States › North Carolina › Pamlico County

Pamlico County, North Carolina

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

FIPS 37137 · 12,344 residents (2021) · 337 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 48Tornado · 20Flood · 16Wind · 51Winter · 26

Pamlico County within North Carolina. 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 209 events for Pamlico County, North Carolina, between 1950 and 2026; damaging wind account for the largest share.

That is 62.1 events per 100 square miles, below the North Carolina figure of 112.5, and 169.3 per 10,000 residents against 51.8 statewide.

14 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 1 death and 48 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $156M and crop damage at $27M.

FEMA has designated the county in 30 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 4,330 claims since 1978, of which 3,942 were paid, totalling $103M (about $26K per paid claim). FEMA counts 1,805 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).

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

14events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

209events since 19501 death, 48 injuries recorded

30disaster declarationslast 24 Jan 2026

4,330NFIP flood claims$103M paid

Compared with North Carolina and the United States

Measure	Pamlico County	North Carolina	US
Recorded events since 1950	209	54,696	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	62.1	112.5	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	169.3	51.8	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	14	1,437	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	1	622	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$156M	$15B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	350.8	10.4	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$26K	$28K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	72.4	24.1	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

Hail: 1Tornado: 2

Hail: 1Wind: 1

Hail: 1Tornado: 3Wind: 1

Hail: 11Tornado: 5Flood: 4Wind: 7Winter: 6Tropical: 10Cold: 1Other: 1

Hail: 27Tornado: 3Flood: 5Wind: 14Winter: 7Tropical: 8Cold: 1

Hail: 5Tornado: 2Flood: 5Wind: 19Winter: 8Tropical: 8Drought: 3Lightning: 1Other: 2

Hail: 2Tornado: 5Flood: 2Wind: 9Winter: 5Tropical: 2Heat: 5Drought: 6

01950s31960s21970s51980s451990s652000s532010s362020s

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

Trend: 99 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 90 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

Wind51

Hail48

Tropical28

Winter26

Tornado20

Flood16

Drought9

Heat5

Other3

Cold2

Lightning1

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	51	—	0.2%	detail
■ Hail	48	—	0.5%	detail
■ Tropical	28	—	2.5%
■ Winter	26	—	0.3%	detail
■ Tornado	20	1	1.2%	detail
■ Flood	16	—	0.3%	detail
■ Drought	9	—	0.5%
■ Heat	5	—	1.4%
■ Other	3	—	0.3%
■ Cold	2	—	0.3%
■ Lightning	1	—	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
17 Mar 1965	Tornado	Tornado	F3	$2.5M	—	1	40	County
17 Sep 2003	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$50M	$5.0M	—	—	Forecast zone
28 Nov 1988	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$2.5M	—	—	5	County
26 Aug 2011	Storm Surge/Tide	Tropical	—	$50M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
13 Sep 2018	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$30M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
3 Feb 1996	Winter Storm	Winter	—	$15K	—	—	2	Forecast zone
26 Aug 2011	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$10M	$10M	—	—	Forecast zone
5 Apr 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	81 mph	—	—	—	1	County
21 Jul 2010	Lightning	Lightning	—	$6.0M	—	—	—	County
12 Jul 1996	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$1.0M	$4.1M	—	—	Forecast zone
1 Sep 1999	Tropical Storm	Tropical	—	$500K	$4.0M	—	—	Forecast zone
4 Sep 1996	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$3.0M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
13 Sep 2005	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	—	$3.0M	—	—	Forecast zone
14 Sep 1999	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	—	$1.0M	—	—	Forecast zone
15 Sep 1999	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$700K	—	—	—	County
14 Aug 2004	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$50K	$200K	—	—	Forecast zone
3 Jun 1998	Hail	Hail	2.75 in	$100K	—	—	—	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
24 Jan 2026	EM-3637	Emergency	Winter Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
26 Sep 2024	EM-3617	Emergency	Tropical Storm	Hurricane Helene	Public assistance
6 Aug 2024	EM-3608	Emergency	Tropical Storm	Tropical Storm Debby	Public assistance
1 Oct 2022	EM-3586	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Ian	Public assistance
14 Oct 2020	DR-4568	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Isaias	Public assistance
2 Aug 2020	EM-3534	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Isaias	Public assistance
25 Mar 2020	DR-4487	Major disaster	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Mar 2020	EM-3471	Emergency	Biological	Covid-19	Public assistance
4 Oct 2019	DR-4465	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Dorian	Public assistance
3 Sep 2019	EM-3423	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Dorian	Public assistance
14 Sep 2018	DR-4393	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Florence	Individual assistance, Public assistance
10 Sep 2018	EM-3401	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Florence	Public assistance
10 Oct 2016	DR-4285	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Matthew	Public assistance
7 Oct 2016	EM-3380	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Matthew	Public assistance
31 Aug 2011	DR-4019	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Irene	Individual assistance, Public assistance
25 Aug 2011	EM-3327	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Irene	Public assistance
1 Sep 2010	EM-3314	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Earl	Public assistance
7 Oct 2005	DR-1608	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Ophelia	Public assistance
14 Sep 2005	EM-3254	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Ophelia	Public assistance
5 Sep 2005	EM-3222	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	Public assistance
18 Sep 2003	DR-1490	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Isabel	Individual assistance, Public assistance
16 Sep 1999	DR-1292	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Floyd Major Disaster Declarations	Individual assistance, Public assistance
15 Sep 1999	EM-3146	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Floyd Emergency Declarations	Public assistance
9 Sep 1999	DR-1291	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Dennis	Individual assistance
1 Sep 1999	EM-3141	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Dennis	Public assistance
27 Aug 1998	DR-1240	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Bonnie	Individual assistance, Public assistance
6 Sep 1996	DR-1134	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Fran	Individual assistance, Public assistance
18 Jul 1996	DR-1127	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Bertha	Individual assistance, Public assistance
17 Mar 1993	EM-3110	Emergency	Snowstorm	Severe Snowfall & Winter Storm	Public assistance
2 Dec 1988	DR-818	Major disaster	Tornado	Severe Storms & Tornadoes	Individual 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 Pamlico County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 19784,330

