Washington County, Utah: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Washington County, Utah has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 92.8 out of 100, higher than about 92% of US counties, with wildfires, lightning and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $148 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 12 federal disaster declarations that included Washington County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5591-UT (Forsyth Fire, declared 20 June 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 4 tornadoes touching Washington County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 180,117 Buildings worth $34 billion Area 2,455 sq mi Risk rank in Utah 3 of 29 FIPS 49053
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 High | 99.8 | $68 million | about once every 58 years | — |
| Lightning | Very High | 99.2 | $5.7 million | about 41 a year | 188,148 strikes |
| Landslide | Relatively High | 98.6 | $1.2 million | about 2.6 a year | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 93.4 | $66 million | about 6.7 a year | 187 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 90.8 | $3.7 million | about 2.5 a year | 18 |
| Avalanche | Relatively High | 86.7 | $1.4 million | about once every 3.0 years | 10 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 81.1 | $2.1 million | about once every 99 years | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 65.5 | $74 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 2 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 52.2 | $108,805 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 47.3 | $67,676 | about 17 a year | 322 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 38.8 | $68,737 | about 58 a year | 1,666 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 13.4 | $127,047 | about once every 5.6 years | 7 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 6.0 | $31,389 | about once every 26 years | 3 |
| Hail | Very Low | 5.6 | $16,889 | about once every 11 years | 3.4 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 5.0 | $18,226 | about once every 30 years | 0.6 |
| 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 12
Most common: Fire 6, Flood 3, Coastal Storm 1, Severe Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 5 | Fire ×3, Coastal Storm, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 3 | Flood ×2, Fire |
| 2020s | 2 | Fire ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Washington County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3223-UT): 29 Utah counties designated.
- Drought (1977, EM-3024-UT): 27 Utah counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storm and Flooding (2011, DR-1955-UT): 3 Utah 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. Utah also had 2 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 4
| Tornadoes touching the county | 4 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×1 |
| Peak month | August (2) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 30 May 1986, F1, 3.5 mi path |
| Most recent | 8 Jul 2017, unrated, 0.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 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 Washington County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 92.8 | Wildfire |
| Iron County | 67 km | Relatively Low | 61.4 | Wildfire |
| Beaver County | 122 km | Very Low | 10.4 | Landslide |
| Lincoln County, NV | 128 km | Very Low | 25.9 | Wildfire |
| Kane County | 143 km | Very Low | 39.7 | Landslide |
| Piute County | 169 km | Very Low | 0.9 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Utah, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 20.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 45.1 |
| Community risk factor | 0.90 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $148 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 Washington County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Utah · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Utah
- 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 Washington County
What natural disasters is Washington County, Utah most at risk from?
Washington County, Utah has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 92.8 out of 100, higher than about 92% of US counties, with wildfires, lightning and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $148 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Washington County had?
OpenFEMA lists 12 federal disaster declarations that included Washington County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5591-UT (Forsyth Fire, declared 20 June 2025). Another 2 Utah declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Washington County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 4 tornadoes touching Washington 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.