States › Arizona

Arizona

The recorded hazard history of every county in Arizona: storm events since 1950, federal disaster declarations since 1953, and National Flood Insurance Program claims since 1978.

Arizona has 17,892 weather events in the NCEI Storm Events record since 1950 across 15 counties, led by damaging wind: 15.7 per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally.

NCEI attributes 3,147 deaths and 1,551 injuries to those events, with property damage estimated at $4.3B. By events per 100 square miles the leading counties are Maricopa, Santa Cruz and Pima.

FEMA lists 120 disaster declarations touching the state since 1953, most recently Severe Storms And Flooding (29 May 2026). NFIP policyholders filed 5,336 flood claims since 1978, $63M paid; 17,476 residential policies are in force.

793events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

17,892events since 195015.7 per 100 sq mi (US 56.0)

120disaster declarations since 1953last 29 May 2026

5,336NFIP flood claims$63M paid

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. Storm records through 30 Jun 2026; declarations refreshed 29 Sep 2026; claims as of 8 Sep 2026.

Compared with the United States

Measure	Arizona	US
Recorded events since 1950	17,892	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	15.7	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	24.6	59.6
Deaths recorded by NCEI	3,147	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$4.3B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	0.7	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$18K	$43K
Residential flood policies in force	17,476	3,139,862

Hazard mix

Wind5,191

Flood3,896

Heat2,676

Other1,760

Hail1,321

Winter1,318

Drought633

Wildfire315

Tornado306

Lightning255

Cold110

Fog110

Tropical1

Hazard	Events	Share of US	Deaths
■ Wind	5,191	0.7%	28
■ Flood	3,896	2.1%	127
■ Heat	2,676	4.7%	2838
■ Other	1,760	3.8%	29
■ Hail	1,321	0.3%	3
■ Winter	1,318	0.5%	44
■ Drought	633	0.7%	—
■ Wildfire	315	3.3%	20
■ Tornado	306	0.4%	3
■ Lightning	255	1.4%	24
■ Cold	110	0.2%	29
■ Fog	110	0.6%	2
■ Tropical	1	0.0%	—

Events by decade

Hail: 4Tornado: 18Wind: 29

Hail: 19Tornado: 30Wind: 86

Hail: 35Tornado: 52Wind: 179

Hail: 60Tornado: 25Wind: 263

Hail: 272Tornado: 55Flood: 266Wind: 671Winter: 151Tropical: 1Drought: 1Wildfire: 9Lightning: 38Fog: 9Other: 77

Hail: 382Tornado: 38Flood: 705Wind: 980Winter: 397Heat: 19Cold: 8Drought: 6Wildfire: 66Lightning: 76Fog: 24Other: 399

Hail: 327Tornado: 49Flood: 1470Wind: 1545Winter: 502Heat: 775Cold: 64Drought: 313Wildfire: 110Lightning: 100Fog: 47Other: 889

Hail: 222Tornado: 39Flood: 1455Wind: 1438Winter: 268Heat: 1882Cold: 38Drought: 313Wildfire: 130Lightning: 41Fog: 30Other: 395

511950s1351960s2661970s3481980s1,5501990s3,1002000s6,1912010s6,2512020s

Recorded events in Arizona by decade and hazard group, including events recorded by forecast zone. HailTornadoFloodWindWinterTropicalHeatColdDroughtWildfireLightningFogOther NCEI recorded only tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind before 1996.

Counties by events per 100 square miles

County	Events	Last 12 mo	Per 100 sq mi	Per 10k residents	Dominant	Tornadoes	Hail	Declarations	NFIP claims	NRI risk
Maricopa County	2,751	162	29.9	6.1	Wind	73	227	27	2,633	Very High
Santa Cruz County	246	3	19.9	51.4	Flood	1	40	8	161	Relatively Moderate
Pima County	1,724	74	18.8	16.4	Wind	30	190	15	584	Relatively High
Pinal County	740	31	13.8	16.5	Wind	30	78	23	150	Relatively Moderate
Yavapai County	944	34	11.6	39.0	Flood	29	183	26	470	Relatively Moderate
Gila County	536	43	11.3	100.0	Flood	4	74	23	154	Relatively Moderate
Cochise County	680	42	11.0	53.9	Flood	18	126	14	115	Relatively Moderate
Mohave County	1,138	29	8.5	52.3	Flood	18	87	15	164	Relatively High
Yuma County	401	37	7.3	19.4	Wind	12	22	6	123	Relatively Moderate
La Paz County	252	3	5.6	153.6	Flood	1	9	7	113	Relatively Moderate
Coconino County	785	23	4.2	54.1	Flood	48	177	24	295	Relatively Moderate
Graham County	180	4	3.9	46.1	Wind	1	19	13	43	Relatively Low
Navajo County	340	7	3.4	31.4	Flood	23	58	21	106	Relatively Moderate
Greenlee County	55	1	3.0	58.5	Flood	0	9	13	142	Very Low
Apache County	236	3	2.1	36.0	Flood	18	21	16	10	Relatively Low

Events are county-recorded plus zone-recorded events whose zone is named for the county. NRI risk is FEMA's National Risk Index overall rating (December 2025).

