States › Florida › Wakulla County

Wakulla 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 12129 · 34,690 residents (2021) · 606 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 36Tornado · 26Flood · 22Wind · 357Winter · 0

Wakulla 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.

Wakulla County, Florida, has 496 weather events in the NCEI Storm Events record since 1950, most of them damaging wind.

That is 81.8 events per 100 square miles, in line with the Florida figure of 73.8, and 143.0 per 10,000 residents against 18.2 statewide.

9 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 1 death and 8 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $38M.

FEMA has designated the county in 45 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 1,554 claims since 1978, of which 1,267 were paid, totalling $34M (about $27K per paid claim). FEMA counts 1,131 residential flood policies in force.

FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county's overall risk as "Relatively Low" and its expected annual loss as "Relatively Low" ($19M a year across 18 hazards).

104 tropical storm or hurricane tracks in the HURDAT2 record passed within 100 miles of the county's centre at tropical-storm strength or more, 16 of them within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

9events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

496events since 19501 death, 8 injuries recorded

45disaster declarationslast 28 Sep 2024

1,554NFIP flood claims$34M paid

Compared with Florida and the United States

Measure	Wakulla County	Florida	US
Recorded events since 1950	496	39,578	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	81.8	73.8	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	143.0	18.2	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	9	1,307	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	1	890	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$38M	$80B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	44.8	20.6	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$27K	$62K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	23.6	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: 1Wind: 3

Hail: 2Tornado: 3

Hail: 3Tornado: 5

Hail: 6Tornado: 2Flood: 1Wind: 23Tropical: 2Wildfire: 4

Hail: 14Tornado: 4Flood: 11Wind: 37Tropical: 23Wildfire: 1Other: 4

Hail: 7Tornado: 4Flood: 5Wind: 175Lightning: 1Other: 19

Hail: 4Tornado: 7Flood: 5Wind: 119Lightning: 1

01950s41960s51970s81980s381990s942000s2112010s1362020s

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

Trend: 389 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 84 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

Wind357

Hail36

Tornado26

Tropical25

Other23

Flood22

Wildfire5

Lightning2

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	357	1	2.3%	detail
■ Hail	36	—	0.6%	detail
■ Tornado	26	—	0.7%	detail
■ Tropical	25	—	1.1%
■ Other	23	—	0.8%
■ Flood	22	—	0.7%	detail
■ Wildfire	5	—	1.0%
■ Lightning	2	—	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
19 Jul 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	58 mph	$75K	—	1	—	County
25 Apr 1964	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$250K	—	—	2	County
1 Jun 1998	Wildfire	Wildfire	—	—	—	—	2	County
14 Jul 2010	Lightning	Lightning	—	$272K	—	—	1	County
11 Jan 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	63 mph	$50K	—	—	1	County
8 Jun 1989	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$25K	—	—	1	County
11 Apr 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	0 mph	$3K	—	—	1	County
25 Jun 2012	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$8.8M	—	—	—	County
9 Jul 2005	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$8.0M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
10 Jul 2005	Storm Surge/Tide	Tropical	—	$7.5M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
22 Aug 2008	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$5.0M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
5 Dec 2005	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$1.3M	—	—	—	County
22 Sep 2000	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$1.0M	—	—	—	County
2 Sep 1998	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$750K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
1 Sep 2008	Storm Surge/Tide	Tropical	—	$700K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
23 Aug 2008	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$500K	—	—	—	County
10 Mar 1998	Flood	Flood	—	$275K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
21 Mar 1974	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$250K	—	—	—	County
6 Aug 2001	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$250K	—	—	—	County
25 Sep 2002	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$250K	—	—	—	Forecast zone

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	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	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
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	Individual assistance, 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	Individual assistance, Public assistance
3 Jul 2012	DR-4068	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Debby	Individual assistance, Public assistance
21 Apr 2009	DR-1831	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Flooding, Tornadoes, And Straight-Line Winds	Individual assistance, 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	Individual assistance, Public assistance
26 Sep 2004	DR-1561	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Jeanne	Public assistance
16 Sep 2004	DR-1551	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Ivan	Individual assistance, 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
19 Apr 1999	FM-2257	Fire management assistance	Fire	Fl-Fires 04/13/99	Public assistance
25 Sep 1998	EM-3131	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Grorges	Public assistance
4 Sep 1998	DR-1241	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Earl	Individual assistance
18 Jun 1998	DR-1223	Major disaster	Fire	Extreme Fire Hazard	Public assistance
4 Oct 1995	DR-1069	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Opal	Individual assistance
13 Mar 1993	DR-982	Major disaster	Tornado	Tornadoes, Flooding, High Winds & Tides, Freezing	Individual assistance, Public assistance
3 Dec 1985	DR-756	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Kate	Individual assistance, Public assistance
12 Sep 1985	DR-743	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Elena	Individual assistance, Public assistance
22 Aug 1975	DR-479	Major disaster	Flood	Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
26 May 1973	DR-387	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
23 Jun 1972	DR-337	Major disaster	Coastal Storm	Tropical Storm Agnes	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 Wakulla County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 19781,554

