County Hazards

Storm events on record through

Hopkins County, Kentucky Storm events, disaster declarations and flood insurance claims on record

This page is a county record of past events and claims. It does not show the flood zone or the risk of an address. For the flood map of an address, use FEMA's address search (opens in a new tab).

NCEI has 816 storm events on record for Hopkins County, Kentucky, from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.

The newest event on record is a tornado event on 27 Apr 2026.

FEMA has 30 disaster declarations on record for the county from 1964 through 1 Oct 2026. The newest is EM-3633 of 24 Jan 2026.

OpenFEMA has 73 NFIP claims on record for the county from 1978 through 8 Sep 2026. The NFIP paid $1.2 million on these claims.

The NWS collects event reports from a variety of sources, which include (but are not limited to): county, state, and federal emergency management officials, local law enforcement officials, SKYWARN spotters, NWS damage surveys, newspaper clipping services, the insurance industry, and the general public, among others.

The National Weather Service reports property and crop damage estimates using available data at the time of event reporting. These values should therefore be considered broad estimates. Damage amounts are not adjusted for inflation.

Zone (NWS Forecast Zone): A zone is a geographic area defined by the NWS for issuing forecasts, watches, and warnings. While zones often align with counties, they can also represent smaller or subdivided areas within a county to account for differences in weather conditions, such as elevation or proximity to water. Larger-scale events—such as heat, cold, drought, and winter storms—are typically recorded by zone.

The words of the agency. Source: NOAA NCEI, Storm Events Database, page "Frequently Asked Questions", copied on .

This is raw, unedited data from FEMA's National Emergency Management Information System (NEMIS) and as such is subject to a small percentage of human error.

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2", copied on . The page gives: last data refresh 2026-10-01.

It is derived from the National Flood Insurance Program system of record, staged in the program's reporting platform and redacted to protect policy holder personally identifiable information.

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "NFIP Redacted Claims - v3", copied on . The page gives: last data refresh 2026-09-09.

Dates of the data: NCEI storm events through . OpenFEMA disaster declarations through . NFIP claims through .

Since the last update: no change is on record for Hopkins County. The site compares the agency data at each update. Updates of the data

The five hazards

Storm events on record for Hopkins County by hazard and period (NCEI, through 30 Jun 2026)
Hazard1950 to 20262000 to 20092010 to 20192020 to 2026Newest event
Hail86362414
Tornado21764
Flood69172521
Wind213547140
Winter109324921
Other event types318Heat, cold, drought, wildfire, lightning, fog, tropical and other types
All storm events816223318179

A hazard name opens the page of that hazard for the county. A hazard has a page from 10 events. The year 2026 has the events through 30 Jun 2026 only.

Forecast zones with the name of the county give 453 of the 816 events. A county count has the events that NCEI gives to the county. It also has the events of a forecast zone that has the name of the county. A zone with another name counts for the state only.

Rates of Hopkins County beside the total of the counties of Kentucky and of the United States
MeasureHopkinsAll counties of KentuckyAll counties of the United States
Storm events for each 100 square miles, 1950 to 2026150.5139.949.3
Storm events for each 10,000 residents, 1950 to 2026180.8122.552.5
NFIP claims for each 1,000 policies in force, 2016 to 2025no figure375.7185.3

The columns for the state and the United States total the counties. They count the events of each county in the same way as the county column. The site gives a rate for each 10,000 residents only from 10,000 residents. Residents and area: Census Bureau, 2021.

Newest storm events on record

TornadoEF0

2 miles W of ASHBYBURG. Damage estimate: $20 thousand

Thunderstorm Wind81 mph (70 knots, estimated gust)

2 miles W of ASHBYBURG. Damage estimate: $10 thousand

Thunderstorm Wind75 mph (65 knots, estimated gust)

At ASHBYBURG. Damage estimate: $20 thousand

Thunderstorm Wind60 mph (52 knots, estimated gust)

1 mile NNE of MORTONS GAP. Damage estimate: $1 thousand

Dense Fog

On record for the forecast zone

Drought

On record for the forecast zone

Dense Fog

On record for the forecast zone

Dense Fog

On record for the forecast zone

Dense Fog

On record for the forecast zone

Cold/Wind Chill

On record for the forecast zone

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill

On record for the forecast zone

Winter Storm

On record for the forecast zone

Cold/Wind Chill

On record for the forecast zone

Winter Weather

On record for the forecast zone

Strong Wind40 mph (35 knots, measured gust)

On record for the forecast zone. Damage estimate: $1 thousand

Dense Fog

On record for the forecast zone

Dense Fog

On record for the forecast zone

Dense Fog

On record for the forecast zone

Dense Fog

On record for the forecast zone

Dense Fog

On record for the forecast zone

Hail0.75 in, penny size

1 mile N of ST CHARLES

Drought

On record for the forecast zone

Heat

On record for the forecast zone

Heat

On record for the forecast zone

Heat

On record for the forecast zone

The 25 events above are the newest in the NCEI record. A place is the text of the NCEI record: a distance and a direction from a reference place. Wind speed is in miles per hour, with the knots that NCEI gives. The site does not show a place text that names a private property or reads as a person. Download these events (CSV)

Storm events on record for Hopkins County by year, 1950 to 2026
DecadeYear that ends in 0Year that ends in 1Year that ends in 2Year that ends in 3Year that ends in 4Year that ends in 5Year that ends in 6Year that ends in 7Year that ends in 8Year that ends in 9All
1950s00000010214
1960s121230001313
1970s111121103011
1980s121124040116
1990s111006610131452
2000s15121220201634323032223
2010s29434518263437262733318
2020s18203923352915 (part of the year)179

A darker cell has a larger count. The number is in each cell.

