States › Florida › Seminole County

Seminole 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 12117 · 470,093 residents (2021) · 309 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 135Tornado · 31Flood · 16Wind · 157Winter · 1

Seminole 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 391 storm events in Seminole County, Florida, led by damaging wind.

That is 126.4 events per 100 square miles, above the Florida figure of 73.8, and 8.3 per 10,000 residents against 18.2 statewide.

6 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 19 deaths and 71 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $962M and crop damage at $11M.

FEMA has designated the county in 39 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 1,562 claims since 1978, of which 1,025 were paid, totalling $54M (about $53K per paid claim). FEMA counts 6,283 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" ($129M a year across 18 hazards).

106 tropical storm or hurricane tracks in the HURDAT2 record passed within 100 miles of the county's centre at tropical-storm strength or more, 13 of them within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

6events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

391events since 195019 deaths, 71 injuries recorded

39disaster declarationslast 11 Oct 2024

1,562NFIP flood claims$54M paid

Compared with Florida and the United States

Measure	Seminole County	Florida	US
Recorded events since 1950	391	39,578	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	126.4	73.8	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	8.3	18.2	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	6	1,307	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	19	890	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$962M	$80B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	3.3	20.6	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$53K	$62K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	15.1	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

Tornado: 3Wind: 1

Hail: 3Tornado: 12Wind: 11

Hail: 4Tornado: 6Wind: 8

Hail: 28Tornado: 3Wind: 36Tropical: 1Wildfire: 1Lightning: 1

Hail: 30Tornado: 3Flood: 6Wind: 50Tropical: 1Cold: 2Lightning: 8Other: 3

Hail: 32Tornado: 1Flood: 3Wind: 31Winter: 1Tropical: 3Cold: 4Lightning: 2Other: 8

Hail: 38Tornado: 3Flood: 7Wind: 20Tropical: 5Heat: 1Lightning: 4Other: 7

01950s41960s261970s181980s701990s1032000s852010s852020s

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

Trend: 203 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 139 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

Wind157

Hail135

Tornado31

Other18

Flood16

Lightning15

Tropical10

Cold6

Winter1

Heat1

Wildfire1

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	157	1	1.0%	detail
■ Hail	135	—	2.4%	detail
■ Tornado	31	12	0.8%	detail
■ Other	18	—	0.6%
■ Flood	16	1	0.5%	detail
■ Lightning	15	3	0.8%
■ Tropical	10	2	0.4%
■ Cold	6	—	0.5%
■ Winter	1	—	0.6%
■ Heat	1	—	0.3%
■ Wildfire	1	—	0.2%

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
23 Feb 1998	Tornado	Tornado	F3	$30M	—	12	36	County
10 Sep 2017	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$543M	—	1	—	Forecast zone
25 Sep 2003	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	2	County
18 Aug 2022	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	2	County
7 Oct 2016	Tropical Depression	Tropical	—	$15M	—	1	—	Forecast zone
8 Oct 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	40 mph	—	—	1	1	County
15 Sep 2001	Flood	Flood	—	—	—	1	—	County
10 Sep 2020	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	1	—	County
28 Sep 2022	Flood	Flood	—	$241M	—	—	—	County
8 Apr 1982	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$250K	—	—	10	County
1 Jul 1998	Wildfire	Wildfire	—	$30M	—	—	2	County
13 Aug 2004	High Wind	Wind	92 mph	$47M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
30 Jun 2002	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	—	4	County
23 Aug 1966	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$25K	—	—	3	County
9 Oct 2024	Flood	Flood	—	$27M	—	—	—	County
2 Aug 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	69 mph	$80K	—	—	2	County
4 Sep 2004	High Wind	Wind	70 mph	$5.0M	$6.9M	—	—	Forecast zone
18 Mar 1981	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$250K	—	—	1	County
13 Jun 2012	Lightning	Lightning	—	$200K	—	—	1	County
11 Sep 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	0 mph	$50K	—	—	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
10 Aug 2024	DR-4806	Major disaster	Tropical Storm	Hurricane Debby	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	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
1 Aug 2020	EM-3533	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Isaias	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
21 Oct 2019	DR-4468	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Dorian	Public assistance
30 Aug 2019	EM-3419	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Dorian	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
8 Oct 2016	DR-4283	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Matthew	Individual assistance, Public assistance
6 Oct 2016	EM-3377	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Matthew	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
2 May 2007	FM-2687	Fire management assistance	Fire	Deland Fire Complex	Public assistance
3 Feb 2007	DR-1679	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms And Tornadoes	Individual assistance, 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
16 Sep 2004	DR-1551	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Ivan	Individual 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	Individual assistance, Public assistance
5 Feb 2001	DR-1359	Major disaster	Freezing	Severe Freeze	Individual assistance
20 Oct 1999	DR-1306	Major disaster	Hurricane	Fl-Hurricane Irene-Dr-Req	Individual 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
15 Apr 1999	FM-2253	Fire management assistance	Fire	Fl-Fires 04/13/99	Public assistance
18 Jun 1998	DR-1223	Major disaster	Fire	Extreme Fire Hazard	Individual assistance, Public assistance
6 Jan 1998	DR-1195	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, High Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
15 Jan 1990	DR-851	Major disaster	Freezing	Severe Freeze	Individual assistance
18 Mar 1985	DR-732	Major disaster	Freezing	Severe Freeze	Individual assistance
29 Mar 1984	DR-698	Major disaster	Freezing	Freezing Temperatures	Individual assistance
31 Jan 1977	DR-526	Major disaster	Freezing	Severe Winter Weather	Individual 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 Seminole County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 19781,562

