Clay County, North Carolina: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Clay County, North Carolina has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 26.9 out of 100, higher than about 26% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $5.1 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 11 federal disaster declarations that included Clay County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3637-NC (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 5 tornadoes touching Clay County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for North Carolina All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 11,079 Buildings worth $2.6 billion Area 223 sq mi Risk rank in North Carolina 94 of 100 FIPS 37043
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 Moderate | 91.8 | $41,199 | about once every 1.3 years | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 64.3 | $65,954 | about once every 427 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 55.0 | $652,361 | about 1.2 a year | 23 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 52.5 | $54,418 | about once a year | 71 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 47.9 | $141,582 | about once every 328 years | — |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 47.9 | $34,865 | about once every 57 years | 3 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 46.9 | $119,388 | about 6 a year | 33,841 strikes |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 44.5 | $593,976 | about once every 9.2 years | 2 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 43.8 | $3.2 million | about once every 4.0 years | 7 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 40.1 | $37,730 | about 33 a year | 868 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 27.5 | $152,056 | about 2.9 a year | 110 |
| Hail | Very Low | 23.6 | $49,189 | about 3.8 a year | 145 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 8.1 | $3,476 | about 6.7 a year | 127 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 4.6 | $2,932 | about once every 9.5 years | 2 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| 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 11
Most common: Hurricane 5, Tropical Storm 2, Flood 2, Winter Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 2 | Flood, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 2010s | 2 | Hurricane ×2 |
| 2020s | 5 | Tropical Storm ×2, Hurricane ×2, Winter Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Clay County
- Severe Winter Storm (2026, EM-3637-NC): 100 North Carolina counties designated.
- Hurricane Helene (2024, EM-3617-NC): 100 North Carolina counties designated.
- Hurricane Ian (2022, EM-3586-NC): 100 North Carolina counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Tropical Storm Helene (2024), Hurricane Helene (2024), Hurricane Ian (2022), Hurricane Isaias (2020), Hurricane Dorian (2019), Hurricane Florence (2018), Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. North Carolina also had 9 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 5
| Tornadoes touching the county | 5 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×3 |
| Peak month | January (1) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 25 Dec 1974, F1, 11 mi path |
| Most recent | 17 Mar 2018, EF0, 1.5 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 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 Clay County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay County (this page) | — | Very Low | 26.9 | Landslide |
| Towns County, GA | 16 km | Very Low | 39.6 | Landslide |
| Cherokee County | 30 km | Relatively Low | 56.7 | Landslide |
| Macon County | 32 km | Relatively Low | 73.8 | Landslide |
| Union County, GA | 33 km | Relatively Low | 52.5 | Landslide |
| Graham County | 33 km | Very Low | 20.1 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in North Carolina, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 95.2 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 4.8 |
| Community risk factor | 1.82 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $5.1 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 Clay County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for North Carolina · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- 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 Clay County
What natural disasters is Clay County, North Carolina most at risk from?
Clay County, North Carolina has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 26.9 out of 100, higher than about 26% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $5.1 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Clay County had?
OpenFEMA lists 11 federal disaster declarations that included Clay County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3637-NC (Severe Winter Storm, declared 24 January 2026). Another 9 North Carolina declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Clay County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 5 tornadoes touching Clay 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.