Putnam County, Tennessee: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Putnam County, Tennessee has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 65.8 out of 100, higher than about 65% of US counties, with lightning, tornadoes and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $24 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Putnam County since 1974, 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 20 tornadoes touching Putnam County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 79,809 Buildings worth $13 billion Area 407 sq mi Risk rank in Tennessee 32 of 95 FIPS 47141
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Relatively High | 88.3 | $1.1 million | about 58 a year | 134,935 strikes |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 86.9 | $5.6 million | about once every 3.9 years | 20 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 85.7 | $2.9 million | about once every 331 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 84.8 | $261,237 | about 9.5 a year | 181 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 80.3 | $3.6 million | about 1.2 a year | 23 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 73.0 | $619,415 | about 3.2 a year | 121 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 72.7 | $245,887 | about once every 1.4 years | 49 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 72.1 | $998,074 | about 5.5 a year | 211 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 60.2 | $8.8 million | about 2.1 a year | 60 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 54.1 | $1,736 | about once every 1.3 years | — |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 48.0 | $59,234 | about once every 36 years | 8 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 35.6 | $178,008 | about 1.1 a year | 20 |
| Drought | Very Low | 30.2 | $25,048 | about 16 a year | 469 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 27.1 | $11,705 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| 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 17
Most common: Severe Storm 6, Winter Storm 3, Severe Ice Storm 2, Tornado 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Flood, Tornado |
| 1990s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 2010s | 4 | Severe Storm ×3, Severe Ice Storm |
| 2020s | 6 | Winter Storm ×3, Severe Storm, Severe Ice Storm, Tornado |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Putnam 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 20
| Tornadoes touching the county | 20 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×2 |
| Peak month | March (7) |
| Deadliest | 3 Mar 2020, EF4, 8.4 mi path, 19 killed, 87 injured |
| Longest path | 3 Apr 1974, F4, 28.4 mi path, 10 killed, 51 injured |
| Most recent | 6 Feb 2025, EF1, 7.6 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 30 / 147 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
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 Putnam County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Putnam County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 65.8 | Lightning |
| White County | 24 km | Very Low | 38.5 | Winter weather |
| Jackson County | 29 km | Very Low | 22.5 | Landslide |
| Overton County | 29 km | Very Low | 22.2 | Lightning |
| DeKalb County | 35 km | Very Low | 25.5 | Earthquake |
| Smith County | 43 km | Very Low | 18.8 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Tennessee, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 43.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 47.8 |
| Community risk factor | 1.08 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $24 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 Putnam County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Tennessee · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Tennessee
- 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 Putnam County
What natural disasters is Putnam County, Tennessee most at risk from?
Putnam County, Tennessee has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 65.8 out of 100, higher than about 65% of US counties, with lightning, tornadoes and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $24 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Putnam County had?
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Putnam County since 1974, 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 Putnam County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 20 tornadoes touching Putnam County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 3 Mar 2020, EF4, 8.4 mi path, 19 killed, 87 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.