Galveston County, Texas Storm events, disaster declarations and flood insurance claims on record

Name: Newest storm events on record for Galveston County, Texas
Creator: County Hazards
License: https://www.usa.gov/government-works

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 718 storm events on record for Galveston County, Texas, from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.

May 23 2026

The newest event on record is a thunderstorm wind event on 23 May 2026.

FEMA has 31 disaster declarations on record for the county from 1964 through 1 Oct 2026. The newest is DR-4798 of 9 Jul 2024.

OpenFEMA has 60,620 NFIP claims on record for the county from 1978 through 8 Sep 2026. The NFIP paid $2.5 billion on these claims.

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 2 Oct 2026.
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 2 Oct 2026. 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 2 Oct 2026. The page gives: last data refresh 2026-09-09.

Dates of the data: NCEI storm events through 30 Jun 2026. OpenFEMA disaster declarations through 1 Oct 2026. NFIP claims through 8 Sep 2026.

Since the last update: no change is on record for Galveston County. The site compares the agency data at each update. Updates of the data

The five hazards

Storm events on record for Galveston County by hazard and period (NCEI, through 30 Jun 2026)
Hazard	1950 to 2026	2000 to 2009	2010 to 2019	2020 to 2026	Newest event
Hail	121	34	14	13	31 May 2024
Tornado	126	19	12	4	28 Dec 2024
Flood	118	39	49	11	12 Jun 2025
Wind	235	57	28	33	23 May 2026
Winter	4	1	2	0	8 Dec 2017
Other event types	114	Heat, cold, drought, wildfire, lightning, fog, tropical and other types
All storm events	718	199	141	72	23 May 2026

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 48 of the 718 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.

Rates of Galveston County beside the total of the counties of Texas and of the United States
Measure	Galveston	All counties of Texas	All counties of the United States
Storm events for each 100 square miles, 1950 to 2026	189.3	61.4	49.3
Storm events for each 10,000 residents, 1950 to 2026	20.2	54.4	52.5
NFIP claims for each 1,000 policies in force, 2016 to 2025	197.9	273.1	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

May 23 2026

Thunderstorm Wind60 mph (52 knots, estimated gust)

3 miles WNW of LEAGUE CITY S S ARPT

Feb 14 2026

Thunderstorm Wind59 mph (51 knots, measured gust)

1 mile WSW of GILCHRIST

Thunderstorm Wind69 mph (60 knots, measured gust)

2 miles NNE of TEXAS CITY

Aug 22 2025

Lightning

2 miles SSE of GALVESTON. Damage estimate: $20 thousand

Jun 12 2025

Flood

2 miles SW of DICKINSON

May 30 2025

Thunderstorm Wind60 mph (52 knots, estimated gust)

1 mile ENE of HIGHLAND BAYOU

May 27 2025

Thunderstorm Wind58 mph (50 knots, estimated gust)

3 miles WNW of LEAGUE CITY S S ARPT

Mar 24 2025

Thunderstorm Wind74 mph (64 knots, estimated gust)

1 mile N of SAN LEON

Dec 28 2024

Thunderstorm Wind66 mph (57 knots, measured gust)

1 mile E of DICKINSON

TornadoEF1

1 mile SSW of DICKINSON

Sep 2 2024

Flash Flood

At (GLS)SCHOLES FLD GAL

Jun 5 2024

Thunderstorm Wind59 mph (51 knots, measured gust)

1 mile NNE of (GLS)SCHOLES FLD GAL

Thunderstorm Wind63 mph (55 knots, measured gust)

1 mile NNE of (GLS)SCHOLES FLD GAL

May 31 2024

Hail2.75 in, baseball size

2 miles W of DICKINSON

Hail2.00 in, hen egg size

3 miles SSE of LEAGUE CITY S S ARPT

Hail1.75 in, golf ball size

1 mile E of LEAGUE CITY

Hail1.00 in, quarter size

3 miles SW of DICKINSON

Hail2.00 in, hen egg size

3 miles WSW of DICKINSON

May 28 2024

Thunderstorm Wind60 mph (52 knots, estimated gust)

1 mile S of LEAGUE CITY

Thunderstorm Wind62 mph (54 knots, measured gust)

1 mile SW of (GLS)SCHOLES FLD GAL

Apr 29 2024

Flash Flood

1 mile NE of HITCHCOCK VOLK ARPT

Apr 10 2024

Thunderstorm Wind83 mph (72 knots, measured gust)

