Esmeralda County, Nevada: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Esmeralda County, Nevada has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 2.1 out of 100, higher than about 2% of US counties, with earthquakes, drought and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $1.3 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 1 federal disaster declaration that included Esmeralda County since 2005, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3243-NV (Hurricane Katrina Evacuation, declared 13 September 2005). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 1 tornado touching Esmeralda County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Nevada All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 725 Buildings worth $490 million Area 3,625 sq mi Risk rank in Nevada 17 of 17 FIPS 32009
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 68.7 | $454,762 | about once every 15 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 65.7 | $252,613 | about 124 a year | 3,129 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 43.6 | $535 | about 6.7 a year | — |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 43.1 | $198 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 41.0 | $149,651 | about 4 a year | 31 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 34.7 | $11,710 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 27.4 | $1 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 7 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 7.7 | $3,610 | about 5.9 a year | 112 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 5.2 | $11,394 | about once every 19 years | 1 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 4.7 | $413,915 | about once every 1.5 years | 19 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 4.7 | $9,616 | about 22 a year | 11,862 strikes |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 1.4 | $2,342 | about once every 21 years | 2 |
| Hail | Very Low | 0.9 | $110 | about once every 104 years | 0.4 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 0.9 | $57 | about once every 63 years | 0 |
| 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 1
Most common: Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 1 | Hurricane |
The last 1
Widest declarations that included Esmeralda County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3243-NV): 17 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 1
| Tornadoes touching the county | 1 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F0 ×1 |
| Peak month | August (1) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 27 Aug 1982, F0, 0.2 mi path |
| Most recent | 27 Aug 1982, F0, 0.2 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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 Esmeralda County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Esmeralda County (this page) | — | Very Low | 2.1 | Earthquake |
| Nye County | 106 km | Relatively Low | 78.3 | Heat wave |
| Mineral County | 109 km | Very Low | 9.8 | Earthquake |
| Mono County, CA | 112 km | Relatively Low | 46.5 | Wildfire |
| Inyo County, CA | 143 km | Relatively Low | 79.3 | Heat wave |
| Lyon County | 193 km | Relatively Low | 71.4 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Nevada, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 74.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 0.1 |
| Community risk factor | 1.68 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $1.3 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 Esmeralda County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Nevada · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Drought: Drought monitor for Nevada
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- 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 Esmeralda County
What natural disasters is Esmeralda County, Nevada most at risk from?
Esmeralda County, Nevada has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 2.1 out of 100, higher than about 2% of US counties, with earthquakes, drought and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $1.3 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Esmeralda County had?
OpenFEMA lists 1 federal disaster declaration that included Esmeralda County since 2005, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3243-NV (Hurricane Katrina Evacuation, declared 13 September 2005). Another 19 Nevada declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Esmeralda County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 1 tornado touching Esmeralda 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.