Columbia County, Oregon: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Columbia County, Oregon has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 70.7 out of 100, higher than about 70% of US counties, with earthquakes, heat waves and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $34 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Columbia County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4562-OR (Wildfires and Straight-Line Winds, declared 15 September 2020). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Columbia County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Oregon All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 52,498 Buildings worth $11 billion Area 696 sq mi Risk rank in Oregon 21 of 36 FIPS 41009
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | 94.5 | $15 million | about once every 46 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 90.5 | $3.7 million | about 4.9 a year | 81 |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 89.4 | $62,180 | about 5.6 a year | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 81.8 | $1,280 | about once every 88 years | 4 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 68.2 | $14 million | about once every 2.3 years | 12 |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Low | 50.4 | $158,588 | about 2.5 a year | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 38.8 | $57,539 | about once every 1.1 years | 61 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 30.8 | $507,400 | about once every 7.3 years | 2.6 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 30.5 | $16,933 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 27.1 | $29,804 | about 13 a year | 242 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 23.7 | $254,722 | about once every 21 years | 2 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 13.3 | $129,801 | about once every 17 years | 2 |
| Hail | Very Low | 4.8 | $12,964 | about once every 21 years | 1.8 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 4.7 | $2 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 4.0 | $15,590 | about 5.6 a year | 12,687 strikes |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
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 15
Most common: Severe Storm 8, Flood 4, Fire 1, Coastal Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 3 | Severe Storm, Flood, Fishing Losses |
| 2000s | 6 | Severe Storm ×5, Coastal Storm |
| 2010s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood |
| 2020s | 1 | Fire |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Columbia County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3228-OR): 36 Oregon counties designated.
- Heavy Rains & Flooding (1964, DR-184-OR): 36 Oregon counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storms (2004, DR-1510-OR): 30 Oregon counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Oregon also had 33 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 3
| Tornadoes touching the county | 3 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (1) |
| Deadliest | 28 Apr 2000, F0, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Longest path | 10 Nov 2020, EF0, 1.7 mi path |
| Most recent | 10 Nov 2020, EF0, 1.7 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 1 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 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 Columbia County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 70.7 | Earthquake |
| Cowlitz County, WA | 42 km | Relatively Moderate | 90.3 | Volcanic activity |
| Washington County | 43 km | Relatively High | 96.0 | Earthquake |
| Clatsop County | 44 km | Relatively High | 95.1 | Tsunami |
| Wahkiakum County, WA | 47 km | Very Low | 19.3 | Landslide |
| Clark County, WA | 50 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.2 | Earthquake |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Oregon, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 21.2 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 65.6 |
| Community risk factor | 0.90 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $34 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 Columbia County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Oregon · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- Landslide: Landslides 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 Columbia County
What natural disasters is Columbia County, Oregon most at risk from?
Columbia County, Oregon has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 70.7 out of 100, higher than about 70% of US counties, with earthquakes, heat waves and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $34 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Columbia County had?
OpenFEMA lists 15 federal disaster declarations that included Columbia County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4562-OR (Wildfires and Straight-Line Winds, declared 15 September 2020). Another 33 Oregon declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Columbia County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Columbia County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 28 Apr 2000, F0, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 1 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.