States › Florida › Pinellas County

Pinellas 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 12103 · 956,615 residents (2021) · 274 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 112Tornado · 147Flood · 55Wind · 288Winter · 0

Pinellas 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.

Pinellas County, Florida, has 935 weather events in the NCEI Storm Events record since 1950, most of them damaging wind.

That is 341.5 events per 100 square miles, above the Florida figure of 73.8, and 9.8 per 10,000 residents against 18.2 statewide.

7 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 29 deaths and 455 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $950M and crop damage at $1.0M.

FEMA has designated the county in 45 federal disaster declarations since 1953; the most recent is Hurricane Milton (major disaster, 11 Oct 2024).

National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the county filed 51,779 claims since 1978, of which 42,476 were paid, totalling $3.8B (about $89K per paid claim). FEMA counts 76,020 residential flood policies in force.

FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county's overall risk as "Relatively High" and its expected annual loss as "Relatively High" ($303M a year across 18 hazards).

107 tropical storm or hurricane tracks in the HURDAT2 record passed within 100 miles of the county's centre at tropical-storm strength or more, 15 of them within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

7events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

935events since 195029 deaths, 455 injuries recorded

45disaster declarationslast 11 Oct 2024

51,779NFIP flood claims$3.8B paid

Compared with Florida and the United States

Measure	Pinellas County	Florida	US
Recorded events since 1950	935	39,578	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	341.5	73.8	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	9.8	18.2	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	7	1,307	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	29	890	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$950M	$80B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	54.1	20.6	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$89K	$62K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	39.8	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: 7Wind: 1

Hail: 4Tornado: 21Wind: 9

Hail: 7Tornado: 22Wind: 18

Hail: 6Tornado: 21Wind: 26

Hail: 53Tornado: 36Flood: 26Wind: 87Tropical: 7Lightning: 33Fog: 41Other: 3

Hail: 32Tornado: 12Flood: 14Wind: 44Tropical: 16Cold: 7Wildfire: 4Lightning: 54Fog: 9Other: 14

Hail: 7Tornado: 15Flood: 5Wind: 77Tropical: 12Cold: 2Lightning: 66Other: 17

Hail: 2Tornado: 13Flood: 10Wind: 26Tropical: 25Lightning: 22Other: 1

91950s341960s471970s531980s2861990s2062000s2012010s992020s

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

Trend: 361 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 460 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

Wind288

Lightning175

Tornado147

Hail112

Tropical60

Flood55

Fog50

Other35

Cold9

Wildfire4

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	288	2	1.9%	detail
■ Lightning	175	9	9.8%
■ Tornado	147	11	3.8%	detail
■ Hail	112	—	2.0%	detail
■ Tropical	60	3	2.7%
■ Flood	55	—	1.6%	detail
■ Fog	50	1	6.7%
■ Other	35	3	1.2%
■ Cold	9	—	0.8%
■ Wildfire	4	—	0.8%

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
4 May 1978	Tornado	Tornado	F3	$2.5M	—	3	94	County
4 Apr 1966	Tornado	Tornado	F4	$25M	—	3	80	County
3 Oct 1992	Tornado	Tornado	F3	$25M	—	3	75	County
10 Sep 2017	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$594M	—	2	—	Forecast zone
27 Dec 1996	Dense Fog	Fog	—	$850K	—	1	30	Forecast zone
12 Aug 1976	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$2.5M	—	1	21	County
21 Jul 2019	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	7	County
25 Jul 2024	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	3	County
20 Jul 2007	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	1	County
3 Oct 1992	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$2.5M	—	1	—	County
10 Apr 1991	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	0 mph	—	—	1	—	County
7 Jun 1996	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	—	County
24 Jun 2012	Heavy Rain	Other	—	—	—	1	—	County
24 Jun 2012	Heavy Rain	Other	—	—	—	1	—	County
28 May 2013	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	—	County
14 May 2014	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	—	County
29 Jul 2015	Heavy Rain	Other	—	—	—	1	—	County
15 Aug 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	40 mph	—	—	1	—	County
19 Jun 2015	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	—	County
25 Aug 2021	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	—	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
11 Oct 2024	DR-4834	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Milton	Individual assistance, Public assistance
7 Oct 2024	EM-3622	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Milton	Public assistance
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
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	Individual assistance, Public assistance
24 Sep 2022	EM-3584	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Ian	Public assistance
4 Jul 2021	EM-3561	Emergency	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Elsa	Public assistance
11 Nov 2020	EM-3551	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Eta	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
9 Oct 2018	EM-3405	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Michael	Public assistance
10 Sep 2017	DR-4337	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Irma	Individual assistance, Public assistance
5 Sep 2017	EM-3385	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Irma	Public assistance
28 Sep 2016	DR-4280	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Hermine	Individual assistance, Public assistance
3 Jul 2012	DR-4068	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Debby	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
26 Sep 2004	DR-1561	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Jeanne	Individual assistance, Public assistance
4 Sep 2004	DR-1545	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Frances	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Aug 2004	DR-1539	Major disaster	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Bonnie And Hurricane Charley	Public assistance
18 Mar 2001	FM-2353	Fire management assistance	Fire	Fl - Lakeland Complex Fire	Public assistance
5 Feb 2001	DR-1359	Major disaster	Freezing	Severe Freeze	Individual assistance
20 May 2000	FM-2300	Fire management assistance	Fire	Lakeland District Fire	Public assistance
15 Oct 1999	EM-3150	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Irene - Florida	Public assistance
27 Apr 1999	EM-3139	Emergency	Fire	Fl-Fires 04/15/99	Public assistance
21 Apr 1999	FM-2259	Fire management assistance	Fire	Fl-Fires 04/13/99	Public assistance
25 Sep 1998	EM-3131	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Grorges	Public assistance
18 Jun 1998	DR-1223	Major disaster	Fire	Extreme Fire Hazard	Public assistance
6 Jan 1998	DR-1195	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, High Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding	Individual assistance
15 Oct 1996	DR-1141	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Josephine	Individual assistance
13 Mar 1993	DR-982	Major disaster	Tornado	Tornadoes, Flooding, High Winds & Tides, Freezing	Individual assistance, Public assistance
8 Oct 1992	DR-966	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
15 Jan 1990	DR-851	Major disaster	Freezing	Severe Freeze	Individual assistance
12 Sep 1985	DR-743	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Elena	Individual assistance, Public assistance
15 May 1979	DR-586	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding	Individual assistance
31 Jan 1977	DR-526	Major disaster	Freezing	Severe Winter Weather	Individual assistance
23 Jun 1972	DR-337	Major disaster	Coastal Storm	Tropical Storm Agnes	Individual assistance, Public assistance
7 Nov 1968	DR-252	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Gladys	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 Pinellas County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 197851,779

