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New Jersey

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

New Jersey has 26,382 weather events in the NCEI Storm Events record since 1950 across 21 counties, led by damaging wind: 358.7 per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally.

NCEI attributes 276 deaths and 2,753 injuries to those events, with property damage estimated at $28B. By events per 100 square miles the leading counties are Hudson, Camden and Mercer.

FEMA lists 59 disaster declarations touching the state since 1953, most recently Jones Road Fire (24 Apr 2025). NFIP policyholders filed 202,340 flood claims since 1978, $6.5B paid; 121,462 residential policies are in force.

776events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

26,382events since 1950358.7 per 100 sq mi (US 56.0)

59disaster declarations since 1953last 24 Apr 2025

202,340NFIP flood claims$6.5B 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	New Jersey	US
Recorded events since 1950	26,382	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	358.7	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	28.5	59.6
Deaths recorded by NCEI	276	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$28B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	21.8	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$38K	$43K
Residential flood policies in force	121,462	3,139,862

Hazard mix

Wind9,644

Winter5,132

Flood3,787

Heat1,706

Other1,241

Hail1,154

Drought886

Fog758

Cold663

Lightning632

Tropical395

Tornado207

Wildfire177

Hazard	Events	Share of US	Deaths
■ Wind	9,644	1.4%	81
■ Winter	5,132	1.8%	48
■ Flood	3,787	2.1%	61
■ Heat	1,706	3.0%	41
■ Other	1,241	2.7%	4
■ Hail	1,154	0.3%	—
■ Drought	886	1.0%	—
■ Fog	758	4.1%	1
■ Cold	663	1.2%	12
■ Lightning	632	3.5%	24
■ Tropical	395	3.6%	3
■ Tornado	207	0.3%	1
■ Wildfire	177	1.9%	—

Events by decade

Hail: 2Tornado: 15Wind: 16

Hail: 8Tornado: 16Wind: 28

Hail: 19Tornado: 23Wind: 69

Hail: 70Tornado: 42Wind: 326

Hail: 162Tornado: 36Flood: 426Wind: 1240Winter: 437Tropical: 16Heat: 488Cold: 76Drought: 338Wildfire: 9Lightning: 65Fog: 90Other: 489

Hail: 322Tornado: 13Flood: 1069Wind: 2776Winter: 1796Tropical: 304Heat: 620Cold: 366Drought: 461Wildfire: 91Lightning: 339Fog: 183Other: 438

Hail: 332Tornado: 21Flood: 1446Wind: 2978Winter: 2069Tropical: 39Heat: 424Cold: 201Drought: 87Wildfire: 73Lightning: 197Fog: 108Other: 291

Hail: 239Tornado: 41Flood: 846Wind: 2211Winter: 830Tropical: 36Heat: 174Cold: 20Wildfire: 4Lightning: 31Fog: 377Other: 23

331950s521960s1111970s4381980s3,8721990s8,7782000s8,2662010s4,8322020s

Recorded events in New Jersey 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
Hudson County	438	12	948.2	6.2	Flood	1	19	24	5,198	Relatively High
Camden County	1,295	28	585.0	24.7	Wind	10	74	25	1,329	Relatively Moderate
Mercer County	1,165	40	519.0	30.2	Wind	18	63	28	2,432	Relatively High
Union County	527	36	512.8	9.2	Wind	14	26	30	7,525	Relatively High
Bergen County	1,020	12	438.2	10.7	Wind	9	82	32	14,477	Relatively High
Somerset County	1,258	65	416.7	36.4	Wind	4	43	30	6,502	Relatively Moderate
Middlesex County	1,244	47	402.3	14.5	Wind	8	62	30	5,251	Relatively High
Essex County	499	5	395.8	5.8	Wind	3	33	33	5,845	Relatively High
Gloucester County	1,192	34	370.2	39.1	Wind	14	52	28	709	Relatively Moderate
Warren County	1,102	24	309.1	99.5	Wind	6	33	27	1,273	Relatively Low
Morris County	1,332	43	289.0	26.1	Wind	8	72	33	9,463	Relatively Moderate
Hunterdon County	1,198	37	280.0	92.2	Wind	9	44	26	1,572	Relatively Low
Salem County	862	16	259.7	132.5	Wind	4	24	26	824	Relatively Low
Sussex County	1,230	28	237.1	84.5	Wind	4	52	28	192	Relatively Low
Passaic County	397	8	213.4	7.7	Flood	3	34	30	14,385	Relatively High
Cumberland County	995	15	205.9	64.8	Wind	10	36	31	756	Relatively Moderate
Burlington County	1,316	53	164.6	28.3	Wind	25	150	31	2,180	Relatively Moderate
Monmouth County	732	32	156.3	11.3	Wind	17	78	28	20,039	Relatively High
Cape May County	338	5	134.4	35.3	Wind	11	31	34	28,016	Relatively Moderate
Ocean County	781	26	124.3	12.0	Wind	20	89	33	52,884	Relatively High
Atlantic County	423	7	76.1	15.4	Wind	9	56	36	20,909	Relatively Moderate

