States › Texas › 1979

Texas, 1979

The year's recorded storm events, federal disaster declarations and flood insurance claims.

726events recorded496 in 1978

54deaths recorded1,835 injuries

$327Mproperty damage (estimates)

5disaster declarations21,721 NFIP claims, $218M 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.

Events by hazard

Hail303

Wind254

Tornado169

Includes events recorded by forecast zone. The state's yearly total for 1979 was 726 against 496 in 1978.

Counties with the most recorded events

County	Events in 1979
Dallas County	24
Harris County	21
Tarrant County	18
Wilbarger County	13
Lubbock County	12
Potter County	12
Foard County	11
Guadalupe County	11
Midland County	11
Smith County	11
Brown County	10
Lamb County	10
Comal County	9
Cooke County	9
Hale County	9
McLennan County	9
Brewster County	8
Eastland County	8
Gillespie County	8
Kerr County	8
Taylor County	8
Armstrong County	7
Grayson County	7
Hill County	7
Stephens County	7

Notable events

Date	County	Event type	Magnitude	Property damage	Deaths	Injuries
10 Apr 1979	Wichita	Tornado	F4	$250,000,000	42	1700
10 Apr 1979	Wilbarger	Tornado	F4	$25,000,000	11	67
10 Apr 1979	Wilbarger	Tornado	F2	—	1	—
10 Apr 1979	Clay	Tornado	F4	—	—	40
3 May 1979	Dallas	Tornado	F2	$25,000,000	—	5
30 Oct 1979	Young	Tornado	F2	$250,000	—	5
11 Apr 1979	Hamilton	Tornado	F2	$250,000	—	3
18 Mar 1979	Crosby	Tornado	F1	$250,000	—	2
6 Jun 1979	Young	Tornado	F3	$250,000	—	2
30 Oct 1979	Palo Pinto	Tornado	F1	$250,000	—	2
2 Mar 1979	Smith	Tornado	F2	$25,000	—	2
1 Apr 1979	Marion	Tornado	F2	$2,500,000	—	1
2 Mar 1979	Mason	Tornado	F3	$2,500,000	—	1
18 Sep 1979	Harris	Tornado	F2	$2,500,000	—	1
10 Apr 1979	Coleman	Tornado	F3	$2,500,000	—	1
1 Apr 1979	Smith	Tornado	F2	$250,000	—	1
10 Apr 1979	Foard	Tornado	F2	$250,000	—	1
23 Feb 1979	Smith	Tornado	F3	—	—	1
18 Mar 1979	Lubbock	Tornado	F1	$2,500,000	—	—
1 Apr 1979	Gregg	Tornado	F3	$2,500,000	—	—
3 May 1979	Wood	Tornado	F3	$2,500,000	—	—
22 Oct 1979	Jefferson	Tornado	F2	$2,500,000	—	—
30 Oct 1979	Stephens	Tornado	F3	$2,500,000	—	—
18 Mar 1979	Collingsworth	Tornado	F1	$250,000	—	—
3 May 1979	Camp	Tornado	F2	$250,000	—	—
30 Oct 1979	Harris	Tornado	F1	$250,000	—	—
18 Sep 1979	Harris	Tornado	F1	$250,000	—	—
11 Apr 1979	Hopkins	Tornado	F2	$250,000	—	—
18 Apr 1979	Montgomery	Tornado	F2	$250,000	—	—
30 Oct 1979	Jack	Tornado	F2	$250,000	—	—
20 Aug 1979	Martin	Tornado	F1	$250,000	—	—
9 Jul 1979	Kent	Tornado	F1	$250,000	—	—
3 May 1979	Dallas	Tornado	F1	$25,000	—	—
19 Mar 1979	Titus	Tornado	F2	$25,000	—	—
21 Mar 1979	Mitchell	Tornado	F0	$25,000	—	—
21 Mar 1979	Mitchell	Tornado	F1	$25,000	—	—
1 Apr 1979	Smith	Tornado	F2	$25,000	—	—
30 Oct 1979	Wise	Tornado	F2	$25,000	—	—
30 Oct 1979	Johnson	Tornado	F1	$25,000	—	—
30 Oct 1979	Montague	Tornado	F1	$25,000	—	—

Up to 40 events with deaths, injuries, damage of $50,000 or more, or a tornado rating, ranked by deaths, injuries and damage.

Federal disaster declarations in 1979

Declared	Number	Type	Incident	Title	Counties
25 Sep 1979	DR-603	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	7
28 Jul 1979	DR-595	Major disaster	Flood	Storms & Flash Floods	6
14 Jun 1979	DR-587	Major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	1
26 Apr 1979	DR-580	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding	7
11 Apr 1979	DR-575	Major disaster	Tornado	Severe Storms & Tornadoes	5

Flood insurance claims with a 1979 date of loss

21,721 NFIP claims, 18,876 of them paid, for $217,766,319.

Sources: NOAA NCEI Storm Events through 30 Jun 2026; OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2 (1 Oct 2026); OpenFEMA NfipClaims v3 (8 Sep 2026). Built 1 Oct 2026.