States › Florida › Jefferson County

Jefferson County, Florida

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

FIPS 12065 · 14,555 residents (2021) · 598 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 22Tornado · 17Flood · 17Wind · 259Winter · 0

Jefferson County within Florida. Dots: HailTornadoFloodWind 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 345 storm events in Jefferson County, Florida, led by damaging wind.

That is 57.7 events per 100 square miles, below the Florida figure of 73.8, and 237.0 per 10,000 residents against 18.2 statewide.

8 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 1 death and 1 injury to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $4.0M and crop damage at $5K.

FEMA has designated the county in 39 federal disaster declarations since 1953; the most recent is Hurricane Helene (major disaster, 28 Sep 2024).

National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the county filed 18 claims since 1978, of which 11 were paid, totalling $88K (about $8K per paid claim). FEMA counts 75 residential flood policies in force.

FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county's overall risk as "Very Low" and its expected annual loss as "Very Low" ($7.3M a year across 18 hazards).

100 tropical storm or hurricane tracks in the HURDAT2 record passed within 100 miles of the county's centre at tropical-storm strength or more, 12 of them within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

8events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

345events since 19501 death, 1 injury recorded

39disaster declarationslast 28 Sep 2024

18NFIP flood claims$88K paid

Compared with Florida and the United States

Measure	Jefferson County	Florida	US
Recorded events since 1950	345	39,578	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	57.7	73.8	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	237.0	18.2	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	8	1,307	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	1	890	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$4.0M	$80B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	1.2	20.6	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$8K	$62K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	1.3	18.3	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: 1Tornado: 1

Hail: 3Tornado: 4Wind: 2

Wind: 3

Hail: 3Flood: 1Wind: 17Tropical: 3

Hail: 8Tornado: 6Flood: 4Wind: 21Tropical: 12Lightning: 1

Hail: 5Tornado: 1Flood: 2Wind: 103Other: 14

Hail: 2Tornado: 5Flood: 10Wind: 113

01950s21960s91970s31980s241990s522000s1252010s1302020s

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

Trend: 274 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 53 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

Wind259

Hail22

Tornado17

Flood17

Tropical15

Other14

Lightning1

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	259	—	1.7%	detail
■ Hail	22	—	0.4%	detail
■ Tornado	17	—	0.4%	detail
■ Flood	17	—	0.5%	detail
■ Tropical	15	1	0.7%
■ Other	14	—	0.5%
■ Lightning	1	—	0.1%

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
22 Aug 2008	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$1.5M	—	1	—	Forecast zone
27 Oct 1972	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$25K	—	—	1	County
28 Sep 1998	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$500K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
5 Sep 2004	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$300K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
26 Sep 2004	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$200K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
9 Jul 2005	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$200K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
10 Mar 1998	Flood	Flood	—	$125K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
15 Sep 2004	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$100K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
23 Aug 2008	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$100K	—	—	—	County
19 Jun 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	58 mph	$100K	—	—	—	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
28 Sep 2024	DR-4828	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Helene	Individual assistance, Public assistance
24 Sep 2024	EM-3615	Emergency	Tropical Storm	Tropical Storm Helene	Public assistance
10 Aug 2024	DR-4806	Major disaster	Tropical Storm	Hurricane Debby	Individual assistance, Public assistance
3 Aug 2024	EM-3605	Emergency	Tropical Storm	Tropical Storm Debby	Public assistance
17 Jun 2024	DR-4794	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, And Tornadoes	Public assistance
31 Aug 2023	DR-4734	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Idalia	Individual assistance, Public assistance
28 Aug 2023	EM-3596	Emergency	Tropical Storm	Tropical Storm Idalia	Public assistance
13 Dec 2022	DR-4680	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Nicole	Public assistance
8 Nov 2022	EM-3587	Emergency	Tropical Storm	Tropical Storm Nicole	Public assistance
29 Sep 2022	DR-4673	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Ian	Public assistance
24 Sep 2022	EM-3584	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Ian	Public assistance
16 Aug 2021	EM-3562	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Fred	Public assistance
4 Jul 2021	EM-3561	Emergency	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Elsa	Public assistance
23 Sep 2020	DR-4564	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Sally	Public assistance
25 Mar 2020	DR-4486	Major disaster	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Mar 2020	EM-3432	Emergency	Biological	Covid-19	Public assistance
30 Aug 2019	EM-3419	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Dorian	Public assistance
11 Oct 2018	DR-4399	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Michael	Public assistance
9 Oct 2018	EM-3405	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Michael	Public assistance
10 Sep 2017	DR-4337	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Irma	Public assistance
5 Sep 2017	EM-3385	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Irma	Public assistance
28 Sep 2016	DR-4280	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Hermine	Public assistance
3 Jul 2012	DR-4068	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Debby	Public assistance
21 Apr 2009	DR-1831	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Flooding, Tornadoes, And Straight-Line Winds	Public assistance
24 Aug 2008	DR-1785	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Fay	Individual assistance, Public assistance
21 Aug 2008	EM-3288	Emergency	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Fay	Public assistance
5 Sep 2005	EM-3220	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	Public assistance
10 Jul 2005	DR-1595	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Dennis	Public assistance
26 Sep 2004	DR-1561	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Jeanne	Individual assistance, Public assistance
16 Sep 2004	DR-1551	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Ivan	Public assistance
4 Sep 2004	DR-1545	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Frances	Public assistance
13 Aug 2004	DR-1539	Major disaster	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Bonnie And Hurricane Charley	Public assistance
17 Jun 2001	DR-1381	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Allison	Individual assistance, Public assistance
3 Oct 2000	DR-1344	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Helene	Public assistance
27 Apr 1999	EM-3139	Emergency	Fire	Fl-Fires 04/15/99	Public assistance
28 Sep 1998	DR-1249	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Georges	Public assistance
18 Jun 1998	DR-1223	Major disaster	Fire	Extreme Fire Hazard	Public assistance
3 Dec 1985	DR-756	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Kate	Individual assistance, Public assistance
26 May 1973	DR-387	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & 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 Jefferson County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 197818

