Grays Harbor County, Washington: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Grays Harbor County, Washington has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 97.0 out of 100, higher than about 97% of US counties, with tsunamis, coastal flooding and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $212 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 33 federal disaster declarations that included Grays Harbor 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 Grays Harbor County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 75,462 Buildings worth $18 billion Area 2,246 sq mi Risk rank in Washington 4 of 39 FIPS 53027
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tsunami | Very High | 100.0 | $121 million | about once every 7.9 years | 28 |
| Coastal flooding | Very High | 99.0 | $24 million | about 1 a year | — |
| Earthquake | Relatively High | 98.1 | $47 million | about once every 43 years | — |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 95.3 | $112,909 | about 12 a year | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 87.6 | $604,431 | about once every 1.8 years | 35 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 83.8 | $19 million | about once every 4.7 years | 6 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 58.9 | $450,503 | about 2 a year | 25 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 39.0 | $35,957 | about 6.8 a year | 113 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 35.4 | $132 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 33.9 | $14,788 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Lightning | Very Low | 13.9 | $39,046 | about 5.1 a year | 27,563 strikes |
| Tornado | Very Low | 13.2 | $90,129 | about once every 15 years | 3 |
| Drought | Very Low | 13.0 | $33 | about 1.4 a year | 35 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 7.3 | $42,013 | about once every 111 years | 1 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 2.6 | $1 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| Hail | Very Low | 2.4 | $3,118 | about once every 198 years | 0.2 |
| Volcanic activity | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Hurricane | 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 33
Most common: Flood 16, Severe Storm 13, Coastal Storm 1, Earthquake 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 5 | Flood ×5 |
| 1980s | 1 | Volcanic Eruption |
| 1990s | 7 | Flood ×4, Severe Storm ×2, Fishing Losses |
| 2000s | 9 | Severe Storm ×6, Flood, Coastal Storm, Earthquake |
| 2010s | 4 | Severe Storm ×3, Flood |
| 2020s | 6 | Flood ×4, Severe Storm ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Grays Harbor 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 ×1 |
| Peak month | August (1) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 26 Aug 1997, F0, 0.5 mi path |
| Most recent | 10 Oct 2020, EF1, 0.5 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 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 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 Grays Harbor County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grays Harbor County (this page) | — | Relatively High | 97.0 | Tsunami |
| Mason County | 49 km | Relatively Moderate | 85.3 | Landslide |
| Pacific County | 66 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.7 | Tsunami |
| Jefferson County | 68 km | Relatively Low | 64.4 | Landslide |
| Thurston County | 76 km | Relatively High | 94.5 | Landslide |
| Kitsap County | 97 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.3 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Washington, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 67.2 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 62.0 |
| Community risk factor | 1.28 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $212 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 Grays Harbor County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Washington · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Tsunami: Tsunamis recorded
- Coastal flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Hurricanes and storms now
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- 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 Grays Harbor County
What natural disasters is Grays Harbor County, Washington most at risk from?
Grays Harbor County, Washington has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 97.0 out of 100, higher than about 97% of US counties, with tsunamis, coastal flooding and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $212 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Grays Harbor County had?
OpenFEMA lists 33 federal disaster declarations that included Grays Harbor 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 Grays Harbor County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Grays Harbor 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.