NCEI recorded tornado events from 1950, and hail and thunderstorm wind events from 1955. It recorded all event types from 1996. A count before 1996 has fewer event types.

FEMA disaster declarations

FEMA has 30 disaster declarations on record for Hopkins County from 1964 through 1 Oct 2026. The newest is EM-3633: SEVERE WINTER STORM.

Disaster declarations that name Hopkins County (OpenFEMA, through 1 Oct 2026)
DeclaredNumberTypeIncident typeTitle in the FEMA recordAssistance
EM-3633EmergencyWinter StormSEVERE WINTER STORMPublic
DR-4864Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDESIndividual, Public
EM-3626EmergencySevere StormSEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODINGPublic
DR-4860Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDESPublic
EM-3624EmergencySevere StormSEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDESPublic
DR-4804Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDESIndividual, Public
DR-4702Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDESPublic
DR-4630Major disasterTornadoSEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOESIndividual, Public
EM-3575EmergencyTornadoSEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOESPublic
DR-4497Major disasterBiologicalCOVID-19 PANDEMICIndividual, Public
EM-3469EmergencyBiologicalCOVID-19Public
DR-4278Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORM, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDESPublic
DR-1976Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODINGPublic
DR-1912Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES, AND TORNADOESIndividual, Public
DR-1818Major disasterSevere Ice StormSEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODINGPublic
EM-3302EmergencySevere Ice StormSEVERE WINTER STORMPublic
DR-1802Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE WIND STORM ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL DEPRESSION IKEPublic
DR-1757Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES, AND LANDSLIDESPublic
DR-1746Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, ANDIndividual
DR-1617Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOESIndividual
EM-3231EmergencyHurricaneHURRICANE KATRINAPublic
DR-1578Major disasterSnowstormSEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD SNOWPublic
DR-1523Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDESIndividual
DR-1471Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND ROCK SLIDES, AND TORNADOESIndividual, Public
DR-1414Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODINGIndividual
DR-1310Major disasterTornadoTORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS, TORRENTIAL RAINS, AND FLASH FLOODINGIndividual, Public
DR-1163Major disasterSevere StormSEVERE STORM, FLOODING, AND TORNADOESIndividual, Public
DR-1089Major disasterSnowstormBLIZZARD OF 96Public
DR-821Major disasterFloodSEVERE STORMS & FLOODINGIndividual, Public
DR-265Major disasterFloodSEVERE STORMS & FLOODINGIndividual, Public

DR is a major disaster declaration. EM is an emergency declaration. FM is a fire management assistance declaration. A declaration for the whole state is on the Kentucky page. What a disaster declaration is

The dataset includes declared recovery programs and geographic areas (county not available before 1964; Fire Management records are considered partial due to historical nature of the dataset).

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2", copied on . The page gives: last data refresh 2026-10-01.

Flood insurance claims (NFIP)

OpenFEMA has 73 NFIP claims on record for Hopkins County from 1978 through 8 Sep 2026.

The NFIP paid $1,180,664 on 60 claims.

FEMA counts 92 residential policies in force on 3 Aug 2026. The site gives a rate for each 1,000 policies only from 100 policies, because one claim changes a smaller rate too much.

NFIP claims in Hopkins County by year of loss, 1978 to 2026
DecadeYear that ends in 0Year that ends in 1Year that ends in 2Year that ends in 3Year that ends in 4Year that ends in 5Year that ends in 6Year that ends in 7Year that ends in 8Year that ends in 9All
1970s156
1980s02110010016
1990s01000201004
2000s310001106416
2010s510700802225
2020s2000491 (part of the year)16

A darker cell has a larger count. The number is in each cell.

NFIP claims by year of loss with the amount paid: 26 years
NFIP claims in Hopkins County by year of loss, with the amount paid (OpenFEMA, through 8 Sep 2026)
Year of lossClaimsClaims with a paymentAmount paid
20261not shownnot shown
202598$475,166
20244not shownnot shown
20202not shownnot shown
20192not shownnot shown
20182not shownnot shown
201687$119,222
201376$109,866
20111not shownnot shown
20105not shownnot shown
20094not shownnot shown
200866$105,189
20061not shownnot shown
20051not shownnot shown
20011not shownnot shown
20003not shownnot shown
19971not shownnot shown
19952not shownnot shown
19911not shownnot shown
19891not shownnot shown
19861not shownnot shown
19831not shownnot shown
19821not shownnot shown
19812not shownnot shown
19795not shownnot shown
19781not shownnot shown

A year with fewer than 5 claims shows the count of claims and no amount. A year with 1 to 4 claims with a payment shows no amount either. Such an amount could point to one property. The amount is the sum of the building, contents and increased cost of compliance payments. FEMA counts 9 multiple-loss properties in the county (2 Aug 2026). How FEMA redacts NFIP claims

This dataset is not intended to be an official federal report, and should not be considered an official federal report.

