Polk County, Florida: 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 Thunderstorm Wind, with 217 records.
- The costliest single record is High Wind in 2004: $674.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Dense Fog in 2008, with 5 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 42 disasters that named this county, most often for hurricane.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2004, with 418 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 Polk County between 1977 and 2024.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | 18 | 2024 |
| Fire | 7 | 2017 |
| Freezing | 5 | 2000 |
| Severe Storm | 5 | 2012 |
| Tropical Storm | 4 | 2024 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Tornado | 1 | 1993 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3622 2024 · Hurricane · Hurricane Milton
- DR-4834 2024 · Hurricane · Hurricane Milton
- EM-3605 2024 · Tropical Storm · Tropical Storm Debby
- DR-4806 2024 · Tropical Storm · Hurricane Debby
- EM-3596 2023 · Tropical Storm · Tropical Storm Idalia
- DR-4734 2023 · Hurricane · Hurricane Idalia
- DR-4680 2022 · Hurricane · Hurricane Nicole
- EM-3587 2022 · Tropical Storm · Tropical Storm Nicole
- DR-4673 2022 · Hurricane · Hurricane Ian
- EM-3584 2022 · Hurricane · Tropical Storm Ian
Not counted above: 33 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Florida. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 217 | 0 | 10 | $5.1M |
| Hail | 206 | 0 | 1 | $26.7M |
| Tornado | 63 | 0 | 23 | $22.4M |
| Dense Fog | 54 | 7 | 0 | $650K |
| Frost/Freeze | 44 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 42 | 7 | 49 | $3.1M |
| Flood | 30 | 0 | 0 | $2.3M |
| Tropical Storm | 20 | 2 | 0 | $50.5M |
| Heavy Rain | 17 | 1 | 4 | $24K |
| Wildfire | 15 | 0 | 3 | $1.6M |
| Flash Flood | 8 | 0 | 0 | $1.5M |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | 7 | 3 | 0 | $69.0M |
| High Wind | 5 | 1 | 6 | $1.0B |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Funnel Cloud | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Waterspout | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 1 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 1 | 0 | 0 | $1K |
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 Polk County each year. The busiest year was 1998, with 79 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 43 | 0 | $27.1M |
| 1997 | 79 | 1 | $9.0M |
| 1998 | 79 | 3 | $3.2M |
| 1999 | 72 | 0 | $2.3M |
| 2000 | 37 | 0 | $460K |
| 2001 | 49 | 2 | $1.5M |
| 2002 | 35 | 0 | $426K |
| 2003 | 20 | 1 | $43K |
| 2004 | 29 | 1 | $1.0B |
| 2005 | 25 | 0 | $3.3M |
| 2006 | 13 | 0 | $0 |
| 2007 | 29 | 0 | $428K |
| 2008 | 31 | 5 | $337K |
| 2009 | 25 | 2 | $339K |
| 2010 | 16 | 0 | $1.2M |
| 2011 | 21 | 0 | $525K |
| 2012 | 12 | 2 | $394K |
| 2013 | 8 | 0 | $5K |
| 2014 | 18 | 0 | $170K |
| 2015 | 13 | 0 | $901K |
| 2016 | 21 | 0 | $34K |
| 2017 | 10 | 3 | $70.2M |
| 2018 | 9 | 0 | $100K |
| 2019 | 10 | 0 | $10.1M |
| 2020 | 6 | 0 | $275K |
| 2021 | 7 | 0 | $43K |
| 2022 | 9 | 2 | $50.0M |
| 2023 | 8 | 0 | $10K |
| 2024 | 8 | 0 | $80K |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- High Wind · Aug 13, 2004$674.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · 1 death · 6 injuries · NOAA record 5417281
- High Wind · Sep 25, 2004$250.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5427720
- High Wind · Sep 5, 2004$94.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5422792
- Hurricane (Typhoon) · Sep 10, 2017$69.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · 3 deaths · NOAA record 721819
- Tropical Storm · Sep 28, 2022$50.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · 2 deaths · NOAA record 1058669
Deadliest records
- Dense Fog · Jan 9, 20085 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 77587
- Hurricane (Typhoon) · Sep 10, 20173 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $69.0M damage · NOAA record 721819
- Lightning · Jul 6, 19982 deathsNOAA name: Polk County · NOAA record 5666370
- Tropical Storm · Sep 28, 20222 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $50.0M damage · NOAA record 1058669
- Lightning · Apr 23, 19971 deathNOAA name: Polk County · NOAA record 5611401
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 $45.6M on 1,658 claims in Polk County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 418 | $3.7M |
| 2024 | 396 | $27.7M |
| 2017 | 252 | $7.2M |
| 2022 | 146 | $2.2M |
| 2005 | 75 | $1.9M |
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 Polk 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 2024 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 3 | 27 NCEI events over 29 years (0.93/yr). 22 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Tornado | 3 | 63 NCEI events over 29 years (2.17/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 465 NCEI events over 29 years (16.03/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 55 NCEI events over 29 years (1.90/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 52 NCEI events over 29 years (1.79/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Wild Fire | 3 | 15 NCEI events over 29 years (0.52/yr). 7 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 2 | 6 NCEI events over 29 years (0.21/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 29 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 29 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. |
| Landslide | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 29 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 29 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 29 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 Polk 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 Polk 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 742 records, 595 were filed against this county and 147 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 Florida'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.