States › California › Lake County

Lake County, California

Recorded hazard history: storm events since 1950, federal disaster declarations since 1953, flood insurance claims since 1978, and FEMA's risk index.

FIPS 06033 · 68,766 residents (2021) · 1,257 sq mi · dominant hazard Flood

Hail · 2Tornado · 0Flood · 27Wind · 0Winter · 0

Lake County within California. Dots: HailFlood event locations in the kept record. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.

NCEI notes that Storm Data is compiled from a variety of sources including the National Weather Service, other federal, state and local agencies, the media and the public; that property and crop damage figures are estimates; and that some events are recorded by NWS forecast zone rather than by county. FEMA notes that NFIP claim records are redacted and aggregated to protect the privacy of policyholders. NCEI storm records through 30 Jun 2026; OpenFEMA declarations refreshed 1 Oct 2026; NFIP claims as of 8 Sep 2026.

Between 1950 and 2026, NCEI recorded 53 storm events in Lake County, California, led by floods and flash floods.

That is 4.2 events per 100 square miles, below the California figure of 26.2, and 7.7 per 10,000 residents against 10.4 statewide.

4 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 1 death and 4 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $8.8M.

FEMA has designated the county in 35 federal disaster declarations since 1953; the most recent is Boyles Fire (fire management assistance, 8 Sep 2024).

National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the county filed 1,432 claims since 1978, of which 1,083 were paid, totalling $14M (about $13K per paid claim). FEMA counts 871 residential flood policies in force.

FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county's overall risk as "Relatively Moderate" and its expected annual loss as "Relatively Moderate" ($101M a year across 18 hazards).

4events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

53events since 19501 death, 4 injuries recorded

35disaster declarationslast 8 Sep 2024

1,432NFIP flood claims$14M paid

Compared with California and the United States

Measure	Lake County	California	US
Recorded events since 1950	53	40,849	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	4.2	26.2	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	7.7	10.4	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	4	1,233	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	1	1,170	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$8.8M	$30B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	20.8	1.4	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$13K	$21K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	19.1	5.0	16.1

County-recorded events plus zone-recorded events whose forecast zone is named for the county. State and US rows include events recorded only by forecast zone. Rates use 2021 Census population and land area.

Events by decade

Hail: 1Flood: 1Other: 2

Flood: 1Other: 2

Flood: 10Other: 6

Hail: 1Flood: 15Lightning: 1Other: 13

01950s01960s01970s01980s41990s32000s162010s302020s

Recorded events in Lake County by decade and hazard group. HailFloodLightningOther NCEI recorded only tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind before 1996.

Trend: 43 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 6 in the 20 years before. Reporting practice changed in 1996 and again with automated reports in the 2000s, so decade totals measure the record as much as the weather.

Events by type

Flood27

Other23

Hail2

Lightning1

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Flood	27	1	0.4%	detail
■ Other	23	—	0.6%
■ Hail	2	—	0.2%
■ Lightning	1	—	0.3%

Hazard pages exist for hail, tornado, flood, wind and winter where the county has at least 10 recorded events. "Other" covers heavy rain, debris flow, dust, funnel clouds and similar reports.

Largest recorded events

Date	Event type	Group	Magnitude	Property damage	Crop damage	Deaths	Injuries	Geography
1 Jan 2006	Flood	Flood	—	$1.0M	—	1	1	County
13 Feb 2019	Flood	Flood	—	$20K	—	—	3	County
9 Feb 2017	Flood	Flood	—	$7.0M	—	—	—	County
11 Dec 2014	Flood	Flood	—	$400K	—	—	—	County
11 Dec 2014	Debris Flow	Other	—	$300K	—	—	—	County

Ranked by deaths, then injuries, then NCEI's damage estimate. Deaths and injuries are NCEI counts (direct plus indirect); no personal details are recorded here.

