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San Saba 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 48411 · 5,827 residents (2021) · 1,135 sq mi · dominant hazard Hail

Hail · 162Tornado · 17Flood · 33Wind · 51Winter · 22

San Saba 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.

San Saba County, Texas, has 377 weather events in the NCEI Storm Events record since 1950, most of them hail.

That is 33.2 events per 100 square miles, below the Texas figure of 63.3, and 647.0 per 10,000 residents against 56.0 statewide.

8 events fall in the 12 months to 30 Jun 2026. NCEI attributes 0 deaths and 1 injury to events in the county, with property damage estimated at $3.9M and crop damage at $571K.

FEMA has designated the county in 22 federal disaster declarations since 1953; the most recent is Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding (major disaster, 6 Jul 2025).

National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the county filed 28 claims since 1978, of which 23 were paid, totalling $1.3M (about $55K per paid claim). FEMA counts 78 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" ($3.3M 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.

8events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

377events since 19500 deaths, 1 injury recorded

22disaster declarationslast 6 Jul 2025

28NFIP flood claims$1.3M paid

Compared with Texas and the United States

Measure	San Saba County	Texas	US
Recorded events since 1950	377	165,476	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	33.2	63.3	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	647.0	56.0	59.6
Events in the last 12 months	8	4,723	62,008
Deaths recorded by NCEI	0	2,429	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$3.9M	$111B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	4.8	13.4	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$55K	$55K	$43K
Claims per 100 policies in force, last 10 years	15.4	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: 1

Hail: 2

Hail: 6Tornado: 2

Hail: 6Tornado: 3Wind: 1

Hail: 46Tornado: 7Flood: 9Wind: 18Winter: 3Drought: 1

Hail: 30Tornado: 4Flood: 15Wind: 11Winter: 5Cold: 3Drought: 11Wildfire: 1Other: 1

Hail: 32Flood: 4Wind: 15Winter: 7Cold: 2Drought: 37Wildfire: 5Other: 2

Hail: 40Flood: 5Wind: 6Winter: 7Cold: 1Drought: 26Other: 2

11950s21960s81970s101980s841990s812000s1042010s872020s

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

Trend: 219 events in the 20 years to 2025 against 135 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

Hail162

Drought75

Wind51

Flood33

Winter22

Tornado17

Cold6

Wildfire6

Other5

Hazard	Events	Deaths	Share of state's events
■ Hail	162	—	0.3%	detail
■ Drought	75	—	0.4%
■ Wind	51	—	0.1%	detail
■ Flood	33	—	0.2%	detail
■ Winter	22	—	0.3%	detail
■ Tornado	17	—	0.2%	detail
■ Cold	6	—	0.3%
■ Wildfire	6	—	0.4%
■ Other	5	—	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
29 May 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	0 mph	$50K	$5K	—	1	County
6 Jun 1997	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$800K	$400K	—	—	County
1 Jun 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Wind	80 mph	$900K	—	—	—	County
9 Jun 2004	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$800K	—	—	—	County
18 Oct 1993	Hail	Hail	1.75 in	$500K	—	—	—	County
12 Mar 1999	Tornado	Tornado	F2	$300K	—	—	—	County
22 Jun 1997	Flash Flood	Flood	—	$150K	$75K	—	—	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 Jul 2025	DR-4879	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding	Individual assistance, Public assistance
17 May 2024	DR-4781	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding	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
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 Feb 2019	DR-4416	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms And Flooding	Public assistance
1 Jul 2011	DR-1999	Major disaster	Fire	Wildfires	Public assistance
14 Mar 2008	EM-3284	Emergency	Fire	Wildfires	Public assistance
29 Jun 2007	DR-1709	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding	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
4 Jul 2002	DR-1425	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms And Flooding	Public assistance
8 Sep 2000	FM-2335	Fire management assistance	Fire	Tx-Deep Creek Fire-9/8/00	Public assistance
19 Sep 1999	FM-2282	Fire management assistance	Fire	Williams Ranch Fire	Public assistance
1 Sep 1999	EM-3142	Emergency	Fire	Extreme Fire Hazards	Public assistance
26 Aug 1998	DR-1239	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Tropical Storm Charley	—
7 Jul 1997	DR-1179	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms And Flooding	Public assistance
23 Feb 1996	EM-3117	Emergency	Fire	Extreme Fire Hazard	Public assistance
10 Sep 1993	EM-3113	Emergency	Drought	Extreme Fire Hazard	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 San Saba County, 1978 to 2026 (hover for the amount paid).

Claims since 197828

Paid claims23

Total paid$1.3M

Average paid claim$55K

Repetitive-loss properties21 severe

Residential policies in force783.7% of 2,097 structures

Year of loss	Claims	Paid claims	Amount paid	Average paid
2025	10	10	$1,055,085	$105,508
2021	2	1	$48,700	$48,700
2016	1	1	$38,443	$38,443
2011	1	1	$13,742	$13,742
2009	1	0	$0	—
2008	2	2	$10,570	$5,285
2004	6	6	$78,950	$13,158
2002	1	0	$0	—
1997	3	2	$23,275	$11,638
1992	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 7.3 of 100

Expected annual loss$3.3MVery Low

Social vulnerabilityRelatively Moderate

Community resilienceRelatively Low

Hazard (NRI)	Risk rating	Expected annual loss
Inland flooding	Very Low	$1,542,996
Drought	Relatively Moderate	$643,367
Tornado	Very Low	$270,155
Hail	Relatively Low	$217,887
Cold wave	Very Low	$185,246
Wildfire	Relatively Low	$165,605
Strong wind	Very Low	$92,021
Lightning	Very Low	$68,455
Heat wave	Very Low	$66,483
Winter weather	Relatively Low	$24,708
Hurricane	Very Low	$21,898
Earthquake	Very Low	$3,148
Ice storm	Very Low	$1,192
Landslide	Very Low	$39

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 miles1

Hurricane strength within 50 miles0

Storm	Year	Closest approach	Max wind while within 100 mi
Carla	1961	81 mi	58 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1942	96 mi	52 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1902	98 mi	40 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1897	78 mi	46 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1886	47 mi	69 mph
Unnamed Atlantic storm	1851	82 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.

ZIP codes with flood claims

76877 28

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 San Saba County, TX?

NCEI records 162 hail events in San Saba County since 1950, in 44 different years; that is about 2.1 recorded events a year. 51 reports were golf-ball size (1.75 in) or larger.

Has San Saba County had a tornado?

Yes. NCEI records 17 tornadoes in San Saba County since 1950, 2 of them rated (E)F2 or stronger. Tornado deaths recorded: 0.

When was the last federal disaster declaration for San Saba County?

6 Jul 2025: Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding, a major disaster declaration for flood. The county appears in 22 declarations since 1953.

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

28 NFIP claims since 1978, 23 of them paid, for $1.3M in total. FEMA publishes these figures redacted and aggregated; individual properties are not identified.

Is San Saba 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 Moderate" for social vulnerability and "Relatively Low" for community resilience. These ratings are FEMA's relative comparison across all US counties.

How does San Saba County compare with the rest of Texas?

33.2 recorded events per 100 square miles against 63.3 statewide, and 4.8 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.