States › Tennessee › White County

White 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 47185 · 27,650 residents (2021) · 377 sq mi · dominant hazard Wind

Hail · 47Tornado · 20Flood · 30Wind · 167Winter · 67

White 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.

Between 1950 and 2026, NCEI recorded 381 storm events in White County, Tennessee, led by damaging wind.

That is 101.1 events per 100 square miles, in line with the Tennessee figure of 112.2, and 137.8 per 10,000 residents against 66.4 statewide.

5 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 1 death and 16 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $15M and crop damage at $2K.

FEMA has designated the county in 18 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 5 claims since 1978, of which 3 were paid, totalling $53K (about $18K per paid claim). FEMA counts 11 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" ($10.0M a year across 18 hazards).

6 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.

5events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

381events since 19501 death, 16 injuries recorded

18disaster declarationslast 6 Feb 2026

5NFIP flood claims$53K paid

Compared with Tennessee and the United States

Measure	White County	Tennessee	US
Recorded events since 1950	381	46,283	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	101.1	112.2	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	137.8	66.4	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	5	1,524	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	1	804	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$15M	$9.2B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	0.2	2.5	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$18K	$33K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	18.2	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

Hail: 1

Hail: 1Tornado: 2Wind: 3

Tornado: 5Wind: 2

Tornado: 1Wind: 1

Hail: 7Flood: 1Wind: 23Winter: 4

Hail: 13Tornado: 3Flood: 11Wind: 38Winter: 7Drought: 19Lightning: 1

Hail: 18Tornado: 5Flood: 8Wind: 55Winter: 40Drought: 7Other: 2

Hail: 7Tornado: 4Flood: 10Wind: 45Winter: 16Heat: 1Cold: 3Drought: 16Other: 1

11950s61960s71970s21980s351990s922000s1352010s1032020s

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

Trend: 270 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 91 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

Wind167

Winter67

Hail47

Drought42

Flood30

Tornado20

Cold3

Other3

Heat1

Lightning1

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Wind	167	—	0.8%	detail
■ Winter	67	—	1.1%	detail
■ Hail	47	—	0.7%	detail
■ Drought	42	—	2.1%
■ Flood	30	—	0.7%	detail
■ Tornado	20	1	1.2%	detail
■ Cold	3	—	0.5%
■ Other	3	—	0.8%
■ Heat	1	—	0.0%
■ Lightning	1	—	0.2%

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
15 Mar 1973	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$250K	—	1	3	County
3 Apr 1974	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$25K	—	—	8	County
17 Mar 1965	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$250K	—	—	2	County
15 Dec 2010	Winter Weather	Winter	—	—	—	—	2	Forecast zone
29 May 1983	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$25K	—	—	1	County
20 Feb 2015	Winter Storm	Winter	—	$5.0M	—	—	—	Forecast zone
29 Mar 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	96 mph	$4.0M	—	—	—	County
3 Apr 1974	Tornado	Tornado	F4	$2.5M	—	—	—	County
23 Mar 2011	Tornado	Tornado	EF2	$350K	—	—	—	County
3 Mar 2023	High Wind	Wind	58 mph	$300K	—	—	—	Forecast zone
18 Apr 1978	Tornado	Tornado	F1	$250K	—	—	—	County
29 Feb 2012	Tornado	Tornado	EF1	$200K	—	—	—	County
7 Mar 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	0 mph	$100K	—	—	—	County
2 Jul 2015	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$100K	—	—	—	County
29 Mar 2020	Tornado	Tornado	EF0	$100K	—	—	—	County
15 Mar 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	75 mph	$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
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
17 May 2023	DR-4712	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, And Tornado	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
2 Apr 2015	DR-4211	Major disaster	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storm And Flooding	Public assistance
5 Sep 2005	EM-3217	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	Public assistance
8 May 2003	DR-1464	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding	Public assistance
12 May 1999	DR-1275	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
15 Jan 1999	DR-1260	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storm	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
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
21 Mar 1973	DR-366	Major disaster	Flood	Heavy Rains & Flooding	Individual assistance, 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 White County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 19785

Paid claims3

Total paid$53K

Average paid claim$18K

Repetitive-loss properties0

Residential policies in force110.1% of 12,187 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2021	1	1	$14,467	$14,467
2017	1	1	$33,169	$33,169
2015	3	1	$5,741	$5,741

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 38.5 of 100

Expected annual loss$10.0MVery Low

Social vulnerabilityRelatively High

Community resilienceRelatively Low

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Inland flooding	Relatively Low	$4,406,512
Tornado	Relatively Moderate	$1,829,075
Cold wave	Relatively Moderate	$1,678,773
Strong wind	Relatively Moderate	$711,413
Earthquake	Relatively Low	$608,339
Lightning	Relatively Moderate	$261,240
Hail	Relatively Low	$148,191
Winter weather	Relatively Moderate	$143,361
Ice storm	Relatively Low	$56,941
Drought	Relatively Low	$52,069
Heat wave	Very Low	$42,946
Hurricane	Very Low	$25,129
Wildfire	Very Low	$12,119
Landslide	Very Low	$819

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 miles6

Tracks within 50 miles0

Hurricane strength within 50 miles0

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Helene	2024	68 mi	46 mph
Frederic	1979	91 mi	40 mph
Audrey	1957	53 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1932	65 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1915	54 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1892	60 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 White County, TN?

NCEI records 47 hail events in White County since 1950, in 23 different years; that is about 0.6 recorded events a year. 14 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has White County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 20 tornadoes in White County since 1950, 4 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 1.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for White County?

6 Feb 2026: Severe Winter Storm, a major disaster declaration for winter storm. The county appears in 18 declarations since 1953.

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

5 NFIP claims since 1978, 3 of them paid, for $53K in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

Is White 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 "Relatively Low" for community resilience. These ratings are FEMA's relative comparison across all US counties.

How does White County compare with the rest of Tennessee?

101.1 recorded events per 100 square miles against 112.2 statewide, and 0.2 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.