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New Hampshire
The recorded hazard history of every county in New Hampshire: storm events since 1950, federal disaster declarations since 1953, and National Flood Insurance Program claims since 1978.
New Hampshire has 8,661 weather events in the NCEI Storm Events record since 1950 across 10 counties, led by damaging wind: 96.7 per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally.
NCEI attributes 42 deaths and 280 injuries to those events, with property damage estimated at $343M. By events per 100 square miles the leading counties are Strafford, Belknap and Cheshire.
FEMA lists 63 disaster declarations touching the state since 1953, most recently Severe Storm And Flooding (20 Aug 2024). NFIP policyholders filed 4,423 flood claims since 1978, $67M paid; 4,490 residential policies are in force.
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 | New Hampshire | US |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded events since 1950 | 8,661 | 1,977,440 |
| Events per 100 square miles | 96.7 | 56.0 |
| Events per 10,000 residents | 62.4 | 59.6 |
| Deaths recorded by NCEI | 42 | 26,435 |
| Property damage (NCEI estimates) | $343M | $575B |
| NFIP claims per 1,000 residents | 3.2 | 8.1 |
| Average paid NFIP claim | $20K | $43K |
| Residential flood policies in force | 4,490 | 3,139,862 |
Hazard mix
Events by decade
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strafford County | 558 | 16 | 151.8 | 42.1 | Winter | 7 | 71 | 25 | 137 | Relatively Low |
| Belknap County | 584 | 21 | 145.3 | 90.6 | Wind | 12 | 64 | 30 | 108 | Relatively Low |
| Cheshire County | 779 | 23 | 110.2 | 100.7 | Wind | 18 | 104 | 33 | 247 | Relatively Low |
| Sullivan County | 553 | 24 | 102.8 | 127.0 | Wind | 7 | 52 | 33 | 62 | Very Low |
| Merrimack County | 774 | 29 | 83.0 | 49.9 | Wind | 7 | 101 | 29 | 299 | Relatively Low |
| Rockingham County | 544 | 13 | 78.2 | 17.2 | Wind | 10 | 170 | 35 | 2,165 | Relatively Moderate |
| Hillsborough County | 618 | 27 | 70.5 | 14.6 | Wind | 19 | 111 | 31 | 629 | Relatively Moderate |
| Grafton County | 785 | 14 | 45.9 | 85.1 | Wind | 14 | 132 | 40 | 363 | Relatively Moderate |
| Carroll County | 424 | 22 | 45.5 | 82.3 | Wind | 10 | 91 | 35 | 290 | Relatively Low |
| Coos County | 364 | 4 | 20.3 | 116.3 | Wind | 8 | 62 | 28 | 95 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rockingham County | 477 | 2,047 | 23.3 | 2,165 | $31M |
| Carroll County | 47 | 272 | 17.3 | 290 | $2.8M |
| Grafton County | 54 | 330 | 16.4 | 363 | $4.7M |
| Cheshire County | 20 | 227 | 8.8 | 247 | $6.7M |
| Hillsborough County | 37 | 751 | 4.9 | 629 | $10M |
| Strafford County | 7 | 198 | 3.5 | 137 | $2.3M |
| Merrimack County | 10 | 333 | 3.0 | 299 | $6.3M |
| Belknap County | 0 | 156 | 0.0 | 108 | $924K |
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
| Incident type | Declarations |
|---|---|
| Severe Storm | 27 |
| Flood | 12 |
| Snowstorm | 8 |
| Hurricane | 7 |
| Coastal Storm | 3 |
| Biological | 2 |
| Fire | 2 |
| Winter Storm | 1 |
| Severe Ice Storm | 1 |
Most recent declarations (each disaster number once, with the number of counties designated):
| Declared | Number | Type | Incident | Title | Counties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Aug 2024 | DR-4812 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | Severe Storm And Flooding | 2 |
| 10 Jul 2024 | DR-4799 | Major disaster | Winter Storm | Severe Winter Storm And Flooding | 5 |
| 19 Apr 2024 | DR-4771 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | Severe Storms And Flooding | 2 |
| 27 Feb 2024 | DR-4761 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | Severe Storm And Flooding | 3 |
| 14 Sep 2023 | DR-4740 | Major disaster | Flood | Severe Storms And Flooding | 7 |
| 15 Mar 2023 | DR-4693 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | Severe Storm And Flooding | 4 |
| 4 Oct 2021 | DR-4624 | Major disaster | Flood | Severe Storm And Flooding | 2 |
| 30 Sep 2021 | DR-4622 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | Severe Storm And Flooding | 1 |
| 3 Apr 2020 | DR-4516 | Major disaster | Biological | Covid-19 Pandemic | 10 |
| 13 Mar 2020 | EM-3445 | Emergency | Biological | Covid-19 | 10 |
| 15 Aug 2019 | DR-4457 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | Severe Storm And Flooding | 1 |
| 8 Jun 2018 | DR-4371 | Major disaster | Snowstorm | Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | 3 |
| 8 Jun 2018 | DR-4370 | Major disaster | Coastal Storm | Severe Storm And Flooding | 1 |
| 2 Jan 2018 | DR-4355 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | Severe Storm And Flooding | 6 |
| 9 Aug 2017 | DR-4329 | Major disaster | Severe Storm | Severe Storms And Flooding | 2 |
Flood insurance claims by year
4,423 claims, 3,299 paid, $67M in total; 393 repetitive-loss and 33 severe repetitive-loss properties. ZIP codes in New Hampshire with flood claims (115).
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 1951
- 1996
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- 1992
- 1991
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- 1953
- 1951
Questions and answers
Which New Hampshire counties have the most recorded tornadoes?
Hillsborough (19), Cheshire (18) and Grafton (14), by NCEI count since 1950. Larger counties record more events; the state table also ranks by events per 100 square miles.
Which New Hampshire counties have the most flood insurance claims?
Rockingham (2,165), Hillsborough (629) and Grafton (363) since 1978, in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file.
How many federal disaster declarations has New Hampshire had?
63 declarations since 1953 (major disaster, emergency and fire management assistance declarations combined), 0 of them in 2026 so far.
How does New Hampshire compare with the national rate?
96.7 recorded events per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally; 3.2 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.