Essex County, New York: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Essex County, New York has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 62.7 out of 100, higher than about 62% of US counties, with landslides, avalanches and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $21 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 23 federal disaster declarations that included Essex County since 1993, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4825-NY (Remnants of Tropical Storm Debby, declared 24 September 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Essex County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 37,348 Buildings worth $13 billion Area 1,936 sq mi Risk rank in New York 40 of 62 FIPS 36031
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively High | 98.0 | $538,274 | about 4 a year | — |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | 81.4 | $456,669 | about once every 30 years | 1 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 81.0 | $680,023 | about 23 a year | 56,289 strikes |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 76.9 | $16 million | about 3.1 a year | 86 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 75.3 | $265,112 | about once every 4.2 years | 17 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 72.8 | $868,158 | about once every 360 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 68.7 | $111,202 | about 21 a year | 386 |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | 65.7 | $339,366 | about once every 57 years | 8 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 51.8 | $919,217 | about 5 a year | 92 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 36.7 | $334,485 | about once every 1.2 years | 33 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 31.0 | $128,276 | about once every 1.2 years | 16 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 24.8 | $9,459 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Tornado | Very Low | 23.8 | $298,065 | about once every 9.0 years | 1 |
| Hail | Very Low | 12.4 | $36,875 | about 1.2 a year | 45 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 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 23
Most common: Severe Storm 7, Flood 4, Hurricane 4, Snowstorm 3.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 6 | Severe Storm ×2, Snowstorm ×2, Hurricane, Flood |
| 2000s | 8 | Severe Storm ×3, Other ×2, Hurricane, Earthquake, Fire |
| 2010s | 6 | Flood ×2, Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm, Snowstorm |
| 2020s | 3 | Tropical Storm, Flood, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Essex County
- Hurricane Sandy (2012, EM-3351-NY): 62 New York counties designated.
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3262-NY): 62 New York counties designated.
- Severe Storms and Flooding (2004, DR-1534-NY): 62 New York counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Tropical Storm Debby (2024), 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 York also had 7 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 3
| Tornadoes touching the county | 3 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (2) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 6 May 1952, F2, 4.9 mi path |
| Most recent | 9 May 1978, F0, 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 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 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 Essex County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essex County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 62.7 | Landslide |
| Addison County, VT | 51 km | Very Low | 26.8 | Landslide |
| Warren County | 62 km | Relatively Low | 62.3 | Lightning |
| Chittenden County, VT | 67 km | Relatively Low | 63.9 | Winter weather |
| Franklin County | 68 km | Relatively Low | 48.9 | Ice storm |
| Clinton County | 70 km | Relatively Low | 68.8 | Ice storm |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in New York, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 55.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 85.5 |
| Community risk factor | 1.16 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $21 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 Essex County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for New York · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- Lightning: Weather alerts for New York
- 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 Essex County
What natural disasters is Essex County, New York most at risk from?
Essex County, New York has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 62.7 out of 100, higher than about 62% of US counties, with landslides, avalanches and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $21 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Essex County had?
OpenFEMA lists 23 federal disaster declarations that included Essex County since 1993, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4825-NY (Remnants of Tropical Storm Debby, declared 24 September 2024). Another 7 New York declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Essex County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Essex 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.