Paid claims11

Total paid$88K

Average paid claim$8K

Repetitive-loss properties0

Residential policies in force751.2% of 6,317 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2022	1	0	$0	—
2016	1	0	$0	—
2010	2	1	$532	$532
2008	2	1	$2,238	$2,238
2004	2	1	$4,350	$4,350
1998	1	1	$1,280	$1,280
1995	2	1	$23,106	$23,106
1994	1	1	$18,381	$18,381
1993	1	1	$2,138	$2,138
1991	1	1	$11,398	$11,398
1989	1	0	$0	—
1985	2	2	$12,864	$6,432
1984	1	1	$11,696	$11,696

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 riskVery Lowscore 39.0 of 100

Expected annual loss$7.3MVery Low

Social vulnerabilityVery High

Community resilienceRelatively Low

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Hurricane	Relatively Moderate	$2,850,161
Inland flooding	Very Low	$1,969,511
Tornado	Relatively Low	$946,767
Cold wave	Relatively Low	$864,591
Heat wave	Relatively Low	$172,222
Lightning	Relatively Low	$160,360
Wildfire	Relatively Low	$114,342
Strong wind	Relatively Low	$90,344
Earthquake	Very Low	$49,549
Hail	Very Low	$15,474
Drought	Very Low	$15,382
Coastal flooding	Very Low	$8,855
Winter weather	Very Low	$4,671
Landslide	Very Low	$37

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

Tracks within 100 miles100

Tracks within 50 miles47

Hurricane strength within 50 miles12

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Debby	2024	46 mi	81 mph
Helene	2024	30 mi	138 mph
Idalia	2023	37 mi	132 mph
Nicole	2022	21 mi	46 mph
Elsa	2021	32 mi	63 mph
Fred	2021	89 mi	52 mph
Mindy	2021	7 mi	58 mph
Eta	2020	98 mi	46 mph
Nestor	2019	58 mi	46 mph
Michael	2018	84 mi	161 mph
Irma	2017	43 mi	58 mph
Colin	2016	46 mi	52 mph
Hermine	2016	8 mi	81 mph
Andrea	2013	69 mi	58 mph
Debby	2012	84 mi	40 mph
Fay	2008	49 mi	52 mph
Alberto	2006	26 mi	52 mph
Tammy	2005	91 mi	40 mph
Bonnie	2004	89 mi	46 mph
Frances	2004	21 mi	63 mph
Jeanne	2004	42 mi	46 mph
Gordon	2000	69 mi	63 mph
Earl	1998	63 mi	52 mph
Josephine	1996	27 mi	69 mph
Allison	1995	22 mi	69 mph

HURDAT2 best-track positions at tropical-storm strength (34 kt) or more, measured from the county's Census centre point; through the 2025 season. Distance from a track is not the same as the extent of the storm's wind, rain or surge.

ZIP codes with flood claims

32344 10

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 Jefferson County, FL?

NCEI records 22 hail events in Jefferson County since 1950, in 17 different years; that is about 0.3 recorded events a year. 5 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Jefferson County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 17 tornadoes in Jefferson County since 1950, 1 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 0.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Jefferson County?

28 Sep 2024: Hurricane Helene, a major disaster declaration for hurricane. The county appears in 39 declarations since 1953.

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

18 NFIP claims since 1978, 11 of them paid, for $88K in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

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

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

How does Jefferson County compare with the rest of Florida?

57.7 recorded events per 100 square miles against 73.8 statewide, and 1.2 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 20.6. 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.