Paid claims42,476

Total paid$3.8B

Average paid claim$89K

Repetitive-loss properties3,0601,134 severe

Residential policies in force76,02019.4% of 391,677 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2026	16	3	$163,192	$54,397
2025	51	6	$206,899	$34,483
2024	26,366	23,407	$3,382,421,145	$144,505
2023	2,237	1,980	$142,062,090	$71,749
2022	66	9	$99,305	$11,034
2021	37	5	$81,826	$16,365
2020	1,100	933	$51,227,413	$54,906
2019	57	24	$484,898	$20,204
2018	41	14	$242,009	$17,286
2017	276	55	$1,132,744	$20,595
2016	266	141	$2,564,363	$18,187
2015	146	80	$861,513	$10,769
2014	22	4	$149,328	$37,332
2013	57	26	$216,327	$8,320
2012	628	403	$6,689,877	$16,600
2011	102	48	$1,047,058	$21,814
2010	41	12	$238,778	$19,898
2009	29	15	$103,486	$6,899
2008	25	6	$42,558	$7,093
2007	35	14	$211,662	$15,119
2006	187	152	$2,692,503	$17,714
2005	72	30	$347,523	$11,584
2004	632	370	$4,605,434	$12,447
2003	115	53	$313,835	$5,921
2002	99	46	$312,816	$6,800

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 Highscore 98.2 of 100

Expected annual loss$303MRelatively High

Social vulnerabilityRelatively Moderate

Community resilienceVery Low

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Hurricane	Very High	$110,079,977
Inland flooding	Relatively High	$90,829,435
Tornado	Very High	$33,467,776
Cold wave	Very High	$26,094,587
Coastal flooding	Very High	$24,634,189
Lightning	Very High	$8,897,517
Heat wave	Relatively Moderate	$5,561,234
Hail	Relatively High	$2,222,810
Strong wind	Relatively Moderate	$705,714
Earthquake	Relatively Low	$560,071
Wildfire	Relatively Low	$376,946
Drought	Very Low	$3,851
Landslide	Very Low	$73

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 miles107

Tracks within 50 miles40

Hurricane strength within 50 miles15

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Debby	2024	84 mi	81 mph
Milton	2024	37 mi	121 mph
Ian	2022	83 mi	155 mph
Nicole	2022	73 mi	63 mph
Elsa	2021	43 mi	75 mph
Sally	2020	94 mi	52 mph
Eta	2020	43 mi	69 mph
Gordon	2018	95 mi	63 mph
Emily	2017	29 mi	58 mph
Irma	2017	42 mi	75 mph
Andrea	2013	96 mi	63 mph
Debby	2012	99 mi	40 mph
Claudette	2009	88 mi	40 mph
Barry	2007	67 mi	46 mph
Charley	2004	74 mi	150 mph
Frances	2004	33 mi	69 mph
Jeanne	2004	41 mi	86 mph
Henri	2003	90 mi	58 mph
Gabrielle	2001	57 mi	69 mph
Gordon	2000	61 mi	75 mph
Erin	1995	58 mi	69 mph
Jerry	1995	70 mi	40 mph
Marco	1990	28 mi	63 mph
Keith	1988	42 mi	63 mph
Bob	1985	90 mi	46 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

33703 7,742
33708 7,627
33706 7,274
33702 3,490
33785 2,666
33767 2,248
33707 2,239
34698 1,654
34689 1,478
34683 1,382
33704 1,259
33786 1,156
33705 1,081
34677 898
33711 780
33710 714
33762 605
33764 545
33782 485
33709 450
33715 443
33777 401
33770 391
34681 390
33756 369
33781 369
33772 253
33774 242
33701 219
33776 217
33716 216
33755 206
33771 187
33760 166
33712 160
33535 145
34695 142
33759 125
33773 108
34660 84
34635 75
34684 71
34685 71
34688 64
33714 55
33765 55
33713 45
34630 42
34619 37
34640 37
33515 34
34666 34
33761 31
33778 31
33733 29
33763 29
34665 29
33557 25
33560 23
34624 18

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 Pinellas County, FL?

NCEI records 112 hail events in Pinellas County since 1950, in 38 different years; that is about 1.5 recorded events a year. 18 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Pinellas County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 147 tornadoes in Pinellas County since 1950, 17 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 11.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Pinellas County?

11 Oct 2024: Hurricane Milton, a major disaster declaration for hurricane. The county appears in 45 declarations since 1953.

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

51,779 NFIP claims since 1978, 42,476 of them paid, for $3.8B in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

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

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

How does Pinellas County compare with the rest of Florida?

341.5 recorded events per 100 square miles against 73.8 statewide, and 54.1 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.