Orange County, California: 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 High Wind, with 228 records.
- The costliest single record is Wildfire in 2022: $60.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Flash Flood in 1998, with 2 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 42 disasters that named this county, most often for fire.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1995, with 603 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 42 disasters that named Orange County between 1969 and 2026.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | 19 | 2022 |
| Flood | 11 | 2023 |
| Severe Storm | 5 | 2005 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Earthquake | 2 | 1994 |
| Chemical | 1 | 2026 |
| Coastal Storm | 1 | 1983 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3646 2026 · Chemical · Chemical Release
- EM-3592 2023 · Flood · Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- EM-3591 2023 · Flood · Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides
- FM-5439 2022 · Fire · Coastal Fire
- FM-5383 2020 · Fire · Bond Fire
- FM-5380 2020 · Fire · Silverado Fire
- FM-5381 2020 · Fire · Blue Ridge Fire
- DR-4482 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3428 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- FM-5223 2017 · Fire · Canyon 2 Fire
Not counted above: 35 statewide declarations, which covered every county in California. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 228 | 1 | 0 | $683K |
| Flood | 80 | 0 | 3 | $40.7M |
| Dense Fog | 75 | 0 | 1 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 58 | 2 | 2 | $64.7M |
| Heavy Rain | 58 | 1 | 19 | $36.3M |
| High Surf | 58 | 1 | 7 | $275K |
| Wildfire | 41 | 0 | 52 | $141.7M |
| Funnel Cloud | 37 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 36 | 0 | 0 | $590K |
| Excessive Heat | 33 | 1 | 2 | $0 |
| Heat | 33 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 32 | 0 | 0 | $1.2M |
| Drought | 26 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Rip Current | 26 | 14 | 18 | $20K |
| Debris Flow | 13 | 1 | 0 | $419K |
| Waterspout | 13 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Hail | 11 | 1 | 0 | $81K |
| Coastal Flood | 10 | 0 | 2 | $75K |
| Tornado | 7 | 0 | 0 | $600K |
| Lightning | 4 | 0 | 0 | $62K |
| Winter Storm | 4 | 0 | 0 | $5K |
| Winter Weather | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Frost/Freeze | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Snow | 3 | 0 | 0 | $30K |
| Storm Surge/Tide | 3 | 0 | 0 | $243K |
| Tropical Storm | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Tsunami | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dust Devil | 1 | 0 | 0 | $6K |
| Freezing Fog | 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. 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 Orange County each year. The busiest year was 2017, with 60 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 6 | 0 | $3.0M |
| 1997 | 22 | 1 | $17.7M |
| 1998 | 33 | 2 | $35.6M |
| 1999 | 25 | 1 | $285K |
| 2000 | 33 | 6 | $720K |
| 2001 | 37 | 3 | $1.7M |
| 2002 | 22 | 2 | $1.8M |
| 2003 | 17 | 3 | $370K |
| 2004 | 26 | 0 | $240K |
| 2005 | 37 | 1 | $36.6M |
| 2006 | 6 | 0 | $25K |
| 2007 | 24 | 0 | $265K |
| 2008 | 22 | 0 | $955K |
| 2009 | 15 | 0 | $0 |
| 2010 | 13 | 0 | $49.7M |
| 2011 | 9 | 0 | $16K |
| 2012 | 6 | 0 | $4K |
| 2013 | 11 | 0 | $20K |
| 2014 | 23 | 0 | $28K |
| 2015 | 29 | 1 | $20K |
| 2016 | 54 | 0 | $50K |
| 2017 | 60 | 1 | $26.7M |
| 2018 | 43 | 1 | $520K |
| 2019 | 41 | 0 | $156K |
| 2020 | 41 | 1 | $105K |
| 2021 | 58 | 0 | $1.1M |
| 2022 | 55 | 0 | $60.0M |
| 2023 | 53 | 0 | $51K |
| 2024 | 37 | 0 | $50.1M |
| 2025 | 38 | 0 | $50K |
| 2026 | 8 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Wildfire · May 11, 2022$60.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1019573
- Wildfire · Sep 9, 2024$50.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · 22 injuries · NOAA record 1218724
- Flood · Dec 19, 2010$36.0MNOAA name: Orange County · NOAA record 272613
- Flash Flood · Feb 23, 1998$29.7MNOAA name: Orange County · 2 deaths · 2 injuries · NOAA record 5631320
- Wildfire · Oct 9, 2017$25.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 725310
Deadliest records
- Flash Flood · Feb 23, 19982 deathsNOAA name: Orange County · $29.7M damage · 2 injuries · NOAA record 5631320
- Rip Current · Aug 5, 19971 deathNOAA name: Orange County · 3 injuries · NOAA record 5616231
- Rip Current · May 4, 19991 deathNOAA name: Orange County · NOAA record 5695436
- Heavy Rain · Feb 10, 20001 deathNOAA name: Orange County · $300K damage · 4 injuries · NOAA record 5134634
- Hail · Mar 6, 20001 deathNOAA name: Orange County · $75K damage · NOAA record 5136119
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 $20.2M on 3,803 claims in Orange County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 603 | $2.5M |
| 1998 | 570 | $2.3M |
| 1983 | 489 | $1.8M |
| 1997 | 456 | $3.1M |
| 2010 | 208 | $3.2M |
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 Orange 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 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 | 47 NCEI events over 31 years (1.52/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 206 NCEI events over 31 years (6.65/yr). 11 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 69 NCEI events over 31 years (2.23/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 3 | 41 NCEI events over 31 years (1.32/yr). 19 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 264 NCEI events over 31 years (8.52/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 2 | 6 NCEI events over 31 years (0.19/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Tornado | 2 | 7 NCEI events over 31 years (0.23/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 2 | 12 NCEI events over 31 years (0.39/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 2 | 26 NCEI events over 31 years (0.84/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Earthquake | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Landslide | 2 | 13 NCEI events over 31 years (0.42/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Tidal Wave / Tsunami | 1 | 3 NCEI events over 31 years (0.10/yr). 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 31 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 Orange 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 Orange 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 904 records, 361 were filed against this county and 543 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: 29% of California'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.