States › Georgia › Oconee County

Oconee County, Georgia

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

FIPS 13219 · 43,023 residents (2021) · 184 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 37Tornado · 12Flood · 5Wind · 129Winter · 30

Oconee County within Georgia. 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 305 storm events in Oconee County, Georgia, led by damaging wind.

That is 165.5 events per 100 square miles, above the Georgia figure of 98.3, and 70.9 per 10,000 residents against 52.5 statewide.

5 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 1 death and 3 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $255M and crop damage at $3.4M.

FEMA has designated the county in 13 federal disaster declarations since 1953; the most recent is Severe Winter Storm (emergency, 24 Jan 2026).

National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the county filed 4 claims since 1978, of which 2 were paid, totalling $35K (about $17K per paid claim). FEMA counts 42 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" ($12M a year across 18 hazards).

24 tropical storm or hurricane tracks in the HURDAT2 record passed within 100 miles of the county's centre at tropical-storm strength or more, 0 of them within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

5events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

305events since 19501 death, 3 injuries recorded

13disaster declarationslast 24 Jan 2026

4NFIP flood claims$35K paid

Compared with Georgia and the United States

Measure	Oconee County	Georgia	US
Recorded events since 1950	305	56,743	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	165.5	98.3	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	70.9	52.5	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	5	1,541	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	1	447	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$255M	$8.7B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	0.1	2.3	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$17K	$29K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	7.1	10.3	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: 2Wind: 1

Tornado: 3Wind: 3

Hail: 1Tornado: 3Wind: 27

Hail: 17Tornado: 2Wind: 27Winter: 2Heat: 2Cold: 2Drought: 4

Hail: 14Tornado: 2Flood: 2Wind: 33Winter: 13Tropical: 12Heat: 7Cold: 12Drought: 18Lightning: 6Fog: 2Other: 2

Hail: 3Flood: 2Wind: 22Winter: 12Tropical: 2Heat: 2Drought: 13Lightning: 1

Hail: 2Flood: 1Wind: 16Winter: 3Tropical: 2Drought: 5

01950s31960s61970s311980s561990s1232000s572010s292020s

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

Trend: 112 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 161 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

Wind129

Drought40

Hail37

Winter30

Tropical16

Cold14

Tornado12

Heat11

Lightning7

Flood5

Fog2

Other2

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	129	—	0.5%	detail
■ Drought	40	—	0.8%
■ Hail	37	—	0.4%	detail
■ Winter	30	—	0.9%	detail
■ Tropical	16	—	0.7%
■ Cold	14	—	0.9%
■ Tornado	12	1	0.5%	detail
■ Heat	11	—	0.8%
■ Lightning	7	—	0.5%
■ Flood	5	—	0.2%
■ Fog	2	—	0.9%
■ Other	2	—	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
27 Jun 1994	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$500K	—	1	3	County
31 Mar 1973	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$250M	—	—	—	County
1 Jun 2000	Drought	Drought	—	—	$3.4M	—	—	Forecast zone
22 Jan 2000	Ice Storm	Winter	—	$980K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
26 May 2006	Hail	Hail	1.75 in	$470K	—	—	—	County
16 Sep 2004	High Wind	Wind	59 mph	$350K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
13 Mar 1975	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$250K	—	—	—	County
17 Aug 1985	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$250K	—	—	—	County
18 Feb 2009	Tornado	Tornado	EF1	$200K	—	—	—	County
1 Mar 2009	Heavy Snow	Winter	—	$150K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
11 Aug 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	61 mph	$125K	—	—	—	County
11 Jul 2002	Lightning	Lightning	—	$100K	—	—	—	County
17 Aug 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	58 mph	$100K	—	—	—	County
5 Aug 2006	Lightning	Lightning	—	$100K	—	—	—	County
16 Aug 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	60 mph	$100K	—	—	—	County
11 Sep 2017	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$100K	—	—	—	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
24 Jan 2026	EM-3642	Emergency	Winter Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
26 Sep 2024	EM-3616	Emergency	Tropical Storm	Hurricane Helene	Public assistance
29 Mar 2020	DR-4501	Major disaster	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Mar 2020	EM-3464	Emergency	Biological	Covid-19	Public assistance
10 Oct 2018	EM-3406	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Michael	Public assistance
15 Sep 2017	DR-4338	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Irma	Public assistance
8 Sep 2017	EM-3387	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Irma	Public assistance
11 Feb 2014	EM-3368	Emergency	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
5 Sep 2005	EM-3218	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	Public assistance
28 Jan 2000	DR-1311	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
15 Mar 1993	EM-3097	Emergency	Snowstorm	Severe Snowfall, Winter Storm	Public assistance
20 Jul 1977	EM-3044	Emergency	Drought	Drought	Public assistance
4 Apr 1973	DR-370	Major disaster	Tornado	Tornadoes & 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 Oconee County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 19784

Paid claims2

Total paid$35K

Average paid claim$17K

Repetitive-loss properties0

Residential policies in force420.3% of 15,568 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2024	2	1	$30,890	$30,890
2020	1	0	$0	—
2003	1	1	$3,940	$3,940

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 19.4 of 100

Expected annual loss$12MVery Low

Social vulnerabilityVery Low

Community resilienceVery High

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Inland flooding	Relatively Low	$7,014,562
Tornado	Relatively Low	$1,511,297
Cold wave	Relatively Low	$671,641
Earthquake	Very Low	$666,354
Strong wind	Relatively Low	$446,410
Heat wave	Relatively Low	$381,782
Hail	Relatively Low	$366,598
Drought	Relatively Low	$343,224
Hurricane	Relatively Low	$306,221
Ice storm	Relatively Moderate	$239,626
Lightning	Relatively Low	$229,359
Wildfire	Very Low	$19,173
Winter weather	Very Low	$7,808
Landslide	Very Low	$162

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 miles24

Tracks within 50 miles4

Hurricane strength within 50 miles0

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Helene	2024	41 mi	69 mph
Michael	2018	73 mi	58 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1965	77 mi	40 mph
Cleo	1964	83 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1949	61 mi	63 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1940	85 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1916	91 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1915	93 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1912	65 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1907	65 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1903	92 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1902	79 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1901	92 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1901	97 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1898	87 mi	52 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1898	90 mi	52 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1896	37 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1893	40 mi	52 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1889	76 mi	52 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1886	71 mi	46 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1882	12 mi	46 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1859	63 mi	46 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1852	57 mi	46 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1851	96 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.

Questions and answers

How often does it hail in Oconee County, GA?

NCEI records 37 hail events in Oconee County since 1950, in 18 different years; that is about 0.5 recorded events a year. 5 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Oconee County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 12 tornadoes in Oconee County since 1950, 1 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 1.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Oconee County?

24 Jan 2026: Severe Winter Storm, a emergency declaration for winter storm. The county appears in 13 declarations since 1953.

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

4 NFIP claims since 1978, 2 of them paid, for $35K in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

Is Oconee 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 Low" for social vulnerability and "Very High" for community resilience. These ratings are FEMA's relative comparison across all US counties.

How does Oconee County compare with the rest of Georgia?

165.5 recorded events per 100 square miles against 98.3 statewide, and 0.1 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 2.3. 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.