Counties by flood claims per 100 policies in force

County	Claims, last 10 years	Policies in force	Claims per 100 policies	Claims since 1978	Paid
Coconino County	95	733	13.0	295	$5.3M
Gila County	33	268	12.3	154	$3.5M
Yavapai County	128	1,396	9.2	470	$6.3M
Santa Cruz County	14	272	5.1	161	$1.3M
Navajo County	12	328	3.7	106	$971K
Pinal County	30	839	3.6	150	$3.5M
Pima County	81	2,620	3.1	584	$7.9M
Mohave County	17	568	3.0	164	$1.9M
Graham County	5	209	2.4	43	$355K
Maricopa County	213	8,889	2.4	2,633	$26M
Yuma County	8	372	2.2	123	$1.0M
Cochise County	11	728	1.5	115	$641K
La Paz County	3	212	1.4	113	$1.1M

Counties with at least 100 residential policies in force. Claims by year of loss in the ten years to 2026, divided by residential policies in force as of 3 Aug 2026; a rough ratio, since policies in force today differ from those in force when the losses occurred.

Federal disaster declarations by year

195319902026

Declarations touching Arizona by year declared, 1953 to 2026; each disaster number counted once.

Incident type	Declarations
Fire	82
Flood	17
Severe Storm	15
Biological	3
Freezing	1
Hurricane	1
Drought	1

Most recent declarations (each disaster number once, with the number of counties designated):

Declared	Number	Type	Incident	Title	Counties
29 May 2026	DR-4911	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms And Flooding	0
22 May 2025	FM-5585	Fire management assistance	Fire	Cody Fire	1
14 May 2025	FM-5584	Fire management assistance	Fire	Greer Fire	1
25 Oct 2024	DR-4840	Major disaster	Flood	Flooding	0
4 Oct 2024	DR-4833	Major disaster	Fire	Watch Fire	0
13 Jul 2024	FM-5508	Fire management assistance	Fire	Watch Fire	0
9 Jul 2024	FM-5505	Fire management assistance	Fire	Shake Fire	1
28 Jun 2024	FM-5501	Fire management assistance	Fire	Boulder View Fire	1
12 Jun 2024	FM-5496	Fire management assistance	Fire	Rose Fire	1
29 May 2024	FM-5493	Fire management assistance	Fire	Simmons Fire	1
28 Jun 2023	FM-5466	Fire management assistance	Fire	Diamond Fire	1
11 Apr 2023	DR-4703	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storms And Flooding	0
30 Dec 2022	DR-4681	Major disaster	Flood	Flooding	0
2 Sep 2022	DR-4668	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms	0
12 Jun 2022	FM-5441	Fire management assistance	Fire	Pipeline Fire	1

Flood insurance claims by year

197820022026

NFIP claims in Arizona by year of loss, 1978 to 2026.

5,336 claims, 3,550 paid, $63M in total; 208 repetitive-loss and 10 severe repetitive-loss properties. ZIP codes in Arizona with flood claims (176).

Year by year

Each year's events, declarations and claims: 2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018 · 2017 · 2016 · 2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011 · 2010 · 2009 · 2008 · 2007 · 2006 · 2005 · 2004 · 2003 · 2002 · 2001 · 2000 · 1999 · 1998 · 1997 · and earlier years back to 1952

Questions and answers

Which Arizona counties have the most recorded tornadoes?

Maricopa (73), Coconino (48) and Pima (30), by NCEI count since 1950. Larger counties record more events; the state table also ranks by events per 100 square miles.

Which Arizona counties have the most flood insurance claims?

Maricopa (2,633), Pima (584) and Yavapai (470) since 1978, in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file.

How many federal disaster declarations has Arizona had?

120 declarations since 1953 (major disaster, emergency and fire management assistance declarations combined), 1 of them in 2026 so far.

How does Arizona compare with the national rate?

15.7 recorded events per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally; 0.7 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 8.1.

Provenance

NOAA NCEI Storm Events through 30 Jun 2026; OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2 refreshed 29 Sep 2026; OpenFEMA NfipClaims v3 as of 8 Sep 2026; NfipResidentialPenetrationRates v1 (3 Aug 2026); FEMA National Risk Index December 2025; US Census Bureau 2021 population and area. Built 30 Sep 2026. Methodology.