Virginia Beach City, Virginia: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Virginia Beach City, Virginia has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 57.9 out of 100, higher than about 57% of US counties, with heat waves, hurricanes and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $31 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Virginia Beach City since 1972, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3631-VA (Severe Winter Storm, declared 23 January 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 16 tornadoes touching Virginia Beach City from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Virginia All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 458,853 Buildings worth $28 billion Area 503 sq mi Risk rank in Virginia 25 of 133 FIPS 51810
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 91.7 | $5.4 million | about 6.1 a year | 48 |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | 88.9 | $9.8 million | about once every 4.1 years | 78 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 86.5 | $1.5 million | about 4 a year | 213,239 strikes |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 67.5 | $1.1 million | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Moderate | 67.4 | $1.4 million | about 3.4 a year | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 66.7 | $3.5 million | about once every 5.1 years | 12 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 56.1 | $1.9 million | about once every 2.2 years | 4.7 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 55.8 | $101,677 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 54.7 | $494,672 | about 1.4 a year | 56 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 43.1 | $95,451 | about once every 1.4 years | 31 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 37.3 | $63,076 | about 2.9 a year | 29 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 27.9 | $5.0 million | about 1.3 a year | 37 |
| Drought | Very Low | 22.0 | $9,934 | about once every 1.2 years | 28 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 15.7 | $108 | about once every 30 years | — |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 14.2 | $178,659 | about once every 1.9 years | 13 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| 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 16
Most common: Hurricane 10, Snowstorm 2, Winter Storm 1, Severe Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Freezing, Flood |
| 1990s | 5 | Hurricane ×3, Snowstorm ×2 |
| 2000s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 5 | Hurricane ×5 |
| 2020s | 1 | Winter Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Virginia Beach City
- Severe Winter Storm (2026, EM-3631-VA): 133 Virginia counties designated.
- Hurricane Florence (2018, EM-3403-VA): 133 Virginia counties designated.
- Hurricane Sandy (2012, EM-3359-VA): 133 Virginia counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Florence (2018), Hurricane Matthew (2016), Hurricane Sandy (2012), Hurricane Irene (2011), Tropical Depression Ida (2009), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Isabel (2003), Hurricane Floyd (1999), Hurricane Bonnie (1998), Tropical Storm Agnes (1972).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Virginia also had 3 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 16
| Tornadoes touching the county | 16 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | July (6) |
| Deadliest | 10 Jul 2014, EF0, 0.3 mi path, 0 killed, 10 injured |
| Longest path | 30 Apr 1968, F1, 22.5 mi path |
| Most recent | 30 Apr 2023, EF3, 4.5 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 12 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
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 Virginia Beach City compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Beach City (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 57.9 | Heat wave |
| Chesapeake City | 23 km | Relatively Low | 80.9 | Hurricane |
| Norfolk City | 23 km | Relatively Moderate | 81.2 | Hurricane |
| Portsmouth City | 28 km | Relatively Low | 54.0 | Hurricane |
| Currituck County, NC | 39 km | Very Low | 18.1 | Hurricane |
| Camden County, NC | 42 km | Very Low | 2.5 | Hurricane |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Virginia, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 82.8 |
| Community risk factor | 0.68 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $31 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 Virginia Beach City's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Virginia · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Virginia
- 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 Virginia Beach City
What natural disasters is Virginia Beach City, Virginia most at risk from?
Virginia Beach City, Virginia has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 57.9 out of 100, higher than about 57% of US counties, with heat waves, hurricanes and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $31 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Virginia Beach City had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Virginia Beach City since 1972, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3631-VA (Severe Winter Storm, declared 23 January 2026). Another 3 Virginia declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Virginia Beach City?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 16 tornadoes touching Virginia Beach City from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 10 Jul 2014, EF0, 0.3 mi path, 0 killed, 10 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.