Cowlitz County, Washington: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Cowlitz County, Washington has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 90.3 out of 100, higher than about 90% of US counties, with volcanic activity, earthquakes and heat waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $88 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 21 federal disaster declarations that included Cowlitz County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4906-WA (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 7 April 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Cowlitz County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Washington All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 110,649 Buildings worth $25 billion Area 1,178 sq mi Risk rank in Washington 12 of 39 FIPS 53015
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volcanic activity | Relatively High | 99.7 | $7.6 million | about once every 81 years | 6 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | 97.5 | $39 million | about once every 57 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 91.4 | $3.5 million | about 5 a year | 83 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 88.3 | $34 million | about once every 1.3 years | 21 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 83.7 | $26,012 | about 2.3 a year | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 78.6 | $3.4 million | about once every 3.7 years | 5.1 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 61.3 | $93,771 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Low | 51.0 | $151,717 | about 1.6 a year | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 49.6 | $64,699 | about 21 a year | 397 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 38.2 | $400,249 | about once every 25 years | 2 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 31.1 | $35,145 | about once every 3.0 years | 23 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 23.5 | $56 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 22.8 | $80,258 | about 6.1 a year | 18,414 strikes |
| Tornado | Very Low | 20.5 | $252,331 | about once every 11 years | 2 |
| Hail | Very Low | 12.8 | $42,792 | about once every 20 years | 1.9 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
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 21
Most common: Flood 11, Severe Storm 6, Coastal Storm 1, Earthquake 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 3 | Flood ×3 |
| 1980s | 3 | Flood ×2, Volcanic Eruption |
| 1990s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Mud/Landslide, Flood |
| 2000s | 5 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood, Coastal Storm, Earthquake |
| 2010s | 1 | Flood |
| 2020s | 4 | Flood ×2, Severe Storm ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Cowlitz County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3227-WA): 39 Washington counties designated.
- Volcanic Eruption, Mt. St. Helens (1980, DR-623-WA): 39 Washington counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storms, Land & Muds Slides,flooding (1997, DR-1159-WA): 38 Washington 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. Washington also had 25 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 3
| Tornadoes touching the county | 3 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×2 |
| Peak month | October (2) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 23 Oct 2014, EF1, 1.3 mi path |
| Most recent | 28 Oct 2024, EF0, 0.2 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 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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 Cowlitz County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowlitz County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 90.3 | Volcanic activity |
| Columbia County, OR | 42 km | Relatively Low | 70.7 | Earthquake |
| Lewis County | 48 km | Relatively Moderate | 89.7 | Earthquake |
| Clark County | 49 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.2 | Earthquake |
| Wahkiakum County | 58 km | Very Low | 19.3 | Landslide |
| Skamania County | 62 km | Relatively Low | 49.7 | Volcanic activity |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Washington, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 36.2 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 59.5 |
| Community risk factor | 1.02 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $88 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 Cowlitz County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Washington · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Volcanic activity: US volcano alerts
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- 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 Cowlitz County
What natural disasters is Cowlitz County, Washington most at risk from?
Cowlitz County, Washington has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 90.3 out of 100, higher than about 90% of US counties, with volcanic activity, earthquakes and heat waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $88 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Cowlitz County had?
OpenFEMA lists 21 federal disaster declarations that included Cowlitz County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4906-WA (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, declared 7 April 2026). Another 25 Washington declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Cowlitz County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Cowlitz 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.