Paid claims3,942

Total paid$103M

Average paid claim$26K

Repetitive-loss properties93869 severe

Residential policies in force1,80526.2% of 6,889 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2025	1	1	$8,243	$8,243
2024	1	0	$0	—
2023	2	2	$18,305	$9,152
2021	1	0	$0	—
2019	11	7	$526,699	$75,243
2018	1,291	1,229	$38,459,218	$31,293
2016	2	2	$4,431	$2,216
2015	14	10	$399,064	$39,906
2014	2	2	$13,304	$6,652
2012	2	0	$0	—
2011	1,332	1,225	$43,598,724	$35,591
2010	3	3	$8,299	$2,766
2009	3	1	$2,271	$2,271
2007	2	2	$16,473	$8,236
2006	8	7	$24,093	$3,442
2005	92	71	$879,557	$12,388
2004	17	10	$185,888	$18,589
2003	922	866	$14,271,181	$16,479
2002	3	2	$16,262	$8,131
2001	1	1	$15,000	$15,000
2000	1	0	$0	—
1999	471	405	$3,920,605	$9,681
1998	26	18	$49,703	$2,761
1996	90	63	$304,599	$4,835
1993	1	1	$24,114	$24,114

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 72.4 of 100

Expected annual loss$23MRelatively Low

Social vulnerabilityVery High

Community resilienceRelatively High

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Hurricane	Relatively High	$18,825,840
Inland flooding	Very Low	$1,562,442
Tornado	Relatively Low	$534,932
Lightning	Relatively Moderate	$425,016
Coastal flooding	Relatively Low	$287,435
Wildfire	Relatively Low	$242,334
Heat wave	Relatively Low	$193,041
Strong wind	Relatively Low	$126,831
Winter weather	Relatively Moderate	$116,378
Cold wave	Very Low	$111,932
Earthquake	Very Low	$68,545
Ice storm	Relatively Low	$36,462
Hail	Very Low	$26,718
Drought	Very Low	$2,068
Landslide	Very Low	$46

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 miles152

Tracks within 50 miles69

Hurricane strength within 50 miles24

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Ophelia	2023	25 mi	69 mph
Claudette	2021	60 mi	46 mph
Arthur	2020	67 mi	52 mph
Isaias	2020	82 mi	69 mph
Dorian	2019	55 mi	104 mph
Florence	2018	72 mi	104 mph
Hermine	2016	35 mi	69 mph
Matthew	2016	49 mi	81 mph
Arthur	2014	31 mi	98 mph
Beryl	2012	51 mi	52 mph
Irene	2011	31 mi	86 mph
Cristobal	2008	55 mi	52 mph
Hanna	2008	89 mi	52 mph
Barry	2007	39 mi	46 mph
Gabrielle	2007	21 mi	58 mph
Alberto	2006	53 mi	40 mph
Ernesto	2006	88 mi	58 mph
Ophelia	2005	49 mi	86 mph
Alex	2004	67 mi	98 mph
Charley	2004	93 mi	69 mph
Isabel	2003	15 mi	104 mph
Gustav	2002	72 mi	63 mph
Kyle	2002	47 mi	46 mph
Helene	2000	77 mi	46 mph
Dennis	1999	13 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

28571 2,177
28556 682
28515 511
28510 278
28587 229
28537 156
28552 132
28529 85
28583 30

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 Pamlico County, NC?

NCEI records 48 hail events in Pamlico County since 1950, in 18 different years; that is about 0.6 recorded events a year. 10 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Pamlico County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 20 tornadoes in Pamlico County since 1950, 3 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 1.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Pamlico County?

24 Jan 2026: Severe Winter Storm, a emergency declaration for winter storm. The county appears in 30 declarations since 1953.

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

4,330 NFIP claims since 1978, 3,942 of them paid, for $103M in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

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

How does Pamlico County compare with the rest of North Carolina?

62.1 recorded events per 100 square miles against 112.5 statewide, and 350.8 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 10.4. 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.