1 mile S of DICKINSON

Thunderstorm Wind75 mph (65 knots, estimated gust)

1 mile NW of SAN LEON. Damage estimate: $10 thousand

Thunderstorm Wind69 mph (60 knots, estimated gust)

At DICKINSON. Damage estimate: $10 thousand

Thunderstorm Wind59 mph (51 knots, estimated gust)

2 miles NNE of LEAGUE CITY

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)

Storm events on record for Galveston County by year, 1950 to 2026
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	0	0	7	0	1	8
1960s	0	4	2	1	3	1	3	3	3	6	26
1970s	3	4	4	1	3	10	5	1	3	3	37
1980s	3	10	10	11	2	6	9	5	1	9	66
1990s	5	11	11	8	9	17	19	36	37	16	169
2000s	16	23	33	22	12	14	27	21	14	17	199
2010s	5	4	13	8	17	16	14	30	21	13	141
2020s	7	9	9	18	21	5	3 (part of the year)				72

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

Jul 9 2024

FEMA has 31 disaster declarations on record for Galveston County from 1964 through 1 Oct 2026. The newest is DR-4798: HURRICANE BERYL.

Disaster declarations that name Galveston County (OpenFEMA, through 1 Oct 2026)
Declared	Number	Type	Incident type	Title in the FEMA record	Assistance
9 Jul 2024	DR-4798	Major disaster	Hurricane	HURRICANE BERYL	Individual, Public
19 Feb 2021	DR-4586	Major disaster	Severe Ice Storm	SEVERE WINTER STORMS	Individual, Public
14 Feb 2021	EM-3554	Emergency	Severe Ice Storm	SEVERE WINTER STORM	Public
9 Dec 2020	DR-4572	Major disaster	Hurricane	HURRICANE LAURA	Public
24 Aug 2020	EM-3540	Emergency	Hurricane	TROPICAL STORMS MARCO AND LAURA	Public
26 Jul 2020	EM-3530	Emergency	Hurricane	HURRICANE HANNA	Public
25 Mar 2020	DR-4485	Major disaster	Biological	COVID-19 PANDEMIC	Individual, Public
13 Mar 2020	EM-3458	Emergency	Biological	COVID-19	Public
25 Aug 2017	DR-4332	Major disaster	Hurricane	HURRICANE HARVEY	Individual, Public
25 Nov 2015	DR-4245	Major disaster	Severe Storm	SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING	Individual
13 Sep 2008	DR-1791	Major disaster	Hurricane	HURRICANE IKE	Individual, Public
10 Sep 2008	EM-3294	Emergency	Hurricane	HURRICANE IKE	Public
29 Aug 2008	EM-3290	Emergency	Hurricane	HURRICANE GUSTAV	Public
14 Mar 2008	EM-3284	Emergency	Fire	WILDFIRES	Public
18 Aug 2007	EM-3277	Emergency	Hurricane	HURRICANE DEAN	Public
11 Jan 2006	DR-1624	Major disaster	Fire	EXTREME WILDFIRE THREAT	Public
24 Sep 2005	DR-1606	Major disaster	Hurricane	HURRICANE RITA	Individual, Public
21 Sep 2005	EM-3261	Emergency	Hurricane	HURRICANE RITA	Public
2 Sep 2005	EM-3216	Emergency	Hurricane	HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION	Public
17 Jul 2003	DR-1479	Major disaster	Hurricane	HURRICANE CLAUDETTE	Individual, Public
26 Sep 2002	DR-1434	Major disaster	Coastal Storm	TROPICAL STORM FAY	Individual
9 Jun 2001	DR-1379	Major disaster	Coastal Storm	TX-TROPICAL STORM ALLISON-06-06-2001	Individual, Public
1 Sep 1999	EM-3142	Emergency	Fire	EXTREME FIRE HAZARDS	Public
21 Oct 1998	DR-1257	Major disaster	Flood	TX-FLOODING 10/18/98	Individual
23 Sep 1998	DR-1245	Major disaster	Severe Storm	HURRICANE GEORGES - TEXAS	Individual, Public
26 Aug 1998	DR-1239	Major disaster	Severe Storm	TROPICAL STORM CHARLEY	None on record
18 Oct 1994	DR-1041	Major disaster	Flood	SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND FLOODING	Individual
19 Aug 1983	DR-689	Major disaster	Hurricane	HURRICANE ALICIA	Individual, Public
25 Sep 1979	DR-603	Major disaster	Flood	SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING	Individual, Public
28 Jul 1979	DR-595	Major disaster	Flood	STORMS & FLASH FLOODS	Individual, Public
11 Jul 1973	DR-398	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 Texas 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).

