States › Texas › Refugio County

Refugio County, Texas

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

FIPS 48391 · 6,756 residents (2021) · 770 sq mi · dominant hazard Drought

Hail · 38Tornado · 25Flood · 54Wind · 32Winter · 5

Refugio County within Texas. 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.

Refugio County, Texas, has 232 weather events in the NCEI Storm Events record since 1950, most of them drought.

That is 30.1 events per 100 square miles, below the Texas figure of 63.3, and 343.4 per 10,000 residents against 56.0 statewide.

3 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 0 deaths and 2 injuries to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $501M and crop damage at $27M.

FEMA has designated the county in 28 federal disaster declarations since 1953; the most recent is Hurricane Beryl (major disaster, 9 Jul 2024).

National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the county filed 122 claims since 1978, of which 80 were paid, totalling $2.0M (about $24K per paid claim). FEMA counts 101 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" ($7.9M a year across 18 hazards).

57 tropical storm or hurricane tracks in the HURDAT2 record passed within 100 miles of the county's centre at tropical-storm strength or more, 15 of them within 50 miles at hurricane strength.

3events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

232events since 19500 deaths, 2 injuries recorded

28disaster declarationslast 9 Jul 2024

122NFIP flood claims$2.0M paid

Compared with Texas and the United States

Measure	Refugio County	Texas	US
Recorded events since 1950	232	165,476	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	30.1	63.3	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	343.4	56.0	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	3	4,723	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	0	2,429	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$501M	$111B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	18.1	13.4	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$24K	$55K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	47.5	24.7	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

Tornado: 6Wind: 1

Tornado: 1Wind: 1

Tornado: 1Wind: 4

Hail: 12Tornado: 5Flood: 13Wind: 7

Hail: 12Flood: 18Wind: 5Winter: 3Tropical: 2Heat: 1Drought: 28Fog: 1Other: 3

Hail: 11Tornado: 11Flood: 17Wind: 12Winter: 2Tropical: 6Cold: 1Drought: 29Lightning: 1Other: 4

Hail: 3Tornado: 1Flood: 6Wind: 2Other: 2

01950s71960s21970s51980s371990s732000s942010s142020s

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

Trend: 144 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 72 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

Drought57

Flood54

Hail38

Wind32

Tornado25

Other9

Tropical8

Winter5

Heat1

Cold1

Lightning1

Fog1

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Drought	57	—	0.3%
■ Flood	54	—	0.3%	detail
■ Hail	38	—	0.1%	detail
■ Wind	32	—	0.1%	detail
■ Tornado	25	—	0.2%	detail
■ Other	9	—	0.5%
■ Tropical	8	—	1.4%
■ Winter	5	—	0.1%
■ Heat	1	—	0.0%
■ Cold	1	—	0.0%
■ Lightning	1	—	0.1%
■ Fog	1	—	0.4%

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
25 Aug 2017	Hurricane (Typhoon)	Tropical	—	$500M	$20M	—	—	Forecast zone
17 Dec 1995	Tornado	Tornado	F0	$40K	—	—	1	County
8 Nov 1963	Tornado	Tornado	F3	$25K	—	—	1	County
6 Jul 2021	Heavy Rain	Other	—	—	$7.0M	—	—	County
22 Apr 2015	Hail	Hail	1.75 in	$250K	—	—	—	County
22 Apr 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	64 mph	$100K	—	—	—	County
22 Apr 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	70 mph	$100K	—	—	—	County
28 Mar 2018	Tornado	Tornado	EF0	$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
9 Jul 2024	DR-4798	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Beryl	Public assistance
19 Feb 2021	DR-4586	Major disaster	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storms	Public assistance
14 Feb 2021	EM-3554	Emergency	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storm	Public assistance
24 Aug 2020	EM-3540	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storms Marco And Laura	Public assistance
26 Jul 2020	EM-3530	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Hanna	Public assistance
25 Mar 2020	DR-4485	Major disaster	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	Individual assistance, Public assistance
13 Mar 2020	EM-3458	Emergency	Biological	Covid-19	Public assistance
25 Aug 2017	DR-4332	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Harvey	Individual assistance, Public assistance
29 May 2015	DR-4223	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds And Flooding	Public assistance
29 Jun 2010	EM-3313	Emergency	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Alex	Public assistance
10 Sep 2008	EM-3294	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Ike	Public assistance
29 Aug 2008	EM-3290	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Gustav	Public assistance
24 Jul 2008	DR-1780	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Dolly	Public assistance
14 Mar 2008	EM-3284	Emergency	Fire	Wildfires	Public assistance
18 Aug 2007	EM-3277	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Dean	Public assistance
29 Jun 2007	DR-1709	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
11 Jan 2006	DR-1624	Major disaster	Fire	Extreme Wildfire Threat	Public assistance
24 Sep 2005	DR-1606	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Rita	Public assistance
21 Sep 2005	EM-3261	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Rita	Public assistance
2 Sep 2005	EM-3216	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	Public assistance
17 Jul 2003	DR-1479	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Claudette	Individual assistance, Public assistance
21 Oct 1998	DR-1257	Major disaster	Flood	Tx-Flooding 10/18/98	Individual assistance, Public assistance
26 Aug 1998	DR-1239	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Charley	—
26 Dec 1991	DR-930	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Thunderstorms	Individual assistance, Public assistance
18 Sep 1971	DR-313	Major disaster	Flood	Heavy Rains, High Winds & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
4 Aug 1970	DR-292	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Celia	Individual assistance, Public assistance
5 Jul 1968	DR-246	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms, High Winds & Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
28 Sep 1967	DR-232	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Beulah	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 Refugio County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 1978122

