Gila County, Arizona: 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 Flash Flood, with 231 records.
- The costliest single record is Flash Flood in 2021: $40.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Flash Flood in 2017, with 10 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 23 disasters that named this county, most often for fire.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1993, with 35 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 23 disasters that named Gila County between 1970 and 2021.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | 9 | 2021 |
| Flood | 7 | 1993 |
| Severe Storm | 4 | 2010 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
Most recent declarations
- FM-5389 2021 · Fire · Telegraph Fire
- FM-5340 2020 · Fire · Griffin Fire
- FM-5313 2020 · Fire · Bush Fire
- DR-4524 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3442 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-1888 2010 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storms And Flooding
- FM-2835 2009 · Fire · Water Wheel Fire
- DR-1660 2006 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
- EM-3241 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
- FM-2570 2005 · Fire · Az-wildfire (edge Complex) 07-22-2005
Not counted above: 31 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Arizona. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | 231 | 15 | 2 | $78.1M |
| Excessive Heat | 113 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 89 | 0 | 0 | $25K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 75 | 0 | 4 | $562K |
| Hail | 65 | 0 | 0 | $21K |
| Heavy Snow | 56 | 1 | 0 | $5K |
| Wildfire | 26 | 1 | 5 | $17.0M |
| Flood | 23 | 6 | 0 | $413K |
| Winter Storm | 11 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 9 | 1 | 5 | $127K |
| High Wind | 8 | 0 | 0 | $123K |
| Debris Flow | 4 | 0 | 0 | $100K |
| Dust Devil | 3 | 0 | 0 | $25K |
| Funnel Cloud | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 1 | 0 | 0 | $100K |
| Dust Storm | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 1 | 1 | 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. A storm filed against a forecast zone is counted in every county that zone covers, with the whole storm's damage; do not add these figures across counties.
Year by year
NOAA storm event records in Gila County each year. The busiest year was 2021, with 82 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 9 | 0 | $0 |
| 1997 | 13 | 0 | $6K |
| 1998 | 12 | 0 | $2K |
| 1999 | 17 | 0 | $220K |
| 2000 | 17 | 1 | $5K |
| 2001 | 11 | 0 | $0 |
| 2002 | 11 | 0 | $0 |
| 2003 | 21 | 0 | $25K |
| 2004 | 19 | 0 | $67K |
| 2005 | 9 | 0 | $0 |
| 2006 | 15 | 0 | $0 |
| 2007 | 28 | 0 | $180K |
| 2008 | 26 | 0 | $177K |
| 2009 | 24 | 1 | $3.1M |
| 2010 | 26 | 0 | $254K |
| 2011 | 10 | 0 | $225K |
| 2012 | 18 | 0 | $140K |
| 2013 | 20 | 0 | $29K |
| 2014 | 10 | 0 | $50K |
| 2015 | 16 | 0 | $113K |
| 2016 | 20 | 0 | $0 |
| 2017 | 23 | 10 | $31K |
| 2018 | 39 | 0 | $30K |
| 2019 | 42 | 5 | $470K |
| 2020 | 53 | 2 | $1.1M |
| 2021 | 82 | 0 | $56.9M |
| 2022 | 32 | 0 | $141K |
| 2023 | 32 | 4 | $43K |
| 2024 | 21 | 1 | $5.0M |
| 2025 | 46 | 3 | $28.2M |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flash Flood · Jul 29, 2021$40.0MNOAA name: Gila County · NOAA record 977463
- Flash Flood · Sep 26, 2025$25.0MNOAA name: Gila County · 3 deaths · NOAA record 1293488
- Wildfire · Jun 4, 2021$8.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 967350
- Flash Flood · Aug 18, 2021$8.0MNOAA name: Gila County · NOAA record 983931
- Wildfire · Jul 10, 2024$5.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1203986
Deadliest records
- Flash Flood · Jul 15, 201710 deathsNOAA name: Gila County · NOAA record 715746
- Flood · Nov 29, 20193 deathsNOAA name: Gila County · $50K damage · NOAA record 860312
- Flash Flood · Sep 26, 20253 deathsNOAA name: Gila County · $25.0M damage · NOAA record 1293488
- Flood · Mar 21, 20232 deathsNOAA name: Gila County · NOAA record 1116704
- Lightning · Aug 12, 20001 deathNOAA name: Gila County · 2 injuries · NOAA record 5172098
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 $3.1M on 140 claims in Gila County from 1980 to 2021.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 35 | $952K |
| 2010 | 23 | $635K |
| 1983 | 16 | $115K |
| 2021 | 11 | $716K |
| 2007 | 8 | $140K |
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 Gila County
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 1996 to 2025 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 | 149 NCEI events over 30 years (4.97/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 343 NCEI events over 30 years (11.43/yr). 7 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 67 NCEI events over 30 years (2.23/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 115 NCEI events over 30 years (3.83/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 3 | 26 NCEI events over 30 years (0.87/yr). 9 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 30 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Tornado | 2 | 3 NCEI events over 30 years (0.10/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 2 | 8 NCEI events over 30 years (0.27/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Landslide | 2 | 4 NCEI events over 30 years (0.13/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Drought | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 30 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Earthquake | 1 | 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 30 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 30 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 Gila County — 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 against a county and others against an NWS forecast zone, and publishes a code for both. Records are counted as Gila County by that code — county records by the county's own FIPS code, zone records through the National Weather Service's published list of which counties each zone covers. No name matching is involved. Of 722 records, 510 were filed against this county and 212 against a forecast zone covering it. A zone storm is counted in every county its zone covers, and its damage figure is the whole storm's, not this county's share — NOAA does not publish that split. So these figures describe this county; they must not be added up across counties. Left out: 6% of Arizona's NOAA records, which are marine zones or zones NWS does not map to a county.
- 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.