Elko County, Nevada: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Elko County, Nevada has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 87.9 out of 100, higher than about 87% of US counties, with wildfires, winter storms and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $75 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Elko County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5191-NV (Oil Well Fire, declared 17 July 2017). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 23 tornadoes touching Elko County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 53,581 Buildings worth $13 billion Area 17,376 sq mi Risk rank in Nevada 3 of 17 FIPS 32007
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively High | 99.9 | $62 million | about once every 32 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 87.4 | $354,662 | about 22 a year | 410 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 84.2 | $2.7 million | about once every 112 years | — |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | 81.1 | $502,359 | about once every 30 years | 1 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 56.6 | $2,286 | about 8 a year | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 55.9 | $516,443 | about 2.2 a year | 25 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 54.5 | $8.0 million | about 1.8 a year | 51 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 51.9 | $262,838 | about 3 a year | 189,412 strikes |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 39.2 | $64,358 | about 85 a year | 3,647 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 22.4 | $278,257 | about once every 5.5 years | 3.5 |
| Hail | Very Low | 20.9 | $78,637 | about once every 15 years | 2.5 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 18.2 | $167,557 | about once every 4.1 years | 10 |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 10.4 | — | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 1.7 | $1,855 | about once every 2.1 years | 18 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | 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 17
Most common: Fire 11, Severe Storm 2, Snowstorm 2, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 2000s | 13 | Fire ×9, Snowstorm ×2, Severe Storm, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 3 | Fire ×2, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Elko 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 23
| Tornadoes touching the county | 23 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×6 |
| Peak month | May (9) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 27 May 1987, F0, 8 mi path |
| Most recent | 5 Jun 2023, unrated, 0.5 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 16 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 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 Elko County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elko County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 87.9 | Wildfire |
| Twin Falls County, ID | 146 km | Relatively Low | 46.9 | Winter weather |
| Eureka County | 150 km | Very Low | 5.2 | Wildfire |
| Owyhee County, ID | 173 km | Relatively Low | 44.1 | Wildfire |
| Box Elder County, UT | 190 km | Relatively Low | 55.9 | Wildfire |
| Cassia County, ID | 193 km | Relatively Low | 43.6 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Nevada, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 28.5 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 3.5 |
| Community risk factor | 0.99 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $75 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 Elko County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Nevada · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- 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 Elko County
What natural disasters is Elko County, Nevada most at risk from?
Elko County, Nevada has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 87.9 out of 100, higher than about 87% of US counties, with wildfires, winter storms and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $75 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Elko County had?
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Elko County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5191-NV (Oil Well Fire, declared 17 July 2017). Another 19 Nevada declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Elko County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 23 tornadoes touching Elko 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.