Placer 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 Heavy Snow, with 668 records.
- The costliest single record is Wildfire in 2007: $500.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Avalanche in 2026, with 9 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 26 disasters that named this county, most often for fire.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1995, with 269 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 26 disasters that named Placer County between 1964 and 2023.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | 9 | 2022 |
| Flood | 6 | 2023 |
| Severe Storm | 6 | 2017 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Coastal Storm | 1 | 1983 |
| Drought | 1 | 1977 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3592 2023 · Flood · Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- EM-3591 2023 · Flood · Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides
- DR-4683 2022 · Flood · Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- FM-5453 2022 · Fire · Mosquito Fire
- EM-3571 2021 · Fire · Caldor Fire
- FM-5405 2021 · Fire · River Fire
- DR-4610 2021 · Fire · Wildfires
- DR-4482 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3428 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4301 2017 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Snow | 668 | 1 | 4 | $550K |
| High Wind | 214 | 1 | 0 | $1.9M |
| Winter Weather | 95 | 3 | 0 | $10K |
| Heavy Rain | 74 | 3 | 0 | $10K |
| Flood | 52 | 3 | 1 | $8.0M |
| Winter Storm | 35 | 2 | 2 | $475K |
| Avalanche | 17 | 17 | 9 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 12 | 0 | 0 | $208K |
| Strong Wind | 12 | 1 | 0 | $401K |
| Hail | 10 | 0 | 0 | $21K |
| Debris Flow | 8 | 0 | 0 | $8K |
| Dense Fog | 5 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Blizzard | 4 | 1 | 0 | $30K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4 | 0 | 0 | $20K |
| Dense Smoke | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Funnel Cloud | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Wildfire | 2 | 0 | 3 | $500.0M |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lake-Effect Snow | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 1 | 0 | 0 | $90K |
| Waterspout | 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 Placer County each year. The busiest year was 2023, with 82 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 11 | 2 | $125K |
| 1997 | 30 | 0 | $190K |
| 1998 | 49 | 2 | $2K |
| 1999 | 52 | 0 | $30K |
| 2000 | 58 | 0 | $60K |
| 2001 | 75 | 0 | $0 |
| 2002 | 53 | 0 | $2.0M |
| 2003 | 35 | 0 | $0 |
| 2004 | 19 | 0 | $0 |
| 2005 | 23 | 0 | $1.0M |
| 2006 | 53 | 0 | $2.1M |
| 2007 | 74 | 0 | $500.0M |
| 2008 | 26 | 4 | $110K |
| 2009 | 17 | 1 | $66K |
| 2010 | 15 | 0 | $560K |
| 2011 | 11 | 0 | $50K |
| 2012 | 15 | 2 | $20K |
| 2013 | 4 | 0 | $0 |
| 2014 | 14 | 1 | $258K |
| 2015 | 16 | 0 | $20K |
| 2016 | 12 | 3 | $0 |
| 2017 | 32 | 1 | $5.0M |
| 2018 | 75 | 1 | $0 |
| 2019 | 72 | 0 | $5K |
| 2020 | 52 | 1 | $0 |
| 2021 | 33 | 0 | $0 |
| 2022 | 53 | 0 | $25K |
| 2023 | 82 | 0 | $20K |
| 2024 | 81 | 3 | $90K |
| 2025 | 60 | 0 | $0 |
| 2026 | 21 | 11 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Wildfire · Jun 24, 2007$500.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · 3 injuries · NOAA record 38182
- Flood · Jan 9, 2017$5.0MNOAA name: Placer County · NOAA record 676616
- Flood · Jan 1, 2006$2.0MNOAA name: Placer County · NOAA record 5488504
- Flood · Dec 31, 2005$1.0MNOAA name: Placer County · NOAA record 5482284
- Heavy Snow · Apr 15, 2002$500KNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · 4 injuries · NOAA record 5289622
Deadliest records
- Avalanche · Feb 15, 20269 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1316161
- Winter Storm · Dec 20, 19962 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $75K damage · NOAA record 5580652
- Heavy Rain · Jan 18, 19982 deathsNOAA name: Placer County · NOAA record 5633145
- Winter Weather · Oct 10, 20082 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $10K damage · NOAA record 134702
- Flood · Nov 23, 20242 deathsNOAA name: Placer County · NOAA record 1219854
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 $14.5M on 601 claims in Placer County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 269 | $9.5M |
| 1997 | 85 | $1.4M |
| 1986 | 61 | $1.7M |
| 1998 | 28 | $147K |
| 1983 | 20 | $97K |
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 Placer 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 | 15 NCEI events over 31 years (0.48/yr). 6 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 138 NCEI events over 31 years (4.45/yr). 6 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 803 NCEI events over 31 years (25.90/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 3 | 2 NCEI events over 31 years (0.06/yr). 9 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 226 NCEI events over 31 years (7.29/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Drought | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Landslide | 2 | 25 NCEI events over 31 years (0.81/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Tornado | 1 | 2 NCEI events over 31 years (0.06/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 1 | 1 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/yr). 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 31 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 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 Placer 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 Placer 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 1,223 records, 161 were filed against this county and 1,062 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.
Related
Responsible for Placer County?
This page is the record of what has happened. Calchis also watches live NWS, USGS and NHC feeds against the places you name and alerts you when an event approaches them.
Free includes Live map + 3 triggers + 10 bond positions. Analyst is $149/mo for 1,000-location portfolios, ep curves, predictions, parametric triggers.
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.