively Moderate	$24 million
4	Hall County	Relatively Low	$15 million
5	Dodge County	Relatively Low	$15 million
6	Madison County	Relatively Low	$12 million
7	Platte County	Relatively Low	$10 million
8	Buffalo County	Relatively Low	$10 million
9	Cuming County	Relatively Low	$5.7 million
10	Lincoln County	Relatively Low	$6.8 million

Wildfire 93 rated

#	County	Rating	Loss a year
1	Lancaster County	Relatively Moderate	$3.3 million
2	Sheridan County	Relatively Moderate	$1.1 million
3	Douglas County	Relatively Low	$1.3 million
4	Cherry County	Relatively Low	$931,809
5	Cuming County	Relatively Low	$721,440
6	Thurston County	Relatively Low	$601,043
7	Custer County	Relatively Low	$629,058
8	Washington County	Relatively Low	$839,238
9	Sarpy County	Relatively Low	$736,922
10	Knox County	Relatively Low	$463,120

Earthquake 93 rated

#	County	Rating	Loss a year
1	Douglas County	Very Low	$372,738
2	Scotts Bluff County	Very Low	$298,400
3	Lancaster County	Very Low	$203,409
4	Box Butte County	Very Low	$107,519
5	Lincoln County	Very Low	$98,396
6	Hall County	Very Low	$99,007
7	Dawson County	Very Low	$66,420
8	Sarpy County	Very Low	$103,833
9	Madison County	Very Low	$61,783
10	Sheridan County	Very Low	$42,728

Every Nebraska county, highest overall risk first

93

Find a county:

#	County	Overall risk	Score	Loss a year	Top hazard	Declarations	Tornadoes
1	Douglas County	Relatively High	95.9	$234 million	Hail	27	22
2	Lancaster County	Relatively Moderate	90.7	$115 million	Strong wind	14	58
3	Sarpy County	Relatively Moderate	83.6	$80 million	Tornado	23	13
4	Hall County	Relatively Low	74.2	$38 million	Hail	15	79
5	Platte County	Relatively Low	70.6	$32 million	Hail	21	37
6	Dodge County	Relatively Low	67.4	$34 million	Hail	19	33
7	Buffalo County	Relatively Low	66.0	$37 million	Hail	17	89
8	Dawson County	Relatively Low	65.3	$23 million	Hail	13	59
9	Adams County	Relatively Low	64.3	$30 million	Hail	16	59
10	Scotts Bluff County	Relatively Low	63.8	$25 million	Hail	8	69
11	Madison County	Relatively Low	60.9	$27 million	Hail	17	47
12	Cuming County	Relatively Low	57.3	$17 million	Hail	22	34
13	Clay County	Relatively Low	56.0	$20 million	Hail	17	53
14	Webster County	Relatively Low	55.5	$14 million	Hail	14	37
15	York County	Relatively Low	52.3	$25 million	Hail	18	48
16	Furnas County	Relatively Low	51.9	$14 million	Hail	14	29
17	Lincoln County	Relatively Low	48.6	$17 million	Hail	18	110
18	Boone County	Relatively Low	43.4	$13 million	Hail	18	30
19	Merrick County	Relatively Low	42.9	$14 million	Hail	13	31
20	Hamilton County	Very Low	42.6	$20 million	Hail	21	67
21	Saline County	Very Low	42.4	$12 million	Hail	19	31
22	Gage County	Very Low	40.6	$15 million	Hail	22	55
23	Phelps County	Very Low	39.2	$17 million	Hail	12	39
24	Thayer County	Very Low	38.4	$13 million	Hail	22	61
25	Dakota County	Very Low	36.0	$12 million	Hail	14	7
26	Franklin County	Very Low	32.2	$8.9 million	Hail	8	31
27	Harlan County	Very Low	32.0	$10 million	Hail	12	26
28	Cass County	Very Low	31.0	$15 million	Hail	25	50
29	Kearney County	Very Low	30.9	$14 million	Hail	14	35
30	Knox County	Very Low	29.7	$9.6 million	Drought	16	47
31	Saunders County	Very Low	29.1	$16 million	Hail	28	47
32	Colfax County	Very Low	28.6	$13 million	Hail	18	34
33	Custer County	Very Low	28.0	$11 million	Winter weather	18	111
34	Cheyenne County	Very Low	27.8	$12 million	Drought	8	73
35	Morrill County	Very Low	27.8	$8.0 million	Drought	15	55
36	Thurston County	Very Low	26.4	$6.8 million	Wildfire	22	15
37	Valley County	Very Low	26.0	$9.0 million	Hail	16	36
38	Polk County	Very Low	25.7	$12 million	Hail	18	38
39	Washington County	Very Low	25.5	$14 million	Wildfire	22	24
40	Seward County	Very Low	24.9	$14 million	Hail	17	39
41	Butler County	Very Low	24.5	$10 million	Hail	17	37
42	Howard County	Very Low	24.2	$11 million	Hail	22	50
43	Jefferson County	Very Low	24.1	$8.4 million	Hail	23	29
44	Nuckolls County	Very Low	22.5	$8.7 million	Hail	19	44
45	Sherman County	Very Low	22.4	$8.2 million	Hail	17	35
46	Cedar County	Very Low	21.7	$9.3 million	Drought	14	32
47	Nance County	Very Low	21.7	$8.6 million	Hail	16	24
48	Box Butte County	Very Low	21.0	$8.4 million	Drought	7	43
49	Burt County	Very Low	20.7	$8.7 million	Drought	18	22
50	Red Willow County	Very Low	20.3	$8.2 million	Hail	12	39
51	Fillmore County	Very Low	20.1	$11 million	Hail	23	44
52	Antelope County	Very Low	19.5	$9.0 million	Hail	11	36
53	Otoe County	Very Low	18.0	$11 million	Hail	21	33
54	Holt County	Very Low	17.2	$7.0 million	Drought	14	81
55	Stanton County	Very Low	16.2	$7.5 million	Hail	17	37
56	Pierce County	Very Low	14.2	$8.4 million	Hail	15	29
57	Wayne County	Very Low	14.0	$9.3 million	Hail	16	23
58	Keith County	Very Low	13.8	$6.4 million	Hail	7	55
59	Richardson County	Very Low	13.8	$5.8 million	Drought	21	22
60	Frontier County	Very Low	13.7	$4.2 million	Hail	14	37
61	Cherry County	Very Low	13.6	$4.8 million	Wildfire	9	105
62	Nemaha County	Very Low	13.4	$5.1 million	Drought	24	22
63	Sheridan County	Very Low	13.4	$4.8 million	Wildfire	7	66
64	Greeley County	Very Low	12.7	$7.6 million	Hail	18	26
65	Gosper County	Very Low	9.8	$6.2 million	Hail	12	19
66	Dixon County	Very Low	8.8	$6.1 million	Hail	17	26
67	Kimball County	Very Low	7.6	$3.6 million	Hail	6	61
68	Hitchcock County	Very Low	6.8	$3.4 million	Drought	7	34
69	Chase County	Very Low	6.7	$4.8 million	Hail	10	31
70	Dawes County	Very Low	5.6	$4.3 million	Wildfire	10	38
71	Wheeler County	Very Low	5.5	$3.2 million	Hail	12	19
72	Johnson County	Very Low	4.6	$4.3 million	Wildfire	20	22
73	Perkins County	Very Low	4.4	$4.0 million	Hail	8	41
74	Deuel County	Very Low	4.0	$2.3 million	Drought	7	31
75	Pawnee County	Very Low	3.8	$2.4 million	Wildfire	18	22
76	Boyd County	Very Low	3.4	$3.5 million	Drought	16	9
77	Garden County	Very Low	2.8	$3.1 million	Drought	11	27
78	Brown County	Very Low	2.4	$2.7 million	Drought	9	38
79	Dundy County	Very Low	2.2	$2.8 million	Drought	10	36
80	Keya Paha County	Very Low	1.5	$1.0 million	Wildfire	11	14
81	Sioux County	Very Low	1.4	$1.9 million	Drought	12	28
82	Garfield County	Very Low	1.3	$1.4 million	Wildfire	12	17
83	Hayes County	Very Low	1.2	$1.7 million	Hail	17	20
84	Banner County	Very Low	0.8	$1.6 million	Drought	6	29
85	Rock County	Very Low	0.7	$1.3 million	Wildfire	12	17
86	Blaine County	Very Low	0.4	$695,279	Wildfire	10	11
87	Loup County	Very Low	0.3	$780,656	Hail	12	21
88	Arthur County	Very Low	0.3	$743,134	Wildfire	10	9
89	Hooker County	Very Low	0.3	$546,291	Wildfire	4	16
90	Thomas County	Very Low	0.2	$708,149	Wildfire	8	12
91	Logan County	Very Low	0.2	$698,621	Wildfire	12	19
92	Grant County	Very Low	0.2	$647,087	Wildfire	5	16
93	McPherson County	Very Low	0.1	$525,781	Drought	8	15

