California in 1972 Storm events, disaster declarations and flood insurance claims of the year

NCEI has 10 storm events on record for California in 1972.

FEMA has 3 disaster declarations for the state with a date in 1972.

The NFIP claims file starts in 1978.

NCEI recorded tornado events from 1950, and hail and thunderstorm wind events from 1955. It recorded all event types from 1996.

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.
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.

Storm events of 1972 by hazard

Storm events on record for California in 1972, by hazard (NCEI)
Hazard	Storm events in 1972
Hail	2
Tornado	4
Wind	4
All storm events	10

The counts have the events that NCEI records for a forecast zone.

Counties with a storm event in 1972

Counties of California with a storm event on record in 1972, in name order
County	Storm events in 1972
El Dorado County	2
Imperial County	1
Mariposa County	1
Nevada County	1
Placer County	1
San Bernardino County	3

Events of 1972 with a tornado rating, damage, injuries or deaths

Storm events of 1972 in California with a tornado rating, a damage estimate of $50,000 or more, an injury or a death in the NCEI record, in date order (40 events at most)
Date	County	Event type	Magnitude	Damage estimate	On record for
7 Jun 1972	Imperial	Tornado	F0	none	County
1 Oct 1972	El Dorado	Tornado	F0	none	County
15 Oct 1972	Mariposa	Tornado	F0	none	County
15 Oct 1972	Placer	Tornado	F0	none	County

A damage figure is an estimate in the NCEI record. Deaths and injuries are the direct and indirect counts of NCEI.

FEMA disaster declarations in 1972

Disaster declarations for California with a date in 1972, with the count of counties that each names
Declared	Number	Type	Incident type	Title in the FEMA record	Counties
27 Jun 1972	DR-342	Major disaster	Flood	FLOODING CAUSED BY LEVEE BREAK	1
5 Apr 1972	DR-329	Major disaster	Flood	SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING	2
11 Jan 1972	DR-316	Major disaster	Flood	WINDS, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES	1

NCEI storm events through 30 Jun 2026. OpenFEMA disaster declarations through 1 Oct 2026. NFIP claims through 8 Sep 2026. All years of California