About County Hazards
County Hazards publishes the recorded hazard history of every county in the 50 states and the District of Columbia: 1,977,440 weather events from NOAA's Storm Events Database since 1950, 5,082 federal disaster declarations from FEMA since 1953, 2,680,429 National Flood Insurance Program claims since 1978 (as FEMA publishes them, redacted and aggregated), hurricane tracks from the National Hurricane Center, and FEMA's National Risk Index. Each county is placed beside its state and the nation so a figure can be read in context.
What it is for
People buying or owning a home, landlords, insurance shoppers, roofing and restoration contractors and local reporters all ask the same questions: how often does it hail here, has this county had a tornado, when was the last disaster declaration, how many flood claims were paid. The agencies publish the answers in bulk files built for analysts. This site turns those files into one page per county, per hazard and per ZIP code, with the comparisons and the caveats attached.
What it leaves out
- Predictions. The site describes the record; it does not say what will happen, rate places as safe or unsafe, or offer advice.
- People and properties. NFIP claims are shown only as ZIP and county totals, as FEMA releases them. Deaths and injuries are NCEI counts with no personal detail. Event narratives are not republished.
- Live disasters. Pages are historical; there is no coverage of ongoing events.
Funding
The site is free and funded by clearly labelled advertising. Advertisers have no influence over which figures appear or how they are presented.
Publisher
County Hazards is published by an independent publisher of open-data statistics sites; reach the publisher through the contact page. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by NOAA, FEMA, the National Hurricane Center or the Census Bureau.
Updates and corrections
The site is rebuilt from the current agency files; NCEI storm records lag about 120 days, FEMA files refresh monthly or faster. If a figure differs from the agency's own record, the agency's record is authoritative; see corrections and the methodology.