Federal disaster declarations

Declared	Number	Type	Incident	Title	Programs
8 Sep 2024	FM-5536	Fire management assistance	Fire	Boyles Fire	Public assistance
3 Apr 2023	DR-4699	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides	Public assistance
10 Mar 2023	EM-3592	Emergency	Flood	Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides	Public assistance
9 Jan 2023	EM-3591	Emergency	Flood	Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides	Public assistance
12 Sep 2021	DR-4619	Major disaster	Fire	Wildfires	Public assistance
22 Aug 2020	DR-4558	Major disaster	Fire	Wildfires	Individual assistance, Public assistance
18 Aug 2020	FM-5331	Fire management assistance	Fire	Lnu Lightning Fire Complex	Public assistance
22 Mar 2020	DR-4482	Major disaster	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Mar 2020	EM-3428	Emergency	Biological	Covid-19	Public assistance
17 May 2019	DR-4434	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides	Public assistance
4 Aug 2018	DR-4382	Major disaster	Fire	Wildfires And High Winds	Individual assistance, Public assistance
28 Jul 2018	FM-5262	Fire management assistance	Fire	Mendocino Fire Complex	Public assistance
24 Jun 2018	FM-5244	Fire management assistance	Fire	Pawnee Fire	Public assistance
10 Oct 2017	DR-4344	Major disaster	Fire	Wildfires	Individual assistance, Public assistance
9 Oct 2017	FM-5221	Fire management assistance	Fire	Sulphur Fire	Public assistance
1 Apr 2017	DR-4308	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides	Public assistance
14 Feb 2017	DR-4301	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides	Public assistance
14 Aug 2016	FM-5145	Fire management assistance	Fire	Clayton Fire	Public assistance
22 Sep 2015	DR-4240	Major disaster	Fire	Valley Fire And Butte Fire	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Sep 2015	FM-5112	Fire management assistance	Fire	Valley Fire	Public assistance
2 Aug 2015	FM-5093	Fire management assistance	Fire	Rocky Fire	Public assistance
13 Aug 2012	FM-5004	Fire management assistance	Fire	Wye Fire	Public assistance
5 Jun 2006	DR-1646	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides	Public assistance
3 Feb 2006	DR-1628	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, And Landslides	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Sep 2005	EM-3248	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	Public assistance
4 Sep 2004	FM-2554	Fire management assistance	Fire	Ca-Geysers Fire-09-04-2004	Public assistance
9 Feb 1998	DR-1203	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storms And Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
4 Jan 1997	DR-1155	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Flooding, Mud And Landslides	Individual assistance, Public assistance
12 Mar 1995	DR-1046	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storms, Flooding Landslides, Mud Flow	Individual assistance, Public assistance
10 Jan 1995	DR-1044	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, Mud Flows	Individual assistance, Public assistance
21 Feb 1986	DR-758	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
9 Feb 1983	DR-677	Major disaster	Coastal Storm	Coastal Storms, Floods, Slides & Tornadoes	Individual assistance, Public assistance
20 Jan 1977	EM-3023	Emergency	Drought	Drought	Public assistance
16 Feb 1970	DR-283	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
24 Dec 1964	DR-183	Major disaster	Flood	Heavy Rains & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance

Declarations in which FEMA designated this county, from the OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2). DR: major disaster; EM: emergency; FM: fire management assistance. Programs show whether individual or public assistance was made available.

Flood insurance claims

197820022026

NFIP claims by year of loss in Lake County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 19781,432

Paid claims1,083

Total paid$14M

Average paid claim$13K

Repetitive-loss properties15924 severe

Residential policies in force8712.4% of 36,234 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2025	2	1	$5,828	$5,828
2024	5	1	$32,471	$32,471
2023	6	3	$17,876	$5,959
2022	1	0	$0	—
2021	2	0	$0	—
2020	2	0	$0	—
2019	33	25	$652,282	$26,091
2017	115	88	$1,826,462	$20,755
2016	5	3	$38,829	$12,943
2015	1	0	$0	—
2014	13	8	$165,355	$20,669
2012	2	2	$29,327	$14,664
2011	20	5	$42,535	$8,507
2010	3	1	$18,144	$18,144
2008	6	3	$23,591	$7,864
2007	1	0	$0	—
2006	7	4	$79,709	$19,927
2005	11	10	$315,852	$31,585
2004	9	6	$106,097	$17,683
2002	9	3	$55,650	$18,550
2000	1	0	$0	—
1999	3	2	$1,979	$990
1998	477	379	$4,881,015	$12,879
1997	23	19	$168,878	$8,888
1996	15	8	$79,752	$9,969