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
Somerset County	1,113	1,407	79.1	6,502	$240M
Union County	1,872	3,566	52.5	7,525	$164M
Hunterdon County	307	637	48.2	1,572	$40M
Passaic County	1,000	2,164	46.2	14,385	$317M
Essex County	1,186	2,803	42.3	5,845	$164M
Bergen County	2,353	5,724	41.1	14,477	$432M
Middlesex County	1,013	2,496	40.6	5,251	$165M
Hudson County	819	2,990	27.4	5,198	$177M
Morris County	441	2,195	20.1	9,463	$201M
Warren County	68	374	18.2	1,273	$33M
Mercer County	214	1,294	16.5	2,432	$48M
Burlington County	377	2,859	13.2	2,180	$29M
Camden County	181	1,406	12.9	1,329	$8.6M
Gloucester County	76	836	9.1	709	$4.8M
Cumberland County	33	371	8.9	756	$13M

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 New Jersey by year declared, 1953 to 2026; each disaster number counted once.

Incident type	Declarations
Severe Storm	19
Hurricane	12
Flood	8
Snowstorm	7
Fire	4
Biological	2
Other	2
Coastal Storm	2
Drought	2
Severe Ice Storm	1

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

Declared	Number	Type	Incident	Title	Counties
24 Apr 2025	FM-5581	Fire management assistance	Fire	Jones Road Fire	1
11 Aug 2023	DR-4725	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storm And Flooding	1
5 Sep 2021	DR-4614	Major disaster	Hurricane	Remnants Of Hurricane Ida	21
2 Sep 2021	EM-3573	Emergency	Hurricane	Remnants Of Hurricane Ida	21
28 Apr 2021	DR-4597	Major disaster	Snowstorm	Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm	5
11 Dec 2020	DR-4574	Major disaster	Hurricane	Tropical Storm Isaias	11
25 Mar 2020	DR-4488	Major disaster	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	21
13 Mar 2020	EM-3451	Emergency	Biological	Covid-19	21
8 Jun 2018	DR-4368	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm	6
14 Mar 2016	DR-4264	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm	17
22 Jul 2015	DR-4231	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storm	4
30 Oct 2012	DR-4086	Major disaster	Hurricane	Hurricane Sandy	21
28 Oct 2012	EM-3354	Emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Sandy	21
19 Jul 2012	DR-4070	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms And Straight-Line Winds	3
30 Nov 2011	DR-4048	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storm	11

Flood insurance claims by year

197820022026

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

202,340 claims, 169,194 paid, $6.5B in total; 14,863 repetitive-loss and 3,101 severe repetitive-loss properties. ZIP codes in New Jersey with flood claims (530).

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

Questions and answers

Which New Jersey counties have the most recorded tornadoes?

Burlington (25), Ocean (20) and Mercer (18), by NCEI count since 1950. Larger counties record more events; the state table also ranks by events per 100 square miles.

Which New Jersey counties have the most flood insurance claims?

Ocean (52,884), Cape May (28,016) and Atlantic (20,909) since 1978, in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file.

How many federal disaster declarations has New Jersey had?

59 declarations since 1953 (major disaster, emergency and fire management assistance declarations combined), 0 of them in 2026 so far.

How does New Jersey compare with the national rate?

358.7 recorded events per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally; 21.8 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.