Cuyahoga County, Ohio: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Cuyahoga County, Ohio has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 98.0 out of 100, higher than about 98% of US counties, with cold waves, tornadoes and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $282 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Cuyahoga County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4098-OH (Severe Storms and Flooding Due To the Remnants of Hurricane Sandy, declared 3 January 2013). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Cuyahoga County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Ohio All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 1,264,334 Buildings worth $274 billion Area 1,258 sq mi Risk rank in Ohio 2 of 88 FIPS 39035
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold wave | Very High | 99.7 | $50 million | about 3.7 a year | 70 |
| Tornado | Very High | 99.0 | $33 million | about once every 2.4 years | 15 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 98.7 | $178 million | about 2.8 a year | 77 |
| Heat wave | Relatively High | 97.7 | $11 million | about 2.2 a year | 38 |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 96.6 | $3.2 million | about 2 a year | 30 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 96.4 | $754,645 | about 19 a year | 369 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 93.1 | $1.3 million | about 4 a year | 660,890 strikes |
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 92.6 | $1.0 million | about once every 1.1 years | 23 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 89.6 | $4.4 million | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | 62.4 | $228,597 | about once every 76 years | 6 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 56.9 | $60,272 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 55.7 | $283,846 | about 3.7 a year | 142 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 34.7 | $387 | about once every 7.0 years | — |
| Coastal flooding | Very Low | 33.0 | $6,024 | about once every 79 years | — |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| 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 17
Most common: Severe Storm 6, Flood 4, Tornado 3, Hurricane 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Tornado ×2 |
| 1970s | 4 | Flood ×3, Snowstorm |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 7 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane, Other, Tornado |
| 2010s | 2 | Hurricane, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Cuyahoga County
- Severe Storms (2012, EM-3346-OH): 88 Ohio counties designated.
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3250-OH): 88 Ohio counties designated.
- Severe Storms and Flooding (2004, DR-1556-OH): 88 Ohio counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Sandy (2013), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Tropical Storm Agnes (1972).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Ohio also had 3 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 20
| Tornadoes touching the county | 20 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | August (6) |
| Deadliest | 11 Apr 1965, F4, 22 mi path, 18 killed, 200 injured |
| Longest path | 11 Apr 1965, F4, 22 mi path, 18 killed, 200 injured |
| Most recent | 6 Aug 2024, EF1, 11.9 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 23 / 266 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
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 Cuyahoga County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cuyahoga County (this page) | — | Relatively High | 98.0 | Cold wave |
| Summit County | 35 km | Relatively Moderate | 91.2 | Hail |
| Medina County | 40 km | Relatively Low | 69.0 | Winter weather |
| Geauga County | 41 km | Relatively Low | 60.3 | Winter weather |
| Lorain County | 44 km | Relatively Moderate | 86.3 | Strong wind |
| Lake County | 46 km | Relatively Low | 77.4 | Winter weather |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Ohio, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 64.1 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 98.7 |
| Community risk factor | 1.21 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $282 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 Cuyahoga County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Ohio · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning now?
- 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 Cuyahoga County
What natural disasters is Cuyahoga County, Ohio most at risk from?
Cuyahoga County, Ohio has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 98.0 out of 100, higher than about 98% of US counties, with cold waves, tornadoes and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $282 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Cuyahoga County had?
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Cuyahoga County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4098-OH (Severe Storms and Flooding Due To the Remnants of Hurricane Sandy, declared 3 January 2013). Another 3 Ohio declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Cuyahoga County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Cuyahoga County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 11 Apr 1965, F4, 22 mi path, 18 killed, 200 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.