States › Louisiana › Vernon Parish

Vernon Parish, Louisiana

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

FIPS 22115 · 48,027 residents (2021) · 1,327 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 110Tornado · 61Flood · 36Wind · 196Winter · 22

Vernon Parish within Louisiana. 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.

The NCEI record lists 450 events for Vernon Parish, Louisiana, between 1950 and 2026; damaging wind account for the largest share.

That is 33.9 events per 100 square miles, below the Louisiana figure of 75.6, and 93.7 per 10,000 residents against 70.7 statewide.

7 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 11 deaths and 52 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $995M and crop damage at $25K.

FEMA has designated the county in 39 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 338 claims since 1978, of which 283 were paid, totalling $9.4M (about $33K per paid claim). FEMA counts 248 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" ($22M a year across 18 hazards).

45 tropical storm or hurricane tracks in the HURDAT2 record passed within 100 miles of the county's centre at tropical-storm strength or more, 3 of them within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

7events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

450events since 195011 deaths, 52 injuries recorded

39disaster declarationslast 24 Jan 2026

338NFIP flood claims$9.4M paid

Compared with Louisiana and the United States

Measure	Vernon Parish	Louisiana	US
Recorded events since 1950	450	32,679	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	33.9	75.6	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	93.7	70.7	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	7	1,099	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	11	1,332	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$995M	$96B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	7.0	105.0	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$33K	$54K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	25.8	10.0	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: 3

Hail: 2Wind: 3

Hail: 6Tornado: 8Wind: 3

Hail: 1Tornado: 4Wind: 17

Hail: 31Tornado: 11Flood: 3Wind: 55Winter: 1Drought: 4Lightning: 1

Hail: 39Tornado: 12Flood: 11Wind: 55Winter: 6Tropical: 3Heat: 2Drought: 2Lightning: 1

Hail: 18Tornado: 10Flood: 14Wind: 30Winter: 12Tropical: 1Cold: 1Wildfire: 1Other: 2

Hail: 13Tornado: 13Flood: 8Wind: 33Winter: 3Tropical: 2Heat: 2Wildfire: 1Lightning: 1Other: 1

31950s51960s171970s221980s1061990s1312000s892010s772020s

Recorded events in Vernon Parish by decade and hazard group. HailTornadoFloodWindWinterTropicalHeatColdDroughtWildfireLightningOther NCEI recorded only tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind before 1996.

Trend: 203 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 209 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

Wind196

Hail110

Tornado61

Flood36

Winter22

Tropical6

Drought6

Heat4

Lightning3

Other3

Wildfire2

Cold1

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	196	—	1.5%	detail
■ Hail	110	—	1.7%	detail
■ Tornado	61	10	2.2%	detail
■ Flood	36	—	1.1%	detail
■ Winter	22	—	2.0%	detail
■ Tropical	6	1	0.5%
■ Drought	6	—	0.4%
■ Heat	4	—	0.2%
■ Lightning	3	—	0.7%
■ Other	3	—	1.0%
■ Wildfire	2	—	7.4%
■ Cold	1	—	0.4%

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
3 Dec 1953	Tornado	Tornado	F4	$2.5M	—	7	20	County
29 Apr 1975	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$250K	—	2	8	County
26 Aug 2020	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$900M	—	1	—	Forecast zone
16 Dec 2019	Tornado	Tornado	EF3	$1.0M	—	1	—	County
28 Oct 1974	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$250K	—	—	12	County
10 Mar 2016	Flood	Flood	—	$50M	—	—	—	County
23 Nov 2004	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$500K	—	—	3	County
30 Mar 1976	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$250K	—	—	2	County
14 Sep 1978	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$250K	—	—	2	County
9 Oct 2020	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$20M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
22 Dec 1988	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$250K	—	—	1	County
3 Aug 1974	Tornado	Tornado	F0	$25K	—	—	1	County
25 Jan 1976	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$25K	—	—	1	County
19 Nov 1991	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$25K	—	—	1	County
7 Jun 1989	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	81 mph	—	—	—	1	County
26 Aug 2023	Wildfire	Wildfire	—	$5.0M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
22 Mar 1953	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$2.5M	—	—	—	County
10 Mar 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	—	$2.0M	—	—	—	County
20 Mar 2012	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$1.5M	—	—	—	County
23 Sep 2005	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$1.0M	—	—	—	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-3638	Emergency	Winter Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
10 Sep 2024	EM-3614	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Francine	Public assistance
30 Aug 2023	FM-5486	Fire management assistance	Fire	Highway 113 Fire	Public assistance
27 Aug 2023	FM-5485	Fire management assistance	Fire	Lions Camp Road Fire	Public assistance
25 Aug 2023	FM-5484	Fire management assistance	Fire	Ida Fire	Public assistance
13 Sep 2021	EM-3574	Emergency	Coastal Storm	Tropical Storm Nicholas	Public assistance
29 Aug 2021	DR-4611	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Ida	Public assistance
27 Aug 2021	EM-3568	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Ida	Public assistance
9 Mar 2021	DR-4590	Major disaster	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storms	Public assistance
18 Feb 2021	EM-3556	Emergency	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
27 Oct 2020	EM-3549	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Zeta	Public assistance
16 Oct 2020	DR-4570	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Delta	Public assistance
7 Oct 2020	EM-3547	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Delta	Public assistance
14 Sep 2020	EM-3543	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Sally	Public assistance
28 Aug 2020	DR-4559	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Laura	Individual assistance, Public assistance
23 Aug 2020	EM-3538	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storms Laura And Marco	Public assistance
7 Jun 2020	EM-3527	Emergency	Coastal Storm	Tropical Storm Cristobal	Public assistance
24 Mar 2020	DR-4484	Major disaster	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Mar 2020	EM-3459	Emergency	Biological	Covid-19	Public assistance
11 Jul 2019	EM-3416	Emergency	Coastal Storm	Tropical Storm Barry	Public assistance
16 Oct 2017	DR-4345	Major disaster	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Harvey	Public assistance
28 Aug 2017	EM-3382	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Harvey	Public assistance
13 Mar 2016	DR-4263	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms And Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Sep 2008	DR-1792	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Ike	Individual assistance, Public assistance
2 Sep 2008	DR-1786	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Gustav	Individual assistance, Public assistance
29 Aug 2008	EM-3289	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Gustav	Public assistance
2 Nov 2006	DR-1668	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms And Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
24 Sep 2005	DR-1607	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Rita	Individual assistance, Public assistance
21 Sep 2005	EM-3260	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Rita	Public assistance
29 Aug 2005	DR-1603	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina	Public assistance
27 Aug 2005	EM-3212	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina	Public assistance
1 Feb 2003	EM-3172	Emergency	Other	Loss Of Space Shuttle Columbia	Public assistance
3 Oct 2002	DR-1437	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Lili	Public assistance
11 Sep 2000	FM-2337	Fire management assistance	Fire	La-Western Louisiana Fire Complex-9/8/00	Public assistance
17 Jul 1989	DR-835	Major disaster	Flood	Tropical Storm Allison	Individual assistance, Public assistance
16 Jun 1989	DR-833	Major disaster	Tornado	Severe Storms & Tornadoes	Individual assistance
20 May 1989	DR-829	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
11 Jan 1983	DR-675	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms And Flooding	Individual assistance
22 Feb 1977	EM-3031	Emergency	Snowstorm	Drought & Freezing	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 Vernon Parish, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 1978338

