Polk County, Nebraska 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 524 storm events on record for Polk County, Nebraska, from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.
The newest event on record is a drought event on 17 Mar 2026.
FEMA has 20 disaster declarations on record for the county from 1964 through 1 Oct 2026. The newest is DR-4868 of 21 May 2025.
OpenFEMA has 6 NFIP claims on record for the county from 1978 through 8 Sep 2026. The site shows no amount for a year with fewer than 5 claims with a payment.
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 Polk County. The site compares the agency data at each update. Updates of the data
The five hazards
| Hazard | 1950 to 2026 | 2000 to 2009 | 2010 to 2019 | 2020 to 2026 | Newest event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 140 | 42 | 40 | 16 | |
| Tornado | 38 | 4 | 5 | 5 | |
| Flood | 19 | 7 | 11 | 1 | |
| Wind | 126 | 28 | 30 | 40 | |
| Winter | 109 | 31 | 35 | 27 | |
| Other event types | 92 | Heat, cold, drought, wildfire, lightning, fog, tropical and other types | |||
| All storm events | 524 | 122 | 165 | 123 | |
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 199 of the 524 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.
| Measure | Polk | All counties of Nebraska | All counties of the United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storm events for each 100 square miles, 1950 to 2026 | 119.5 | 82.4 | 49.3 |
| Storm events for each 10,000 residents, 1950 to 2026 | no figure | 322.5 | 52.5 |
| NFIP claims for each 1,000 policies in force, 2016 to 2025 | no figure | 255.6 | 185.3 |
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
Drought
On record for the forecast zone
High Wind60 mph (52 knots, estimated gust)
On record for the forecast zone
Thunderstorm Wind60 mph (52 knots, estimated gust)
3 miles ENE of SHELBY
Hail1.00 in, quarter size
3 miles ENE of SHELBY
Hail1.75 in, golf ball size
At SHELBY
Hail1.00 in, quarter size
At OSCEOLA
Hail1.75 in, golf ball size
2 miles ENE of SWEDEHOME. Damage estimate: $250 thousand
High Wind60 mph (52 knots, estimated gust)
On record for the forecast zone
Drought
On record for the forecast zone
Thunderstorm Wind64 mph (56 knots, estimated gust)
5 miles E of POLK
Hail1.00 in, quarter size
At OSCEOLA
Blizzard
On record for the forecast zone
High Wind59 mph (51 knots, measured gust)
On record for the forecast zone
Winter Weather
On record for the forecast zone
High Wind58 mph (50 knots, measured gust)
On record for the forecast zone
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill
On record for the forecast zone
Winter Weather
On record for the forecast zone
Winter Weather
On record for the forecast zone
Winter Weather
On record for the forecast zone
Winter Weather
On record for the forecast zone
Drought
On record for the forecast zone
TornadoEF unrated
9 miles NNW of SHELBY
Flood
6 miles NNW of POLK
Thunderstorm Wind60 mph (52 knots, estimated gust)
At OSCEOLA. Damage estimate: $5 thousand
TornadoEF0
7 miles NNW of SHELBY. Damage estimate: $1.0 million
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)
| Decade | Year that ends in 0 | Year that ends in 1 | Year that ends in 2 | Year that ends in 3 | Year that ends in 4 | Year that ends in 5 | Year that ends in 6 | Year that ends in 7 | Year that ends in 8 | Year that ends in 9 | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 1960s | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
| 1970s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 20 |
| 1980s | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 |
| 1990s | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 58 |
| 2000s | 9 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 9 | 122 |
| 2010s | 5 | 40 | 14 | 15 | 27 | 10 | 7 | 23 | 13 | 11 | 165 |
| 2020s | 15 | 19 | 21 | 28 | 20 | 18 | 2 (part of the year) | 123 |
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 20 disaster declarations on record for Polk County from 1964 through 1 Oct 2026. The newest is DR-4868: SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS.
