Gilliam County, Oregon: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Gilliam County, Oregon has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 2.7 out of 100, higher than about 2% of US counties, with wildfires, avalanches and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $1.9 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 10 federal disaster declarations that included Gilliam County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4854-OR (Wildfires, declared 1 January 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 1 tornado touching Gilliam County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Oregon All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 1,988 Buildings worth $635 million Area 1,235 sq mi Risk rank in Oregon 36 of 36 FIPS 41021
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 88.3 | $853,664 | about once every 71 years | — |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 62.9 | $1,611 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 55.8 | $1,646 | about once every 1.4 years | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 51.1 | $11 | about once every 79 years | 14 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 27.9 | $49,296 | about once every 251 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 27.1 | $78,707 | about 8.9 a year | 5,691 strikes |
| Drought | Very Low | 15.8 | $711 | about 48 a year | 1,211 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 13.0 | $5,980 | about once every 62 years | 1 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 12.9 | $23,017 | about 5 a year | 59 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 10.4 | $65,407 | about once every 2.4 years | 7.9 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 9.7 | $5,892 | about 10 a year | 189 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 7.0 | $790,672 | about once every 14 years | 2 |
| Hail | Very Low | 5.5 | $11,595 | about once every 4.5 years | 8.4 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 5.3 | $29,004 | about once every 5.8 years | 7 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 1.4 | $1,052 | about once every 43 years | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | 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 10
Most common: Severe Storm 3, Flood 3, Fire 2, Coastal Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 2 | Drought, Flood |
| 1990s | 2 | Severe Storm, Flood |
| 2000s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Coastal Storm |
| 2020s | 2 | Fire ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Gilliam 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 1
| Tornadoes touching the county | 1 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F0 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (1) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 12 Apr 1957, F0, 16.2 mi path |
| Most recent | 12 Apr 1957, F0, 16.2 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 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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 Gilliam County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gilliam County (this page) | — | Very Low | 2.7 | Wildfire |
| Sherman County | 37 km | Very Low | 2.9 | Wildfire |
| Morrow County | 49 km | Very Low | 26.4 | Wildfire |
| Klickitat County, WA | 71 km | Relatively Low | 73.9 | Wildfire |
| Wheeler County | 74 km | Very Low | 7.2 | Wildfire |
| Wasco County | 79 km | Relatively Low | 67.8 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Oregon, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 66.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 32.5 |
| Community risk factor | 1.29 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $1.9 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 Gilliam County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Oregon · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- 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 Gilliam County
What natural disasters is Gilliam County, Oregon most at risk from?
Gilliam County, Oregon has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 2.7 out of 100, higher than about 2% of US counties, with wildfires, avalanches and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $1.9 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Gilliam County had?
OpenFEMA lists 10 federal disaster declarations that included Gilliam County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4854-OR (Wildfires, declared 1 January 2025). Another 33 Oregon declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Gilliam County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 1 tornado touching Gilliam 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.