Essex County, Vermont: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Essex County, Vermont has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 3.2 out of 100, higher than about 3% of US counties, with landslides, hurricanes and avalanches scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.2 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 28 federal disaster declarations that included Essex County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4826-VT (Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 26 September 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Essex County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 5,893 Buildings worth $1.8 billion Area 680 sq mi Risk rank in Vermont 13 of 14 FIPS 50009
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Very Low | 60.4 | $3,443 | about once every 1.1 years | — |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 56.4 | $171,522 | about once every 23 years | 16 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 45.0 | $458 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 44.0 | $65,600 | about 21 a year | 402 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 24.2 | $383,470 | about 5.2 a year | 99 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 22.5 | $43,847 | about once every 847 years | — |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 20.4 | $20,770 | about once every 3.5 years | 20 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 15.4 | $2.3 million | about once every 1.3 years | 21 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 12.5 | $33,220 | about once every 1.6 years | 12 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 10.6 | $44,186 | about 2 a year | 18,528 strikes |
| Tornado | Very Low | 4.9 | $23,032 | about once every 26 years | 3 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 4.6 | $39,418 | about once every 2.0 years | 19 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 3.8 | $1,612 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hail | Very Low | 1.7 | $2,665 | about once every 1.2 years | 32 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| 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 28
Most common: Severe Storm 15, Flood 8, Hurricane 3, Tropical Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 3 | Severe Storm ×3 |
| 2000s | 3 | Severe Storm ×3 |
| 2010s | 10 | Severe Storm ×4, Flood ×3, Hurricane ×2, Severe Ice Storm |
| 2020s | 10 | Severe Storm ×5, Flood ×3, Tropical Storm, Hurricane |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Essex County
- Tropical Depression Debby (2024, EM-3609-VT): 14 Vermont counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (2023, DR-4720-VT): 14 Vermont counties designated.
- Flooding (2023, EM-3595-VT): 14 Vermont counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Tropical Depression Debby (2024), Tropical Storm Henri (2021), Tropical Storm Irene (2011), Hurricane Irene (2011), Tropical Storm Floyd (1999).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Vermont also had 2 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 3
| Tornadoes touching the county | 3 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×2 |
| Peak month | May (1) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 3 Sep 1993, F1, 4 mi path |
| Most recent | 3 Sep 1993, F1, 4 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 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 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 Essex County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essex County (this page) | — | Very Low | 3.2 | Landslide |
| Coos County, NH | 34 km | Relatively Low | 72.8 | Avalanche |
| Caledonia County | 41 km | Very Low | 30.2 | Landslide |
| Orleans County | 42 km | Very Low | 36.8 | Landslide |
| Lamoille County | 73 km | Very Low | 18.3 | Winter weather |
| Oxford County, ME | 81 km | Relatively Low | 65.9 | Winter weather |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Vermont, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 14.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 38.3 |
| Community risk factor | 0.84 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $3.2 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 Essex County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Vermont · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- 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 Essex County
What natural disasters is Essex County, Vermont most at risk from?
Essex County, Vermont has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 3.2 out of 100, higher than about 3% of US counties, with landslides, hurricanes and avalanches scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.2 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Essex County had?
OpenFEMA lists 28 federal disaster declarations that included Essex County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4826-VT (Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 26 September 2024). Another 2 Vermont declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Essex County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Essex 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.