Portage County, Wisconsin: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Portage County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 62.7 out of 100, higher than about 62% of US counties, with cold waves, hail and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $36 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 10 federal disaster declarations that included Portage County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4459-WI (Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, declared 27 August 2019). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 25 tornadoes touching Portage County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 70,351 Buildings worth $20 billion Area 831 sq mi Risk rank in Wisconsin 37 of 72 FIPS 55097
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 87.7 | $9.3 million | about 8.2 a year | 155 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 83.2 | $1.7 million | about 2.6 a year | 100 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 73.3 | $867,038 | about 33 a year | 125,888 strikes |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 70.2 | $4.0 million | about once every 2.4 years | 19 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 66.8 | $18 million | about once every 2.2 years | 13 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 65.8 | $1.3 million | about 2.7 a year | 102 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 55.3 | $121,328 | about 16 a year | 297 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 49.7 | $2,057 | about once every 7.6 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 43.1 | $414,276 | about 1.4 a year | 20 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 34.5 | $63,419 | about once every 4.7 years | 15 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 32.3 | $25,985 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Very Low | 18.3 | $4,202 | about once every 3.4 years | 28 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 17.0 | $33,930 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hurricane | No Rating | 0.0 | — | about once every 174 years | 2 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| 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 10
Most common: Severe Storm 4, Flood 3, Hurricane 1, Tornado 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Drought, Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 5 | Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane, Tornado, Flood |
| 2010s | 2 | Flood, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Portage County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3249-WI): 72 Wisconsin counties designated.
- Drought (1976, EM-3014-WI): 66 Wisconsin counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding (1993, DR-994-WI): 47 Wisconsin 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. Wisconsin also had 1 statewide declaration with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 25
| Tornadoes touching the county | 25 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | June (9) |
| Deadliest | 26 Sep 1951, F4, 26.4 mi path, 6 killed, 3 injured |
| Longest path | 22 May 2011, EF2, 64.5 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Most recent | 15 May 2025, EF0, 5.2 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 8 / 10 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 6 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 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 Portage County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portage County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 62.7 | Cold wave |
| Waupaca County | 43 km | Relatively Low | 67.6 | Cold wave |
| Wood County | 43 km | Relatively Low | 75.9 | Cold wave |
| Waushara County | 45 km | Relatively Low | 43.3 | Hail |
| Marathon County | 51 km | Relatively Moderate | 87.2 | Cold wave |
| Adams County | 60 km | Relatively Low | 70.9 | Hail |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Wisconsin, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 85.2 |
| Community risk factor | 0.67 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $36 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 Portage County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Wisconsin · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Hail: Weather alerts for Wisconsin
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Wisconsin
- 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 Portage County
What natural disasters is Portage County, Wisconsin most at risk from?
Portage County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 62.7 out of 100, higher than about 62% of US counties, with cold waves, hail and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $36 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Portage County had?
OpenFEMA lists 10 federal disaster declarations that included Portage County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4459-WI (Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, declared 27 August 2019). Another 1 Wisconsin declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Portage County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 25 tornadoes touching Portage County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 26 Sep 1951, F4, 26.4 mi path, 6 killed, 3 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.