Knox County, Ohio: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Knox County, Ohio has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 61.0 out of 100, higher than about 61% of US counties, with hail, strong winds and ice storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $19 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 11 federal disaster declarations that included Knox County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4077-OH (Severe Storms and Straight-Line Winds, declared 20 August 2012). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 13 tornadoes touching Knox County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 62,691 Buildings worth $16 billion Area 535 sq mi Risk rank in Ohio 41 of 88 FIPS 39083
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 85.5 | $1.1 million | about 3.8 a year | 143 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 81.9 | $1.2 million | about 2.1 a year | 81 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 79.0 | $319,562 | about once every 2.7 years | 25 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 77.8 | $157,455 | about 9.4 a year | 179 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 72.0 | $12 million | about once every 1.1 years | 26 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 65.0 | $3,295 | about once every 3.6 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 64.8 | $347,029 | about 42 a year | 120,989 strikes |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 64.3 | $1.8 million | about once every 4.0 years | 11 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 58.5 | $463,140 | about 2.5 a year | 42 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 58.1 | $1.1 million | about 4.2 a year | 79 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 48.5 | $216,684 | about once every 926 years | — |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 40.9 | $26,806 | about once every 174 years | 2 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 36.2 | $17,463 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| 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: Severe Storm 7, Snowstorm 2, Hurricane 1, Other 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Snowstorm ×2 |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 6 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane, Other |
| 2010s | 2 | Severe Storm ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Knox 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: Tropical Depression Ike (2008), Hurricane Katrina (2005).
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 13
| Tornadoes touching the county | 13 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×5 |
| Peak month | June (6) |
| Deadliest | 3 Apr 1982, F2, 0.8 mi path, 0 killed, 9 injured |
| Longest path | 20 Sep 2000, F1, 10 mi path |
| Most recent | 5 Jun 2024, EF0, 3.3 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 17 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 6 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
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 Knox County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knox County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 61.0 | Hail |
| Morrow County | 34 km | Very Low | 24.4 | Ice storm |
| Licking County | 35 km | Relatively Low | 78.9 | Hail |
| Richland County | 43 km | Relatively Low | 61.3 | Ice storm |
| Coshocton County | 44 km | Relatively Low | 49.1 | Landslide |
| Holmes County | 45 km | Relatively Low | 60.4 | Hail |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Ohio, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 62.7 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 80.1 |
| Community risk factor | 1.22 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $19 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 Knox County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Ohio · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Hail: Weather alerts for Ohio
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Ice storm: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- 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 Knox County
What natural disasters is Knox County, Ohio most at risk from?
Knox County, Ohio has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 61.0 out of 100, higher than about 61% of US counties, with hail, strong winds and ice storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $19 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Knox County had?
OpenFEMA lists 11 federal disaster declarations that included Knox County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4077-OH (Severe Storms and Straight-Line Winds, declared 20 August 2012). Another 3 Ohio declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Knox County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 13 tornadoes touching Knox County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 3 Apr 1982, F2, 0.8 mi path, 0 killed, 9 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.