Paid claims80

Total paid$2.0M

Average paid claim$24K

Repetitive-loss properties20 severe

Residential policies in force1013.3% of 3,038 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2022	1	0	$0	—
2021	2	1	$59,587	$59,587
2020	2	0	$0	—
2018	3	2	$65,490	$32,745
2017	40	20	$987,940	$49,397
2016	2	1	$5,561	$5,561
2015	3	1	$689	$689
2012	1	1	$4,222	$4,222
2010	1	1	$35,119	$35,119
2008	2	1	$11,701	$11,701
2007	6	3	$41,409	$13,803
2006	1	1	$31,357	$31,357
2005	1	1	$5,331	$5,331
2004	2	2	$11,816	$5,908
2003	3	1	$806	$806
2002	1	0	$0	—
2001	9	8	$248,031	$31,004
2000	1	1	$16,963	$16,963
1998	4	3	$150,110	$50,037
1997	2	1	$15,049	$15,049
1993	2	2	$4,545	$2,273
1991	1	0	$0	—
1990	10	10	$178,562	$17,856
1988	2	2	$6,016	$3,008
1984	2	2	$7,881	$3,940

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 37.5 of 100

Expected annual loss$7.9MVery Low

Social vulnerabilityVery High

Community resilienceRelatively Low

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Hurricane	Relatively Moderate	$3,487,419
Inland flooding	Very Low	$1,472,592
Cold wave	Relatively Moderate	$1,391,762
Drought	Relatively Moderate	$797,888
Tornado	Relatively Low	$337,596
Heat wave	Relatively Low	$164,318
Lightning	Relatively Low	$61,219
Wildfire	Very Low	$46,359
Strong wind	Very Low	$44,047
Hail	Very Low	$31,907
Coastal flooding	Very Low	$19,870
Ice storm	Very Low	$8,463
Winter weather	Very Low	$4,072
Earthquake	Very Low	$3,087
Landslide	Very Low	$5

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 miles57

Tracks within 50 miles27

Hurricane strength within 50 miles15

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Beryl	2024	73 mi	92 mph
Harold	2023	86 mi	58 mph
Nicholas	2021	63 mi	75 mph
Beta	2020	39 mi	52 mph
Harvey	2017	9 mi	132 mph
Bill	2015	29 mi	58 mph
Don	2011	93 mi	40 mph
Hermine	2010	72 mi	52 mph
Erin	2007	97 mi	40 mph
Claudette	2003	25 mi	92 mph
Fay	2002	54 mi	58 mph
Bret	1999	99 mi	115 mph
Charley	1998	33 mi	69 mph
Frances	1998	16 mi	52 mph
Arlene	1993	86 mi	40 mph
Allison	1989	84 mi	46 mph
Danielle	1980	85 mi	40 mph
Elena	1979	84 mi	40 mph
Amelia	1978	67 mi	46 mph
Delia	1973	72 mi	58 mph
Fern	1971	27 mi	69 mph
Celia	1970	36 mi	138 mph
Candy	1968	3 mi	69 mph
Abby	1964	40 mi	58 mph
Carla	1961	38 mi	144 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

78377 42
78340 30
78393 20
77950 11

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 Refugio County, TX?

NCEI records 38 hail events in Refugio County since 1950, in 17 different years; that is about 0.5 recorded events a year. 18 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has Refugio County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 25 tornadoes in Refugio County since 1950, 2 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 0.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for Refugio County?

9 Jul 2024: Hurricane Beryl, a major disaster declaration for hurricane. The county appears in 28 declarations since 1953.

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

122 NFIP claims since 1978, 80 of them paid, for $2.0M in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

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

How does Refugio County compare with the rest of Texas?

30.1 recorded events per 100 square miles against 63.3 statewide, and 18.1 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 13.4. 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.