States › Tennessee › Scott County

Scott County, Tennessee

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

FIPS 47151 · 21,917 residents (2021) · 532 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 50Tornado · 11Flood · 40Wind · 175Winter · 54

Scott County within Tennessee. 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 334 events for Scott County, Tennessee, between 1950 and 2026; damaging wind account for the largest share.

That is 62.7 events per 100 square miles, below the Tennessee figure of 112.2, and 152.4 per 10,000 residents against 66.4 statewide.

6 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 0 deaths and 27 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $5.7M and crop damage at $133K.

FEMA has designated the county in 26 federal disaster declarations since 1953; the most recent is Severe Winter Storm (major disaster, 6 Feb 2026).

National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the county filed 1 claim since 1978, of which 0 were paid, totalling $0. FEMA counts 22 residential flood policies in force.

FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county's overall risk as "Very Low" and its expected annual loss as "Very Low" ($6.5M a year across 18 hazards).

7 tropical storm or hurricane tracks in the HURDAT2 record passed within 100 miles of the county's centre at tropical-storm strength or more, 0 of them within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

6events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

334events since 19500 deaths, 27 injuries recorded

26disaster declarationslast 6 Feb 2026

1NFIP flood claims$0 paid

Compared with Tennessee and the United States

Measure	Scott County	Tennessee	US
Recorded events since 1950	334	46,283	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	62.7	112.2	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	152.4	66.4	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	6	1,524	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	0	804	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$5.7M	$9.2B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	0.0	2.5	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	—	$33K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	4.5	20.9	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

Wind: 1

Wind: 2

Tornado: 2Wind: 1

Hail: 1

Hail: 11Tornado: 1Flood: 7Wind: 15Winter: 10Drought: 1

Hail: 23Tornado: 4Flood: 11Wind: 66Winter: 18Lightning: 2

Hail: 9Flood: 5Wind: 51Winter: 12

Hail: 6Tornado: 4Flood: 17Wind: 39Winter: 14Other: 1

11950s21960s31970s11980s451990s1242000s772010s812020s

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

Trend: 201 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 121 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

Wind175

Winter54

Hail50

Flood40

Tornado11

Lightning2

Drought1

Other1

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	175	—	0.8%	detail
■ Winter	54	—	0.9%	detail
■ Hail	50	—	0.7%	detail
■ Flood	40	—	0.9%	detail
■ Tornado	11	—	0.6%	detail
■ Lightning	2	—	0.4%
■ Drought	1	—	0.1%
■ Other	1	—	0.3%

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 Apr 1974	Tornado	Tornado	F3	$250K	—	—	21	County
3 Apr 1974	Tornado	Tornado	F3	—	—	—	5	County
16 Mar 1996	Tornado	Tornado	F0	$160K	—	—	1	County
28 Feb 2011	Flood	Flood	—	$2.0M	—	—	—	County
28 Mar 2021	Flood	Flood	—	$1.7M	—	—	—	County
20 Apr 2000	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$200K	—	—	—	County
10 Nov 2002	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$130K	—	—	—	County
10 Nov 2002	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$110K	—	—	—	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
6 Feb 2026	DR-4898	Major disaster	Winter Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
24 Jan 2026	EM-3635	Emergency	Winter Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
2 Apr 2025	EM-3625	Emergency	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding	Public assistance
8 May 2021	DR-4601	Major disaster	Tornado	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding	Public assistance
21 Apr 2021	DR-4594	Major disaster	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storms	Public assistance
24 Apr 2020	DR-4541	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding	Public assistance
2 Apr 2020	DR-4514	Major disaster	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Mar 2020	EM-3473	Emergency	Biological	Covid-19	Public assistance
17 Apr 2019	DR-4427	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides	Public assistance
2 Apr 2015	DR-4211	Major disaster	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storm And Flooding	Public assistance
1 May 2011	DR-1974	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, And Associated Flooding	Public assistance
31 Mar 2011	DR-1965	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding	Public assistance
5 Sep 2005	EM-3217	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	Public assistance
20 Mar 2003	DR-1456	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms And Flooding	Public assistance
13 Nov 2002	DR-1441	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms And Tornados	Individual assistance, Public assistance
5 Apr 2002	DR-1408	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms And Flooding	Public assistance
15 Jan 1999	DR-1260	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
20 Apr 1998	DR-1215	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding	Public assistance
13 Jan 1998	DR-1197	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms And Flooding	Public assistance
28 Feb 1994	DR-1010	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Ice Storm,Flash Flooding	Public assistance
14 Mar 1993	EM-3095	Emergency	Snowstorm	Severe Snowfall, Winter Storm	Public assistance
29 Apr 1977	DR-533	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
22 Mar 1975	DR-459	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
4 Apr 1974	DR-424	Major disaster	Tornado	Tornadoes	Individual assistance, Public assistance
28 Jun 1973	DR-395	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
15 May 1972	DR-331	Major disaster	Flood	Heavy Rains & Flooding	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 Scott County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 19781

Paid claims0

Total paid$0

Average paid claim—

Repetitive-loss properties0

Residential policies in force220.2% of 9,691 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2026	1	0	$0	—

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 riskVery Lowscore 26.1 of 100

Expected annual loss$6.5MVery Low

Social vulnerabilityRelatively High

Community resilienceVery Low

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Inland flooding	Very Low	$2,545,893
Cold wave	Relatively Moderate	$1,593,865
Tornado	Relatively Low	$824,825
Strong wind	Relatively Low	$417,743
Earthquake	Very Low	$297,451
Lightning	Relatively Moderate	$275,898
Hail	Relatively Low	$179,676
Wildfire	Relatively Low	$120,384
Winter weather	Relatively Moderate	$91,187
Ice storm	Relatively Low	$49,184
Landslide	Relatively Moderate	$33,049
Hurricane	Very Low	$30,923
Heat wave	Very Low	$5,935
Drought	Very Low	$3,059

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 miles7

Tracks within 50 miles4

Hurricane strength within 50 miles0

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Helene	2024	33 mi	46 mph
Zeta	2020	93 mi	52 mph
Frederic	1979	39 mi	40 mph
Audrey	1957	89 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1932	46 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1915	17 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1892	56 mi	46 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.

Questions and answers

How often does it hail in Scott County, TN?

NCEI records 50 hail events in Scott County since 1950, in 25 different years; that is about 0.6 recorded events a year. 9 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Scott County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 11 tornadoes in Scott County since 1950, 5 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 0.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Scott County?

6 Feb 2026: Severe Winter Storm, a major disaster declaration for winter storm. The county appears in 26 declarations since 1953.

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

1 NFIP claim since 1978, 0 of them paid, for $0 in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

Is Scott County in the National Risk Index's high-risk band?

FEMA's National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the county "Very Low" for overall risk, "Very 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 Scott County compare with the rest of Tennessee?

62.7 recorded events per 100 square miles against 112.2 statewide, and 0.0 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 2.5. 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.