Clark County, Nevada: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Clark County, Nevada has a Very High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 99.6 out of 100, higher than about 99% of US counties, with heat waves, inland (river and flash) flooding and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $813 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 12 federal disaster declarations that included Clark County since 1981, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5034-NV (Carpenter 1 Fire, declared 5 July 2013). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 12 tornadoes touching Clark County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 2,260,510 Buildings worth $444 billion Area 8,142 sq mi Risk rank in Nevada 1 of 17 FIPS 32003
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat wave | Very High | 99.9 | $295 million | about 12 a year | 78 |
| Inland flooding | Very High | 99.6 | $362 million | about 7.3 a year | 203 |
| Earthquake | Relatively High | 99.1 | $124 million | about once every 57 years | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively High | 99.1 | $24 million | about once every 246 years | — |
| Hail | Relatively High | 97.3 | $4.3 million | about once every 8.5 years | 4.4 |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 92.1 | $69,500 | about 5.4 a year | — |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 85.8 | $891,345 | about 24 a year | 527,188 strikes |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | 85.1 | $913,463 | about once every 15 years | 2 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 66.5 | $804,439 | about once every 3.3 years | 12 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 61.6 | $88,523 | about 2.2 a year | 40 |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 36.5 | $4 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Drought | Very Low | 16.7 | $1,446 | about 7 a year | 2,961 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 9.2 | $51,292 | about once every 6.0 years | 9 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 2.6 | $1 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| Hurricane | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Ice storm | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | 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 12
Most common: Fire 5, Severe Storm 2, Snowstorm 2, Flood 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 7 | Fire ×3, Snowstorm ×2, Hurricane, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 2 | Fire ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Clark County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3243-NV): 17 Nevada counties designated.
- Snow (2005, EM-3204-NV): 16 Nevada counties designated.
- Record and/Or Near Record Snow (2005, EM-3202-NV): 15 Nevada 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. Nevada also had 19 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 12
| Tornadoes touching the county | 12 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×4 |
| Peak month | August (3) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 28 May 1986, F0, 3 mi path |
| Most recent | 4 Aug 2014, EF0, 0.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
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 Clark County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clark County (this page) | — | Very High | 99.6 | Heat wave |
| Mohave County, AZ | 126 km | Relatively High | 94.8 | Wildfire |
| Lincoln County | 159 km | Very Low | 25.9 | Wildfire |
| Washington County, UT | 179 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.8 | Wildfire |
| San Bernardino County, CA | 186 km | Very High | 99.8 | Landslide |
| Inyo County, CA | 217 km | Relatively Low | 79.3 | Heat wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Nevada, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 46.1 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 6.6 |
| Community risk factor | 1.14 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $813 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 Clark County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Nevada · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods recorded
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- 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 Clark County
What natural disasters is Clark County, Nevada most at risk from?
Clark County, Nevada has a Very High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 99.6 out of 100, higher than about 99% of US counties, with heat waves, inland (river and flash) flooding and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $813 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Clark County had?
OpenFEMA lists 12 federal disaster declarations that included Clark County since 1981, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5034-NV (Carpenter 1 Fire, declared 5 July 2013). Another 19 Nevada declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Clark County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 12 tornadoes touching Clark County from 1950 to 2025.
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.