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2", copied on 2 Oct 2026. The page gives: last data refresh 2026-10-01.

Flood insurance claims (NFIP)

OpenFEMA has 60,620 NFIP claims on record for Galveston County from 1978 through 8 Sep 2026.

The NFIP paid $2,469,742,763 on 49,437 claims.

The county has 197.9 NFIP claims for each 1,000 policies in force. The rate uses 10,468 claims with a year of loss from 2016 to 2025. FEMA counts 52,889 residential policies in force on 3 Aug 2026. The claims have every type of building. FEMA counts residential policies only.

NFIP claims in Galveston County by year of loss, 1978 to 2026
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									7	5,461	5,468
1980s	255	2,382	50	7,483	241	47	93	21	95	2,801	13,468
1990s	29	156	72	51	179	385	116	189	2,720	31	3,928
2000s	45	1,914	465	715	57	375	205	79	22,606	440	26,901
2010s	55	41	47	31	28	177	104	8,853	163	121	9,620
2020s	171	223	20	15	789	9	8 (part of the year)				1,235

A darker cell has a larger count. The number is in each cell.

NFIP claims by year of loss with the amount paid: 49 years

NFIP claims in Galveston County by year of loss, with the amount paid (OpenFEMA, through 8 Sep 2026)
Year of loss	Claims	Claims with a payment	Amount paid
2026	8	not shown	not shown
2025	9	not shown	not shown
2024	789	523	$13,371,629
2023	15	7	$268,254
2022	20	10	$588,251
2021	223	127	$3,099,002
2020	171	106	$2,329,279
2019	121	76	$1,259,469
2018	163	115	$3,423,372
2017	8,853	7,465	$835,265,841
2016	104	60	$1,202,002
2015	177	109	$1,912,582
2014	28	21	$577,295
2013	31	21	$489,205
2012	47	20	$300,852
2011	41	16	$164,333
2010	55	21	$262,547
2009	440	380	$9,492,656
2008	22,606	19,717	$1,337,122,877
2007	79	56	$954,696
2006	205	158	$2,244,036
2005	375	140	$1,932,582
2004	57	40	$292,683
2003	715	516	$4,865,455
2002	465	358	$2,920,098
2001	1,914	1,533	$44,506,232
2000	45	26	$176,665
1999	31	11	$36,086
1998	2,720	2,057	$20,517,105
1997	189	138	$827,648
1996	116	69	$538,332
1995	385	304	$2,241,339
1994	179	146	$5,815,619
1993	51	33	$268,230
1992	72	51	$234,988
1991	156	116	$651,557
1990	29	19	$83,261
1989	2,801	2,136	$29,985,162
1988	95	48	$105,902
1987	21	12	$53,725
1986	93	70	$221,182
1985	47	26	$56,974
1984	241	178	$1,010,113
1983	7,483	5,255	$46,714,458
1982	50	28	$143,754
1981	2,382	2,024	$9,453,711
1980	255	190	$995,029
1979	5,461	4,900	$80,702,799
1978	7	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. FEMA counts 2,855 multiple-loss properties in the county (2 Aug 2026). 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

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "NFIP Redacted Claims - v3", copied on 2 Oct 2026. The page gives: last data refresh 2026-09-09.

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.

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Terms and Conditions, copied on 2 Oct 2026. The page gives: last updated 2025-01-22.