Paid claims1,267

Total paid$34M

Average paid claim$27K

Repetitive-loss properties12224 severe

Residential policies in force1,1318.2% of 13,721 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2026	1	0	$0	—
2024	28	23	$885,241	$38,489
2019	1	0	$0	—
2018	236	199	$8,305,331	$41,735
2017	1	0	$0	—
2016	50	40	$1,462,968	$36,574
2015	1	1	$69,897	$69,897
2013	2	1	$12,681	$12,681
2012	54	40	$2,049,173	$51,229
2009	8	8	$126,384	$15,798
2008	14	11	$179,198	$16,291
2006	2	0	$0	—
2005	477	414	$15,958,905	$38,548
2004	4	2	$12,288	$6,144
2003	2	1	$2,681	$2,681
2002	1	1	$8,607	$8,607
2001	3	1	$1,721	$1,721
2000	11	9	$69,528	$7,725
1998	215	171	$2,542,869	$14,871
1996	1	0	$0	—
1995	131	101	$899,074	$8,902
1994	48	34	$218,528	$6,427
1993	12	7	$53,206	$7,601
1992	1	0	$0	—
1991	5	3	$28,251	$9,417

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 Lowscore 46.7 of 100

Expected annual loss$19MRelatively Low

Social vulnerabilityVery Low

Community resilienceRelatively Moderate

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Inland flooding	Very Low	$5,008,964
Cold wave	Relatively Moderate	$4,988,471
Hurricane	Relatively Moderate	$4,464,626
Tornado	Relatively Low	$1,644,970
Wildfire	Relatively Low	$851,917
Coastal flooding	Relatively Moderate	$767,049
Lightning	Relatively Moderate	$483,856
Heat wave	Relatively Low	$410,674
Strong wind	Relatively Low	$244,530
Earthquake	Very Low	$50,000
Hail	Very Low	$14,293
Winter weather	Very Low	$6,891
Drought	Very Low	$247
Landslide	Very Low	$21

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 miles104

Tracks within 50 miles46

Hurricane strength within 50 miles16

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Debby	2024	58 mi	81 mph
Helene	2024	40 mi	138 mph
Idalia	2023	47 mi	132 mph
Nicole	2022	21 mi	40 mph
Elsa	2021	55 mi	63 mph
Fred	2021	68 mi	63 mph
Mindy	2021	39 mi	58 mph
Nestor	2019	63 mi	46 mph
Alberto	2018	94 mi	52 mph
Michael	2018	63 mi	161 mph
Irma	2017	76 mi	52 mph
Colin	2016	48 mi	52 mph
Hermine	2016	16 mi	81 mph
Andrea	2013	71 mi	63 mph
Debby	2012	73 mi	52 mph
Claudette	2009	82 mi	58 mph
Fay	2008	29 mi	52 mph
Alberto	2006	42 mi	63 mph
Bonnie	2004	56 mi	46 mph
Frances	2004	21 mi	63 mph
Jeanne	2004	63 mi	46 mph
Gordon	2000	84 mi	63 mph
Earl	1998	80 mi	81 mph
Josephine	1996	28 mi	69 mph
Allison	1995	10 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

32346 852
32327 775
32355 207
32358 121
32326 8
32325 5

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 Wakulla County, FL?

NCEI records 36 hail events in Wakulla County since 1950, in 18 different years; that is about 0.5 recorded events a year. 9 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Wakulla County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 26 tornadoes in Wakulla County since 1950, 1 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 0.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Wakulla County?

28 Sep 2024: Hurricane Helene, a major disaster declaration for hurricane. The county appears in 45 declarations since 1953.

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

1,554 NFIP claims since 1978, 1,267 of them paid, for $34M in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

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

FEMA's National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the county "Relatively Low" for overall risk, "Relatively Low" 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 Wakulla County compare with the rest of Florida?

81.8 recorded events per 100 square miles against 73.8 statewide, and 44.8 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.