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Nevada
The recorded hazard history of every county in Nevada: storm events since 1950, federal disaster declarations since 1953, and National Flood Insurance Program claims since 1978.
Nevada has 8,761 weather events in the NCEI Storm Events record since 1950 across 17 counties, led by damaging wind: 8.0 per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally.
NCEI attributes 990 deaths and 1,123 injuries to those events, with property damage estimated at $1.1B. By events per 100 square miles the leading counties are Carson City, Douglas and Clark.
FEMA lists 115 disaster declarations touching the state since 1953, most recently Hawk Fire (1 Sep 2026). NFIP policyholders filed 1,964 flood claims since 1978, $47M paid; 7,964 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 | Nevada | US |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded events since 1950 | 8,761 | 1,977,440 |
| Events per 100 square miles | 8.0 | 56.0 |
| Events per 10,000 residents | 27.9 | 59.6 |
| Deaths recorded by NCEI | 990 | 26,435 |
| Property damage (NCEI estimates) | $1.1B | $575B |
| NFIP claims per 1,000 residents | 0.6 | 8.1 |
| Average paid NFIP claim | $37K | $43K |
| Residential flood policies in force | 7,964 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carson City | 45 | 2 | 31.1 | 7.6 | Other | 1 | 6 | 15 | 91 | Relatively Low |
| Douglas County | 106 | 3 | 14.9 | 21.3 | Other | 1 | 10 | 25 | 226 | Relatively Moderate |
| Clark County | 937 | 32 | 11.9 | 4.1 | Flood | 13 | 106 | 14 | 626 | Very High |
| Storey County | 28 | 7 | 10.6 | 67.6 | Flood | 0 | 3 | 13 | 10 | Very Low |
| White Pine County | 508 | 18 | 5.7 | 553.3 | Wind | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | Very Low |
| Lyon County | 104 | 5 | 5.2 | 17.1 | Flood | 4 | 10 | 14 | 24 | Relatively Low |
| Washoe County | 325 | 20 | 5.1 | 6.6 | Other | 13 | 40 | 53 | 754 | Relatively High |
| Humboldt County | 420 | 29 | 4.4 | 238.0 | Wind | 8 | 13 | 8 | 16 | Very Low |
| Eureka County | 98 | 0 | 2.3 | 515.0 | Wind | 3 | 14 | 8 | 1 | Very Low |
| Elko County | 343 | 1 | 2.0 | 63.6 | Wind | 23 | 55 | 19 | 31 | Relatively Moderate |
| Churchill County | 75 | 2 | 1.5 | 29.2 | Wind | 4 | 12 | 7 | 7 | Relatively Low |
| Lander County | 79 | 0 | 1.4 | 136.3 | Wind | 3 | 17 | 6 | 3 | Very Low |
| Nye County | 246 | 17 | 1.4 | 46.0 | Wind | 5 | 8 | 5 | 136 | Relatively Low |
| Lincoln County | 139 | 1 | 1.3 | 307.2 | Flood | 7 | 13 | 8 | 6 | Very Low |
| Mineral County | 40 | 1 | 1.1 | 87.2 | Flood | 1 | 6 | 7 | 1 | Very Low |
| Esmeralda County | 27 | 0 | 0.8 | 363.4 | Flood | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Very Low |
| Pershing County | 42 | 5 | 0.7 | 62.3 | Wind | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Very 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washoe County | 142 | 1,357 | 10.5 | 754 | $31M |
| Douglas County | 30 | 688 | 4.4 | 226 | $4.3M |
| Carson City | 7 | 186 | 3.8 | 91 | $559K |
| Lyon County | 9 | 325 | 2.8 | 24 | $679K |
| Nye County | 71 | 3,377 | 2.1 | 136 | $1.3M |
| Churchill County | 3 | 176 | 1.7 | 7 | $25K |
| Clark County | 20 | 1,197 | 1.7 | 626 | $9.3M |
| Lander County | 0 | 106 | 0.0 | 3 | $1K |
| Mineral County | 0 | 116 | 0.0 | 1 | $3K |
| Storey County | 0 | 178 | 0.0 | 10 | $36K |
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 |
|---|---|
| Fire | 89 |
| Flood | 12 |
| Severe Storm | 7 |
| Biological | 2 |
| Snowstorm | 2 |
| Hurricane | 1 |
| Drought | 1 |
| Earthquake | 1 |
Most recent declarations (each disaster number once, with the number of counties designated):
| Declared | Number | Type | Incident | Title | Counties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Sep 2026 | EM-3653 | Emergency | Fire | Hawk Fire | 1 |
| 22 Aug 2026 | FM-5674 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Hawk Fire | 1 |
| 11 Aug 2026 | FM-5668 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Stallion Fire | 1 |
| 11 Aug 2026 | FM-5667 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Fred Mountain Fire | 1 |
| 8 Aug 2026 | FM-5663 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Bug Fire | 1 |
| 2 Aug 2025 | FM-5602 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Peavine Fire | 1 |
| 20 Jun 2025 | FM-5592 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Conner Fire | 1 |
| 10 Jun 2025 | FM-5586 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Marie Fire | 1 |
| 11 Nov 2024 | FM-5546 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Callahan Fire | 1 |
| 7 Sep 2024 | FM-5533 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Davis Fire | 1 |
| 12 Aug 2024 | FM-5530 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Gold Ranch Fire | 1 |
| 16 Jul 2024 | FM-5509 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Spring Valley Fire | 1 |
| 12 Jun 2024 | FM-5495 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Sullivan Fire | 1 |
| 11 Jun 2024 | FM-5494 | Fire management assistance | Fire | Trail Fire | 1 |
| 27 Apr 2023 | DR-4708 | Major disaster | Flood | Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | 6 |
Flood insurance claims by year
1,964 claims, 1,285 paid, $47M in total; 96 repetitive-loss and 7 severe repetitive-loss properties. ZIP codes in Nevada with flood claims (71).
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 1954
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- 1954
Questions and answers
Which Nevada counties have the most recorded tornadoes?
Elko (23), Clark (13) and Washoe (13), by NCEI count since 1950. Larger counties record more events; the state table also ranks by events per 100 square miles.
Which Nevada counties have the most flood insurance claims?
Washoe (754), Clark (626) and Douglas (226) since 1978, in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file.
How many federal disaster declarations has Nevada had?
115 declarations since 1953 (major disaster, emergency and fire management assistance declarations combined), 5 of them in 2026 so far.
How does Nevada compare with the national rate?
8.0 recorded events per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally; 0.6 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.