Paid claims283

Total paid$9.4M

Average paid claim$33K

Repetitive-loss properties528 severe

Residential policies in force2481.7% of 14,893 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2025	1	0	$0	—
2024	6	6	$345,982	$57,664
2022	1	0	$0	—
2021	1	0	$0	—
2020	8	6	$77,468	$12,911
2018	4	4	$62,609	$15,652
2017	43	37	$1,715,985	$46,378
2016	68	56	$3,523,990	$62,928
2015	14	11	$332,504	$30,228
2014	4	4	$18,431	$4,608
2013	4	3	$17,464	$5,821
2012	42	35	$972,621	$27,789
2011	1	0	$0	—
2009	2	2	$51,617	$25,808
2008	6	6	$182,654	$30,442
2006	22	17	$499,686	$29,393
2005	11	8	$224,026	$28,003
2004	12	11	$118,776	$10,798
2003	3	2	$42,624	$21,312
2002	12	10	$197,390	$19,739
2001	14	13	$183,847	$14,142
1999	6	6	$250,591	$41,765
1998	3	1	$3,304	$3,304
1996	1	1	$6,900	$6,900
1995	3	2	$6,323	$3,162

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 68.9 of 100

Expected annual loss$22MRelatively Low

Social vulnerabilityRelatively High

Community resilienceVery Low

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Inland flooding	Relatively Low	$8,851,729
Tornado	Relatively Moderate	$4,269,501
Hurricane	Relatively Moderate	$3,786,732
Cold wave	Relatively Moderate	$1,671,489
Heat wave	Relatively Low	$831,970
Strong wind	Relatively Moderate	$631,014
Lightning	Relatively High	$622,608
Wildfire	Relatively Low	$313,837
Ice storm	Relatively Moderate	$258,089
Hail	Relatively Low	$152,007
Earthquake	Very Low	$121,949
Winter weather	Relatively Low	$46,068
Landslide	Very Low	$673

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 miles45

Tracks within 50 miles19

Hurricane strength within 50 miles3

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Laura	2020	9 mi	150 mph
Delta	2020	62 mi	98 mph
Barry	2019	7 mi	69 mph
Cindy	2017	50 mi	52 mph
Harvey	2017	35 mi	46 mph
Isaac	2012	77 mi	52 mph
Lee	2011	99 mi	40 mph
Gustav	2008	21 mi	69 mph
Humberto	2007	18 mi	75 mph
Rita	2005	64 mi	75 mph
Lili	2002	63 mi	69 mph
Andrew	1992	95 mi	58 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1987	88 mi	46 mph
Bonnie	1986	91 mi	40 mph
Danny	1985	47 mi	81 mph
Elena	1985	99 mi	52 mph
Juan	1985	87 mi	69 mph
Chris	1982	24 mi	63 mph
Claudette	1979	70 mi	46 mph
Carmen	1974	54 mi	86 mph
Betsy	1965	85 mi	75 mph
Audrey	1957	39 mi	127 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1955	45 mi	40 mph
Barbara	1954	57 mi	58 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1947	46 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

71446 228
71403 87
70639 9
71461 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 Vernon Parish, LA?

NCEI records 110 hail events in Vernon Parish since 1950, in 35 different years; that is about 1.4 recorded events a year. 23 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Vernon Parish had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 61 tornadoes in Vernon Parish since 1950, 10 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 10.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Vernon Parish?

24 Jan 2026: Severe Winter Storm, a emergency declaration for winter storm. The county appears in 39 declarations since 1953.

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

338 NFIP claims since 1978, 283 of them paid, for $9.4M in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

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

How does Vernon Parish compare with the rest of Louisiana?

33.9 recorded events per 100 square miles against 75.6 statewide, and 7.0 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 105.0. 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.