Note, the County Code field may not reflect the individual county the property is located as projects can be associated with more than one county

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "NFIP Redacted Claims - v3", copied on . The page gives: last data refresh 2026-09-09.

FEMA cannot verify the quality and/or timeliness of any data or any analysis derived therefrom after the data has been retrieved from FEMA.gov.

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Terms and Conditions, copied on . The page gives: last updated 2025-01-22.

National Risk Index

Risk Index rating
Relatively Low
Risk Index score
72.6 of 100
Expected Annual Loss rating
Relatively Low
Expected Annual Loss
$26 million
Social Vulnerability rating
Relatively High
Community Resilience rating
Relatively High
National Risk Index of Hopkins County by hazard type (FEMA, December 2025 release)
Hazard typeRisk Index ratingExpected Annual Loss
Cold waveRelatively Low$778,184
DroughtRelatively Moderate$431,129
EarthquakeRelatively Moderate$5,667,198
HailRelatively Moderate$790,398
Heat waveRelatively Low$952,503
HurricaneVery Low$11,407
Ice stormVery High$1,654,619
Inland floodingRelatively Low$9,376,445
LandslideVery Low$382
LightningRelatively Moderate$550,161
Strong windRelatively High$2,025,466
TornadoRelatively Moderate$3,165,223
WildfireVery Low$5,605
Winter weatherRelatively Moderate$172,701

The National Risk Index dataset leverages available source data for natural hazard and community risk factors to develop a baseline relative risk measurement for each United States county and Census tract.

The rating is a qualitative categorization that describes the community in comparison to all other communities at the same level, ranging from “Very Low” to “Very High.”

The National Risk Index data are meant for planning purposes only.

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, National Risk Index Data: Frequently Asked Questions (December 2025, v1.20), copied on .

The labels and the ratings are those of FEMA. Expected Annual Loss is a figure for a whole county. It is not a figure for a property. How to read the National Risk Index

Tropical storm and hurricane tracks

The HURDAT2 record of the National Hurricane Center has 4 tracks within 100 miles of the centre point of the county, through the 2025 season. 0 of them were within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

Storm names, years and distances: 4 tracks
Tropical storm and hurricane tracks within 100 miles of the centre point of Hopkins County (NHC HURDAT2)
Storm nameYearNearest point of the trackHighest wind within 100 miles
Helene202475 miles46 mph
Audrey195797 miles40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm191569 miles40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm188858 miles58 mph

A name is the storm name that the National Hurricane Center gave. The distance is from the centre line of the track. It does not show how far the wind, the rain or the surge of a storm went.

ZIP Codes, cities and towns of Hopkins County

Each ZIP Code below has a page with its NFIP claims by year. 3 more ZIP Codes have fewer than 5 claims and no page.

A city or town has no page of its own. This page is the record for the whole county, which has these places:

  • Dawson Springs
  • Earlington
  • Hanson
  • Madisonville
  • Manitou
  • Mortons Gap
  • Nebo
  • Nortonville
  • St. Charles
  • White Plains

Official channels

These links open the pages of the agencies. The site checked the links on .

Cite this page

County Hazards. "Hopkins County, Kentucky: storm events, disaster declarations and flood insurance claims on record". https://countyhazards.com/county/ky/hopkins/. Data: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database through 30 Jun 2026; FEMA OpenFEMA disaster declarations through 1 Oct 2026; FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP claims through 8 Sep 2026. Page made on .

Where the data comes from

  • Storm events: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, yearly details files through 30 Jun 2026.
  • Disaster declarations: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, read on 1 Oct 2026.
  • NFIP claims: OpenFEMA NFIP Claims, as of 8 Sep 2026. Multiple-loss properties: 2 Aug 2026. Policies in force: 3 Aug 2026.
  • National Risk Index: FEMA, December 2025 release. Storm tracks: NHC HURDAT2 through the 2025 season.
  • Residents, area, places and adjacent counties: US Census Bureau, 2021 vintage.

How the counts are made · Corrections · Hazards in all states: hail, tornado, flood, wind, winter

Questions

How many tornado events are on record for Hopkins County?
NCEI has 21 tornado events on record for Hopkins County from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026. 10 events have a rating of EF2 or F2, or a higher rating.
How large is the hail on record for Hopkins County?
NCEI has 86 hail events on record from 1955 through 30 Jun 2026. 18 events have a hail size of 1.75 inches or more. NCEI names 1.75 inches a golf ball.
Which month has the most storm events on record for Hopkins County?
April has 98 of the 816 storm events on record from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.
How many NFIP claims are there for each 1,000 policies in force in Hopkins County?
FEMA counts 92 residential policies in force on 3 Aug 2026. The site gives a rate for each 1,000 policies only from 100 policies, because one claim changes a smaller rate too much.