Grundy County, Tennessee: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Grundy County, Tennessee has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 34.3 out of 100, higher than about 34% of US counties, with cold waves, tornadoes and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $6.3 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 20 federal disaster declarations that included Grundy County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4898-TN (Severe Winter Storm, declared 6 February 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 10 tornadoes touching Grundy County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 13,485 Buildings worth $2.3 billion Area 365 sq mi Risk rank in Tennessee 70 of 95 FIPS 47061
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 | Relatively Moderate | 75.0 | $1.5 million | about 1.2 a year | 23 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 74.5 | $1.8 million | about once every 3.5 years | 9 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 64.2 | $338,492 | about once every 314 years | — |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 63.3 | $1,951 | about once every 1.8 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 58.8 | $50,194 | about 6.8 a year | 129 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 56.5 | $378,548 | about 5.6 a year | 212 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 56.1 | $38,994 | about once every 495 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 52.1 | $96,762 | about 21 a year | 623 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 45.3 | $27,356 | about once every 51 years | 6 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 35.2 | $24,212 | about once every 1.3 years | 51 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 29.4 | $2.0 million | about once every 1.4 years | 20 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 26.0 | $53,552 | about 61 a year | 53,618 strikes |
| Hail | Very Low | 24.5 | $51,631 | about 3.8 a year | 144 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 5.7 | $4,142 | about once every 4.7 years | 4 |
| 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 20
Most common: Severe Storm 9, Flood 3, Winter Storm 2, Fire 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 3 | Flood ×2, Tornado |
| 1990s | 7 | Severe Storm ×4, Fire, Snowstorm, Flood |
| 2000s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane, Fire |
| 2010s | 1 | Severe Ice Storm |
| 2020s | 5 | Severe Storm ×3, Winter Storm ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Grundy County
- Severe Winter Storm (2026, DR-4898-TN): 95 Tennessee counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storm (2026, EM-3635-TN): 95 Tennessee counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding (2025, EM-3625-TN): 95 Tennessee 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. Tennessee also had 1 statewide declaration with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 10
| Tornadoes touching the county | 10 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×2 |
| Peak month | February (2) |
| Deadliest | 26 Jun 1994, F2, 4 mi path, 0 killed, 6 injured |
| Longest path | 6 Nov 2018, EF2, 29.4 mi path |
| Most recent | 5 Apr 2025, EF1, 6.4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 8 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 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 Grundy County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grundy County (this page) | — | Very Low | 34.3 | Cold wave |
| Sequatchie County | 28 km | Very Low | 40.2 | Cold wave |
| Marion County | 30 km | Relatively Low | 58.2 | Strong wind |
| Warren County | 33 km | Relatively Low | 63.5 | Tornado |
| Coffee County | 34 km | Relatively Low | 63.5 | Earthquake |
| Van Buren County | 42 km | Very Low | 2.7 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Tennessee, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 98.3 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 18.4 |
| Community risk factor | 1.81 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $6.3 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 Grundy County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Tennessee · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning now?
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- 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 Grundy County
What natural disasters is Grundy County, Tennessee most at risk from?
Grundy County, Tennessee has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 34.3 out of 100, higher than about 34% of US counties, with cold waves, tornadoes and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $6.3 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Grundy County had?
OpenFEMA lists 20 federal disaster declarations that included Grundy County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4898-TN (Severe Winter Storm, declared 6 February 2026). Another 1 Tennessee declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Grundy County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 10 tornadoes touching Grundy County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 26 Jun 1994, F2, 4 mi path, 0 killed, 6 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.