States › Iowa › Carroll County

Carroll County, Iowa

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

FIPS 19027 · 20,692 residents (2021) · 569 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 143Tornado · 34Flood · 61Wind · 249Winter · 80

Carroll County within Iowa. 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 691 storm events in Carroll County, Iowa, led by damaging wind.

That is 121.3 events per 100 square miles, in line with the Iowa figure of 124.6, and 333.9 per 10,000 residents against 218.0 statewide.

12 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 0 deaths and 89 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $32M and crop damage at $141M.

FEMA has designated the county in 17 federal disaster declarations since 1953; the most recent is Covid-19 Pandemic (major disaster, 23 Mar 2020).

National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the county filed 13 claims since 1978, of which 10 were paid, totalling $360K (about $36K per paid claim). FEMA counts 14 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" ($23M a year across 18 hazards).

12events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

691events since 19500 deaths, 89 injuries recorded

17disaster declarationslast 23 Mar 2020

13NFIP flood claims$360K paid

Compared with Iowa and the United States

Measure	Carroll County	Iowa	US
Recorded events since 1950	691	69,606	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	121.3	124.6	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	333.9	218.0	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	12	1,467	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	0	223	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$32M	$6.5B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	0.6	4.6	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$36K	$30K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	0.0	21.8	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: 1

Hail: 2Tornado: 2Wind: 1

Hail: 6Tornado: 5Wind: 6

Hail: 4Tornado: 2Wind: 19

Hail: 22Tornado: 6Flood: 25Wind: 36Winter: 16Cold: 8Lightning: 5

Hail: 70Tornado: 6Flood: 23Wind: 82Winter: 26Heat: 1Cold: 1Drought: 4Lightning: 1Other: 3

Hail: 29Tornado: 8Flood: 13Wind: 62Winter: 23Heat: 3Cold: 13Drought: 5Lightning: 1Other: 40

Hail: 10Tornado: 4Wind: 43Winter: 15Cold: 5Drought: 28Other: 6

11950s51960s171970s251980s1181990s2172000s1972010s1112020s

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

Trend: 402 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 253 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

Wind249

Hail143

Winter80

Flood61

Other49

Drought37

Tornado34

Cold27

Lightning7

Heat4

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	249	—	1.2%	detail
■ Hail	143	—	0.9%	detail
■ Winter	80	—	0.7%	detail
■ Flood	61	—	0.8%	detail
■ Other	49	—	1.1%
■ Drought	37	—	1.4%
■ Tornado	34	—	1.0%	detail
■ Cold	27	—	1.0%
■ Lightning	7	—	1.9%
■ Heat	4	—	0.5%

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
13 May 2003	Hail	Hail	0.88 in	$2K	—	—	88	County
1 Jul 2012	Drought	Drought	—	—	$45M	—	—	Forecast zone
1 Aug 2013	Drought	Drought	—	—	$21M	—	—	Forecast zone
10 Jul 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	96 mph	$50K	$20M	—	—	County
12 Jun 2010	Flood	Flood	—	—	$20M	—	—	County
1 Aug 2003	Drought	Drought	—	$13M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
1 Aug 2001	Drought	Drought	—	—	$11M	—	—	Forecast zone
29 May 2008	Lightning	Lightning	—	—	—	—	1	County
1 Aug 2012	Drought	Drought	—	—	$6.0M	—	—	Forecast zone
1 Sep 2000	Drought	Drought	—	—	$5.0M	—	—	Forecast zone
14 Aug 2000	Drought	Drought	—	—	$4.7M	—	—	Forecast zone
27 May 1995	Tornado	Tornado	F4	$3.0M	$43K	—	—	County
10 Jul 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	79 mph	$1.5M	$1.0M	—	—	County
10 Oct 2009	Frost/Freeze	Cold	—	—	$2.5M	—	—	Forecast zone
23 Dec 2009	Ice Storm	Winter	—	$2.0M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
20 Jan 2010	Ice Storm	Winter	—	$2.0M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
11 Apr 2012	Frost/Freeze	Cold	—	—	$1.5M	—	—	Forecast zone
19 Jul 2008	Tornado	Tornado	EF1	$150K	$500K	—	—	County
18 Aug 1993	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$500K	$5K	—	—	County
17 Jul 1996	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$300K	$200K	—	—	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
23 Mar 2020	DR-4483	Major disaster	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Mar 2020	EM-3480	Emergency	Biological	Covid-19	Public assistance
23 Mar 2019	DR-4421	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms And Flooding	Public assistance
2 Mar 2010	DR-1880	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
25 Feb 2010	DR-1877	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorm	Public assistance
27 May 2008	DR-1763	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding	Public assistance
30 Mar 2007	EM-3275	Emergency	Snowstorm	Snow	Public assistance
10 Sep 2005	EM-3239	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	Public assistance
25 May 2004	DR-1518	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding	Individual assistance
2 Jul 1998	DR-1230	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding	Individual assistance
2 Jul 1998	DR-1230	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding	Individual assistance
9 Jul 1993	DR-996	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
26 Dec 1991	DR-928	Major disaster	Severe Ice Storm	Ice Storm	Public assistance
26 May 1990	DR-868	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
24 Jun 1974	DR-443	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
25 Apr 1969	DR-259	Major disaster	Flood	Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
22 Apr 1965	DR-193	Major disaster	Flood	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 Carroll County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 197813

Paid claims10

Total paid$360K

Average paid claim$36K

Repetitive-loss properties10 severe

Residential policies in force140.2% of 8,506 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2013	1	1	$3,405	$3,405
2008	2	2	$31,380	$15,690
2007	2	2	$10,132	$5,066
1997	2	2	$10,474	$5,237
1996	4	1	$49,915	$49,915
1993	2	2	$254,940	$127,470

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 57.6 of 100

Expected annual loss$23MRelatively Low

Social vulnerabilityRelatively Low

Community resilienceVery High

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Tornado	Relatively Moderate	$6,208,487
Inland flooding	Relatively Low	$5,069,862
Hail	Relatively High	$4,704,057
Drought	Relatively High	$2,864,376
Strong wind	Relatively Moderate	$1,745,757
Cold wave	Relatively Low	$1,574,371
Ice storm	Relatively Moderate	$188,743
Lightning	Very Low	$86,837
Winter weather	Relatively Low	$82,769
Heat wave	Very Low	$73,569
Earthquake	Very Low	$32,354
Wildfire	Very Low	$14,853
Hurricane	Very Low	$6,458
Landslide	Very Low	$1,096

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

No HURDAT2 track at tropical-storm strength passes within 100 miles of the county's centre point (through the 2025 season).

ZIP codes with flood claims

51455 8

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 Carroll County, IA?

NCEI records 143 hail events in Carroll County since 1950, in 37 different years; that is about 1.9 recorded events a year. 25 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Carroll County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 34 tornadoes in Carroll County since 1950, 6 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 0.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Carroll County?

23 Mar 2020: Covid-19 Pandemic, a major disaster declaration for biological. The county appears in 17 declarations since 1953.

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

13 NFIP claims since 1978, 10 of them paid, for $360K in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

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

How does Carroll County compare with the rest of Iowa?

121.3 recorded events per 100 square miles against 124.6 statewide, and 0.6 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 4.6. 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.