Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska: hazard history
What federal records show has already happened here: disaster declarations, storms, and flood insurance claims. This is a record of the past. It is not a forecast and not a hazard score.
At a glance
What this means
- The event NOAA recorded most often here is Heavy Snow, with 27 records.
- The costliest single record is Flood in 2002: $10.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Avalanche in 2001, with 1 death.
- FEMA has declared 20 disasters that named this county, most often for severe storm.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2012, with 23 claims.
What this can't tell you
- What happens next. Past events do not set the odds of the next one.
- Anything before 1996 from NOAA. That is when NOAA began recording every event type; earlier files hold only tornado, hail and wind, so they are left out on purpose.
- Today's cost. Damage and payments are in the dollars of the year they happened.
- A flood rate. NFIP counts claims but not how many homes were insured, and many flooded homes carry no flood insurance.
- Earthquakes, wildfire perimeters or radar-detected hail. Those records are not tied to counties.
Federal disaster declarations (FEMA)
FEMA declared 20 disasters that named Kenai Peninsula Borough between 1986 and 2022.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Storm | 7 | 2021 |
| Fire | 3 | 2015 |
| Flood | 3 | 2013 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Earthquake | 2 | 2018 |
| Coastal Storm | 1 | 2017 |
| Freezing | 1 | 1989 |
| Mud/Landslide | 1 | 2022 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4661 2022 · Mud/Landslide · Landslide
- DR-4638 2021 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-4533 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3446 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4413 2018 · Earthquake · Earthquake
- EM-3410 2018 · Earthquake · Earthquake
- DR-4369 2017 · Coastal Storm · Severe Storm
- FM-5085 2015 · Fire · Card Street Fire
- DR-4161 2013 · Flood · Flooding
- DR-4094 2012 · Severe Storm · Severe Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, And Landslides
Not counted above: 30 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Alaska. A declaration is a decision to send federal help, not a measure of how bad an event was. Records run from 1953. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries.
Storms recorded by NOAA, by type
| Event type | Records | Deaths | Injuries | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Snow | 27 | 0 | 0 | $157K |
| Flood | 23 | 0 | 0 | $26.4M |
| Winter Weather | 18 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Blizzard | 16 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 11 | 0 | 0 | $20K |
| High Wind | 6 | 0 | 0 | $25K |
| Hail | 5 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Avalanche | 3 | 2 | 0 | $500 |
| Wildfire | 3 | 0 | 4 | $1.3M |
| Coastal Flood | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dust Devil | 1 | 0 | 0 | $1K |
| Ice Storm | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Storm Surge/Tide | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Records start in 1996. Damage is NOAA's estimate at the time, in nominal dollars, and is often rounded; it is not insurance claims data. A storm that crossed two NOAA zones in this county is recorded, and counted, once per zone.
Year by year
NOAA storm event records in Kenai Peninsula Borough each year. The busiest year was 2022, with 14 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2 | 0 | $20K |
| 2001 | 6 | 1 | $806K |
| 2002 | 10 | 0 | $10.1M |
| 2003 | 4 | 0 | $100K |
| 2004 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| 2005 | 7 | 0 | $1K |
| 2006 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| 2007 | 7 | 0 | $3.2M |
| 2008 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| 2009 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| 2010 | 6 | 0 | $0 |
| 2012 | 4 | 0 | $1.5M |
| 2014 | 3 | 0 | $25K |
| 2015 | 2 | 0 | $400K |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | $5.0M |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | $300K |
| 2019 | 4 | 0 | $1.4M |
| 2020 | 3 | 1 | $50K |
| 2021 | 9 | 0 | $5.0M |
| 2022 | 14 | 0 | $0 |
| 2023 | 11 | 0 | $0 |
| 2024 | 8 | 0 | $0 |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flood · Oct 23, 2002$10.0MNOAA name: KENAI PENINSULA · NOAA record 5319933
- Flood · Sep 21, 2017$5.0MNOAA name: KENAI PENINSULA · NOAA record 723277
- Flood · Apr 19, 2021$5.0MNOAA name: KENAI PENINSULA · NOAA record 955271
- Flood · Jan 25, 2007$1.6MNOAA name: KENAI PENINSULA · NOAA record 8458
- Flood · Feb 1, 2007$1.6MNOAA name: KENAI PENINSULA · NOAA record 8466
Deadliest records
- Avalanche · Dec 23, 20011 deathNOAA name: KENAI PENINSULA · $500 damage · NOAA record 5273345
- Avalanche · Feb 10, 20201 deathNOAA name: KENAI PENINSULA · NOAA record 871646
Each line is one NOAA record, linked to its page at NOAA. One large storm can appear more than once if NOAA recorded it in several zones of this county. Dollars are nominal.
Flood insurance claims (NFIP)
The National Flood Insurance Program paid $669K on 82 claims in Kenai Peninsula Borough from 1979 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 23 | $99K |
| 1995 | 20 | $140K |
| 2006 | 11 | $148K |
| 2002 | 5 | $155K |
| 2024 | 3 | $515 |
A count of claims, not a rate: NFIP publishes no count of insured homes beside it, and most flood damage is uninsured. Nominal dollars. Records run from 1978 to 2024; claims filed without a county code are not on any county page. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims.
Hazard vulnerability analysis: the probability column for a facility in Kenai Peninsula Borough
A hazard vulnerability analysis rates each hazard for probability, impact, preparedness and response. Probability is the one column the county’s federal record can fill — NCEI storm events from 2000 to 2026 and FEMA declarations naming the county — and this is what it says for a facility here, on the 0–3 scale of the all-hazards structure surveyors expect. The other six columns are the facility’s own judgment about its building, and Calchis leaves them blank.
| Hazard | Prob. | Basis, from the county record |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 5 NCEI events over 27 years (0.19/yr). 7 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 25 NCEI events over 27 years (0.93/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 73 NCEI events over 27 years (2.70/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 3 | 3 NCEI events over 27 years (0.11/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 2 | 1 NCEI event over 27 years (0.04/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 27 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 2 | 6 NCEI events over 27 years (0.22/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Earthquake | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Landslide | 2 | 3 NCEI events over 27 years (0.11/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Tornado | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 27 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 27 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Tidal Wave / Tsunami | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 27 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Volcano | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 27 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Dam Inundation | 1 | No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
A dash means the record does not speak to that hazard; it is not a zero. Whether a finished document satisfies the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule is the facility’s finding and its surveyor’s. Complete the HVA for a facility in Kenai Peninsula Borough — the technological, human and hazardous-materials rows, the six facility columns, the approval and the printed document — or read the sample analysis on that page first.
How this page was made
- Every figure is counted from public federal records held by Calchis: NOAA NCEI Storm Events, FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations, and FEMA NFIP claims. Nothing is modeled or estimated.
- NOAA files some events by county and others by forecast zone, and names both. Records are counted as Kenai Peninsula Borough when their NOAA name is this county's name, alone or with a word like “Coastal” or “Inland” in front. The county codes NOAA also publishes have not been loaded for Alaska yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: KENAI PENINSULA, SOUTHWEST KENAI PENINSULA. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 94% of Alaska's NOAA records.
- Counts last rebuilt from the source records on Sep 15, 2026.
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Recorded history from federal public records. Not a hazard score, a risk score, or a forecast, and not a substitute for professional actuarial or emergency-management assessment. Decision-support intelligence — not a primary alerting or dispatch system. Verify against official sources.