Score: FEMA's national percentile (higher = more risk). Declarations: federal declarations that named the county since 1953, not counting COVID-19. Tornadoes: NOAA SPC tornadoes that touched the county, 1950–2025.

Latest federal declarations in Nebraska

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding DR-4928-NE · Severe Storm · declared 3 Aug 2026 · 8 counties

Wildfires DR-4920-NE · Fire · declared 30 Jun 2026 · 5 counties

South Fork Fire FM-5637-NE · Fire · declared 10 Jun 2026 · 2 counties

Morrill-Cottonwood Fire FM-5623-NE · Fire · declared 13 Mar 2026 · 7 counties

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding DR-4896-NE · Severe Storm · declared 22 Oct 2025 · 12 counties

Severe Winter Storm and Straight-Line Winds DR-4868-NE · Winter Storm · declared 21 May 2025 · 28 counties

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding DR-4838-NE · Severe Storm · declared 21 Oct 2024 · 5 counties

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding DR-4822-NE · Severe Storm · declared 24 Sep 2024 · 17 counties

Other states and territories

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What this page shows, and what it misses

FEMA's National Risk Index compares every US county with every other for 18 natural hazards, combining expected losses with social vulnerability and community resilience. It is a planning-level estimate for nationwide comparison, not a flood-zone map and not the risk to any one property — for flood zones use FEMA's Flood Map Service Center ↗. Federal declarations exclude state declarations and SBA or USDA designations.

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 Nebraska

Which county in Nebraska has the highest natural disaster risk?

Of Nebraska's 93 counties, 0 have a Very High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025); the highest is Douglas County (score 95.9 of 100), and expected losses across the state total $1.3 billion a year.

Which Nebraska counties are most at risk from tornadoes?

By FEMA's National Risk Index tornado risk score: Douglas County, Lancaster County, Sarpy County. These are planning-level estimates for whole counties, not maps of individual properties.

Which Nebraska counties are most at risk from inland flooding?

By FEMA's National Risk Index inland flooding risk score: Douglas County, Lancaster County, Sarpy County. These are planning-level estimates for whole counties, not maps of individual properties.

How many FEMA disaster declarations has Nebraska had?

OpenFEMA lists 82 federal disaster, emergency and fire management declarations for Nebraska since 1960 (not counting COVID-19); the latest is DR-4928-NE, Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 3 August 2026.