Orange County, Vermont: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Orange County, Vermont has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 26.4 out of 100, higher than about 26% of US counties, with landslides, hurricanes and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $11 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 32 federal disaster declarations that included Orange County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4810-VT (Severe Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 20 August 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Orange County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Vermont All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 29,274 Buildings worth $7.6 billion Area 699 sq mi Risk rank in Vermont 11 of 14 FIPS 50017
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 83.0 | $30,298 | about 1.5 a year | — |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | 65.5 | $471,673 | about once every 19 years | 10 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 64.2 | $505,761 | about 2 a year | 39,839 strikes |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 53.9 | $93,248 | about 21 a year | 391 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 50.0 | $8.6 million | about once a year | 29 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 39.9 | $66,881 | about once every 2.3 years | 29 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 37.8 | $169,260 | about once every 885 years | — |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 36.8 | $225 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 36.7 | $250,202 | about 1.1 a year | 21 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 30.6 | $555,294 | about 4 a year | 75 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 24.9 | $301,425 | about once every 1.1 years | 36 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 17.2 | $7,743 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Tornado | Very Low | 13.3 | $143,227 | about once every 18 years | 2 |
| Hail | Very Low | 9.4 | $36,895 | about 1.5 a year | 58 |
| 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 32
Most common: Severe Storm 17, Flood 11, Hurricane 3, Tropical Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1980s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1990s | 5 | Severe Storm ×3, Flood ×2 |
| 2000s | 5 | Severe Storm ×5 |
| 2010s | 10 | Severe Storm ×5, Flood ×3, Hurricane ×2 |
| 2020s | 8 | Severe Storm ×4, Flood ×2, Tropical Storm, Hurricane |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Orange 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 | 9 Aug 1972, F1, 3.6 mi path |
| Most recent | 16 Jul 2009, EF0, 2.7 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 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 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 Orange County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange County (this page) | — | Very Low | 26.4 | Landslide |
| Washington County | 35 km | Relatively Low | 52.2 | Landslide |
| Grafton County, NH | 45 km | Relatively Moderate | 81.8 | Landslide |
| Windsor County | 50 km | Relatively Low | 61.6 | Landslide |
| Caledonia County | 56 km | Very Low | 30.2 | Landslide |
| Addison County | 61 km | Very Low | 26.8 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Vermont, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 13.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 59.0 |
| Community risk factor | 0.82 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $11 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 Orange 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
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Vermont
- 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 Orange County
What natural disasters is Orange County, Vermont most at risk from?
Orange County, Vermont has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 26.4 out of 100, higher than about 26% of US counties, with landslides, hurricanes and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $11 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Orange County had?
OpenFEMA lists 32 federal disaster declarations that included Orange County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4810-VT (Severe Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 20 August 2024). Another 2 Vermont declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Orange County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Orange 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.