National Risk Index

Risk Index rating: Relatively High
Risk Index score: 95.4 of 100
Expected Annual Loss rating: Relatively High
Expected Annual Loss: $198 million
Social Vulnerability rating: Relatively Low
Community Resilience rating: Very High

National Risk Index of Galveston County by hazard type (FEMA, December 2025 release)
Hazard type	Risk Index rating	Expected Annual Loss
Coastal flooding	Relatively High	$5,416,846
Cold wave	Very High	$53,003,158
Drought	Relatively High	$3,998,672
Earthquake	Very Low	$413,288
Hail	Relatively Low	$558,699
Heat wave	Relatively Moderate	$4,966,744
Hurricane	Relatively High	$42,008,508
Ice storm	Relatively High	$1,077,524
Inland flooding	Relatively High	$62,969,859
Landslide	Very Low	$121
Lightning	Very High	$2,831,355
Strong wind	Relatively Moderate	$627,410
Tornado	Relatively High	$19,358,238
Wildfire	Relatively Low	$734,460
Winter weather	Very Low	$14,006

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 words of the agency. Source: FEMA, National Risk Index Data: Frequently Asked Questions (December 2025, v1.20), copied on 2 Oct 2026.

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 has 80 tracks within 100 miles of the centre point of the county, through the 2025 season. 22 of them were within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

Storm names, years and distances: 40 tracks

Tropical storm and hurricane tracks within 100 miles of the centre point of Galveston County (NHC HURDAT2)
Storm name	Year	Nearest point of the track	Highest wind within 100 miles
Beryl	2024	67 miles	92 mph
Nicholas	2021	25 miles	75 mph
Delta	2020	86 miles	104 mph
Imelda	2019	35 miles	46 mph
Cindy	2017	78 miles	52 mph
Harvey	2017	66 miles	52 mph
Edouard	2008	49 miles	63 mph
Ike	2008	12 miles	109 mph
Humberto	2007	30 miles	92 mph
Rita	2005	78 miles	115 mph
Claudette	2003	74 miles	86 mph
Grace	2003	21 miles	40 mph
Fay	2002	89 miles	58 mph
Allison	2001	25 miles	58 mph
Dean	1995	17 miles	46 mph
Allison	1989	50 miles	52 mph
Chantal	1989	39 miles	81 mph
Jerry	1989	7 miles	86 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1987	30 miles	46 mph
Bonnie	1986	49 miles	86 mph
Alicia	1983	16 miles	115 mph
Chris	1982	56 miles	63 mph
Danielle	1980	12 miles	58 mph
Claudette	1979	65 miles	52 mph
Elena	1979	75 miles	40 mph
Debra	1978	60 miles	58 mph
Delia	1973	16 miles	69 mph
Edith	1971	60 miles	92 mph
Fern	1971	56 miles	81 mph
Felice	1970	30 miles	69 mph
Abby	1964	48 miles	69 mph
Cindy	1963	37 miles	63 mph
Debra	1959	19 miles	86 mph
Audrey	1957	66 miles	127 mph
Bertha	1957	62 miles	63 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1949	44 miles	109 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1947	2 miles	81 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1945	99 miles	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1945	68 miles	104 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1943	25 miles	104 mph

A name is the storm name that the National Hurricane Center gave. The distance is from the centre line of the track. It does not show how far the wind, the rain or the surge of a storm went.

ZIP Codes, cities and towns of Galveston County

Each ZIP Code below has a page with its NFIP claims by year. 19 more ZIP Codes have fewer than 5 claims and no page.

A city or town has no page of its own. This page is the record for the whole county, which has these places:

Bacliff
Bayou Vista
Bolivar Peninsula
Clear Lake Shores
Dickinson
Friendswood
Galveston
Hitchcock
Jamaica Beach
Kemah
La Marque
League City
San Leon
Santa Fe
Seabrook
Texas City
Tiki Island

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: Houston/Galveston, TX (opens in a new tab)The forecast office that issues the weather warnings for the county.
Texas Division of Emergency Management (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 2 Oct 2026.

Cite this page

County Hazards. "Galveston County, Texas: storm events, disaster declarations and flood insurance claims on record". https://countyhazards.com/county/tx/galveston/. 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 2 Oct 2026.

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 Galveston County?: NCEI has 126 tornado events on record for Galveston County from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026. 16 events have a rating of EF2 or F2, or a higher rating.
How large is the hail on record for Galveston County?: NCEI has 121 hail events on record from 1955 through 30 Jun 2026. 35 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 Galveston County?: May has 128 of the 718 storm events on record from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.
How many NFIP claims are there for each 1,000 policies in force in Galveston County?: The county has 197.9 NFIP claims for each 1,000 policies in force. The rate uses 10,468 claims with a year of loss from 2016 to 2025. FEMA counts 52,889 residential policies in force on 3 Aug 2026. The claims have every type of building. FEMA counts residential policies only.