| Declared | Number | Type | Incident type | Title in the FEMA record | Assistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DR-4868 | Major disaster | Winter Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | Public | |
| DR-4808 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | Public | |
| DR-4662 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | Public | |
| DR-4641 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | Public | |
| DR-4521 | Major disaster | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | Individual, Public | |
| EM-3483 | Emergency | Biological | COVID-19 | Public | |
| DR-4420 | Major disaster | Flood | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | Public | |
| DR-4325 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | Public | |
| DR-4185 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | Public | |
| DR-4014 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | Public | |
| DR-1902 | Major disaster | Flood | SEVERE STORMS, ICE JAMS, AND FLOODING | Public | |
| DR-1878 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | Public | |
| DR-1770 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | Public | |
| DR-1674 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | Public | |
| EM-3245 | Emergency | Hurricane | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUEES | Public | |
| DR-1480 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | Public | |
| DR-1190 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | SEVERE SNOW STORMS, RAIN, AND STRONG WINDS | Public | |
| DR-998 | Major disaster | Flood | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | Individual, Public | |
| DR-500 | Major disaster | Severe Ice Storm | ICE STORMS & HIGH WINDS | Public | |
| DR-228 | Major disaster | Flood | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | Individual, 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 Nebraska 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).
Flood insurance claims (NFIP)
OpenFEMA has 6 NFIP claims on record for Polk County from 1978 through 8 Sep 2026.
The site shows no amount for a year with fewer than 5 claims with a payment.
FEMA counts 16 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.
| Decade | Year that ends in 0 | Year that ends in 1 | Year that ends in 2 | Year that ends in 3 | Year that ends in 4 | Year that ends in 5 | Year that ends in 6 | Year that ends in 7 | Year that ends in 8 | Year that ends in 9 | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| 1980s | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1990s | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2000s | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010s | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020s | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (part of the year) | 1 |
A darker cell has a larger count. The number is in each cell.
NFIP claims by year of loss with the amount paid: 6 years
| Year of loss | Claims | Claims with a payment | Amount paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 | not shown | not shown |
| 2019 | 1 | not shown | not shown |
| 1993 | 1 | not shown | not shown |
| 1985 | 1 | not shown | not shown |
| 1984 | 1 | not shown | not shown |
| 1978 | 1 | not shown | not 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. 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
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.
National Risk Index
- Risk Index rating
- Very Low
- Risk Index score
- 25.7 of 100
- Expected Annual Loss rating
- Very Low
- Expected Annual Loss
- $12 million
- Social Vulnerability rating
- Very Low
- Community Resilience rating
- Relatively High
| Hazard type | Risk Index rating | Expected Annual Loss |
|---|---|---|
| Cold wave | Very Low | $236,977 |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | $1,456,124 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | $11,610 |
| Hail | Relatively High | $4,620,713 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | $116,681 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | $138,556 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | $2,849,590 |
| Landslide | Very Low | $6 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | $298,243 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | $1,533,118 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | $1,076,748 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | $33,675 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | $75,259 |
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 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 goes through the 2025 season. It has no track at tropical storm strength within 100 miles of the centre point of Polk County.
ZIP Codes, cities and towns of Polk County
A city or town has no page of its own. This page is the record for the whole county, which has these places:
- Osceola
- Polk
- Shelby
- Stromsburg
Official channels
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center: Search By Address (opens in a new tab)Search an address to see its flood map. This site has no flood-zone data.
- National Weather Service: Hastings, NE (opens in a new tab)The forecast office that issues the weather warnings for the county.
- Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (opens in a new tab)The emergency management agency of the state.
- NCEI Storm Events Database (opens in a new tab)Search the full NCEI record by state, county and date.
These links open the pages of the agencies. The site checked the links on .
Cite this page
County Hazards. "Polk County, Nebraska: storm events, disaster declarations and flood insurance claims on record". https://countyhazards.com/county/ne/polk/. 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 Polk County?
- NCEI has 38 tornado events on record for Polk County from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026. 7 events have a rating of EF2 or F2, or a higher rating.
- How large is the hail on record for Polk County?
- NCEI has 140 hail events on record from 1955 through 30 Jun 2026. 41 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 Polk County?
- June has 86 of the 524 storm events on record from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.
- How many NFIP claims are there for each 1,000 policies in force in Polk County?
- FEMA counts 16 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.