Morris County, New Jersey: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Morris County, New Jersey has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 92.9 out of 100, higher than about 92% of US counties, with strong winds, winter storms and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $208 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 31 federal disaster declarations that included Morris County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4614-NJ (Remnants of Hurricane Ida, declared 5 September 2021). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 9 tornadoes touching Morris County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 508,868 Buildings worth $133 billion Area 486 sq mi Risk rank in New Jersey 13 of 21 FIPS 34027
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 | Relatively High | 96.7 | $6.1 million | about 6.4 a year | 242 |
| Winter weather | Very High | 96.5 | $1.4 million | about 14 a year | 272 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 96.3 | $158 million | about 4.4 a year | 122 |
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 93.1 | $15 million | about once every 1.2 years | 16 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 90.6 | $2.0 million | about 33 a year | 274,057 strikes |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 89.2 | $4.6 million | about 6.1 a year | 91 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 88.8 | $7.1 million | about once every 513 years | — |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | 85.2 | $6.3 million | about once every 10 years | 26 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 79.9 | $6.4 million | about once every 5.6 years | 10 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 74.0 | $13,845 | about once every 2.4 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 66.8 | $690,906 | about 2.6 a year | 70 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 59.6 | $214,885 | about once every 1.1 years | 59 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 30.0 | $22,977 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hail | Very Low | 22.0 | $127,944 | about 2.5 a year | 94 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 16.7 | $33 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| 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 31
Most common: Hurricane 10, Severe Storm 8, Snowstorm 5, Flood 4.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Flood, Drought |
| 1970s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1980s | 2 | Flood, Drought |
| 1990s | 5 | Hurricane ×2, Snowstorm ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 7 | Severe Storm ×3, Hurricane, Snowstorm, Fire, Other |
| 2010s | 9 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane ×4, Snowstorm |
| 2020s | 4 | Hurricane ×3, Snowstorm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Morris County
- Remnants of Hurricane Ida (2021, DR-4614-NJ): 21 New Jersey counties designated.
- Remnants of Hurricane Ida (2021, EM-3573-NJ): 21 New Jersey counties designated.
- Hurricane Sandy (2012, DR-4086-NJ): 21 New Jersey counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Ida (2021), Tropical Storm Isaias (2020), Hurricane Sandy (2012), Hurricane Irene (2011), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Floyd (1999).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. New Jersey also had 2 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 9
| Tornadoes touching the county | 9 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×2 |
| Peak month | May (2) |
| Deadliest | 28 May 1973, F3, 0.4 mi path, 0 killed, 12 injured |
| Longest path | 29 Jun 1994, F1, 14 mi path |
| Most recent | 19 Aug 2021, EF0, 0.9 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 14 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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 Morris County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morris County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 92.9 | Strong wind |
| Essex County | 26 km | Relatively High | 97.7 | Heat wave |
| Passaic County | 28 km | Relatively High | 95.8 | Strong wind |
| Union County | 30 km | Relatively High | 95.5 | Strong wind |
| Sussex County | 33 km | Relatively Low | 77.4 | Strong wind |
| Somerset County | 34 km | Relatively Moderate | 90.9 | Inland flooding |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in New Jersey, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 89.5 |
| Community risk factor | 0.64 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $208 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 Morris County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for New Jersey · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods 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 Morris County
What natural disasters is Morris County, New Jersey most at risk from?
Morris County, New Jersey has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 92.9 out of 100, higher than about 92% of US counties, with strong winds, winter storms and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $208 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Morris County had?
OpenFEMA lists 31 federal disaster declarations that included Morris County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4614-NJ (Remnants of Hurricane Ida, declared 5 September 2021). Another 2 New Jersey declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Morris County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 9 tornadoes touching Morris County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 28 May 1973, F3, 0.4 mi path, 0 killed, 12 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.