OpenFEMA NFIP claims (v3, as of 8 Sep 2026), aggregated by year of loss; amounts are building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments as recorded. Repetitive-loss counts from the NFIP Multiple Loss Properties file (2 Aug 2026); policies in force from the NFIP Residential Penetration Rates file (3 Aug 2026).

National Risk Index

Overall riskRelatively Moderatescore 93.0 of 100

Expected annual loss$101MRelatively Moderate

Social vulnerabilityRelatively High

Community resilienceRelatively Low

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Inland flooding	Relatively High	$51,469,401
Earthquake	Relatively Moderate	$23,780,145
Wildfire	Relatively High	$20,339,490
Drought	Relatively High	$2,319,621
Avalanche	Relatively High	$1,278,682
Landslide	Relatively High	$872,430
Volcanic activity	Relatively Moderate	$483,874
Heat wave	Relatively Low	$328,531
Tornado	Very Low	$59,567
Lightning	Very Low	$58,822
Winter weather	Relatively Low	$19,635
Strong wind	Very Low	$6,001
Hail	Very Low	$5,276

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 release. Ratings are FEMA's relative comparison of counties; expected annual loss is FEMA's modelled estimate of average yearly building, population and agriculture loss. See how to read the NRI.

Hurricane and tropical storm passes

No HURDAT2 track at tropical-storm strength passes within 100 miles of the county's centre point (through the 2025 season).

ZIP codes with flood claims

95453 715
95422 156
95423 153
95451 89
95485 78
95458 63
95464 53
95457 39
95467 37
95424 21
95461 12
95443 10
95435 6

ZIP codes whose NFIP claims carry this county's code, with the number of claims. Five or more claims are needed for a ZIP page to be indexed.

Questions and answers

How often does it hail in Lake County, CA?

NCEI records 2 hail events in Lake County since 1950, in 2 different years; that is about 0.0 recorded events a year. 0 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Lake County had a tornado?

NCEI records no tornado in Lake County since 1950.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Lake County?

8 Sep 2024: Boyles Fire, a fire management assistance declaration for fire. The county appears in 35 declarations since 1953.

How many flood insurance claims have been filed in Lake County, and how much was paid?

1,432 NFIP claims since 1978, 1,083 of them paid, for $14M in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

Is Lake County in the National Risk Index's high-risk band?

FEMA's National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the county "Relatively Moderate" for overall risk, "Relatively Moderate" for expected annual loss, "Relatively High" for social vulnerability and "Relatively Low" for community resilience. These ratings are FEMA's relative comparison across all US counties.

How does Lake County compare with the rest of California?

4.2 recorded events per 100 square miles against 26.2 statewide, and 20.8 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 1.4. The comparison table on this page shows each measure beside the state and national figures.

Provenance

Storm events: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, yearly details files through 30 Jun 2026 (public domain). Declarations: OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2, refreshed 1 Oct 2026. Flood claims: OpenFEMA NfipClaims v3 as of 8 Sep 2026; NfipMultipleLossProperties v1 (2 Aug 2026); NfipResidentialPenetrationRates v1 (3 Aug 2026). Risk index: FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025. Hurricane tracks: NHC HURDAT2 through 2025. Population and area: US Census Bureau, 2021 vintage. Built 1 Oct 2026; see the methodology and corrections pages. Hazard hubs: Hail · Tornado · Flood · Wind · Winter.