Paid claims1,025

Total paid$54M

Average paid claim$53K

Repetitive-loss properties12810 severe

Residential policies in force6,2834.0% of 155,478 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2026	2	0	$0	—
2025	8	2	$63,109	$31,555
2024	79	52	$1,871,287	$35,986
2023	4	1	$254,911	$254,911
2022	615	501	$41,090,451	$82,017
2021	9	4	$107,795	$26,949
2020	6	0	$0	—
2019	4	0	$0	—
2018	6	3	$55,311	$18,437
2017	213	139	$5,486,715	$39,473
2016	11	3	$24,375	$8,125
2015	10	1	$8,365	$8,365
2014	9	2	$11,733	$5,867
2013	2	0	$0	—
2012	7	4	$25,678	$6,419
2011	11	3	$9,890	$3,297
2010	4	2	$9,594	$4,797
2009	7	3	$10,571	$3,524
2008	210	141	$3,581,333	$25,400
2007	2	1	$8,875	$8,875
2006	4	1	$15,953	$15,953
2005	10	4	$67,972	$16,993
2004	123	60	$761,499	$12,692
2003	13	7	$114,397	$16,342
2002	11	4	$51,089	$12,772

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 91.4 of 100

Expected annual loss$129MRelatively Moderate

Social vulnerabilityVery Low

Community resilienceRelatively Moderate

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Inland flooding	Relatively Moderate	$66,232,376
Tornado	Relatively High	$25,773,357
Hurricane	Relatively High	$24,572,966
Strong wind	Relatively High	$4,533,682
Lightning	Relatively High	$2,567,302
Wildfire	Relatively Moderate	$2,489,878
Heat wave	Relatively Low	$1,682,485
Earthquake	Relatively Low	$785,990
Cold wave	Relatively Low	$483,866
Hail	Very Low	$95,784
Drought	Very Low	$3,004
Landslide	Very Low	$140

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 miles106

Tracks within 50 miles43

Hurricane strength within 50 miles13

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Milton	2024	42 mi	81 mph
Ian	2022	38 mi	75 mph
Nicole	2022	56 mi	75 mph
Isaias	2020	80 mi	69 mph
Irma	2017	73 mi	75 mph
Julia	2016	22 mi	52 mph
Matthew	2016	52 mi	121 mph
Fay	2008	32 mi	63 mph
Ernesto	2006	48 mi	52 mph
Ophelia	2005	93 mi	69 mph
Tammy	2005	58 mi	52 mph
Charley	2004	50 mi	86 mph
Frances	2004	71 mi	92 mph
Jeanne	2004	74 mi	86 mph
Edouard	2002	49 mi	40 mph
Gabrielle	2001	15 mi	52 mph
Irene	1999	75 mi	75 mph
Erin	1995	58 mi	86 mph
Jerry	1995	45 mi	40 mph
Gordon	1994	84 mi	63 mph
Chris	1988	77 mi	46 mph
Keith	1988	56 mi	46 mph
Bob	1985	52 mi	69 mph
Isabel	1985	80 mi	46 mph
Diana	1984	78 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

32732 285
32771 230
32765 216
32708 137
32714 112
32792 107
32701 94
32773 88
32707 79
32779 67
32766 58
32750 52
32746 47
32730 7

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 Seminole County, FL?

NCEI records 135 hail events in Seminole County since 1950, in 34 different years; that is about 1.8 recorded events a year. 36 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Seminole County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 31 tornadoes in Seminole County since 1950, 7 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 12.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Seminole County?

11 Oct 2024: Hurricane Milton, a major disaster declaration for hurricane. The county appears in 39 declarations since 1953.

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

1,562 NFIP claims since 1978, 1,025 of them paid, for $54M in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

Is Seminole 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, "Very Low" for social vulnerability and "Relatively Moderate" for community resilience. These ratings are FEMA's relative comparison across all US counties.

How does Seminole County compare with the rest of Florida?

126.4 recorded events per 100 square miles against 73.8 statewide, and 3.3 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.