Cook County, Illinois: 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 1,182 records.
- The costliest single record is Flash Flood in 2023: $500.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Heat in 1999, with 93 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 24 disasters that named this county, most often for flood.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2008, with 2,048 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 24 disasters that named Cook County between 1967 and 2024.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | 8 | 2024 |
| Severe Storm | 8 | 2023 |
| Snowstorm | 4 | 2011 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
| Tornado | 1 | 1967 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4819 2024 · Flood · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Floodng
- DR-4749 2023 · Flood · Severe Storms And Flooding
- DR-4728 2023 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
- DR-4489 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3435 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4116 2013 · Flood · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding
- DR-1960 2011 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
- DR-1935 2010 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
- DR-1800 2008 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
- DR-1729 2007 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
Not counted above: 2 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Illinois. 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 | 1,182 | 7 | 47 | $17.2M |
| Hail | 560 | 0 | 0 | $18.8M |
| Flood | 214 | 2 | 0 | $7.2M |
| Flash Flood | 191 | 1 | 0 | $1.5B |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 109 | 115 | 0 | $0 |
| High Wind | 97 | 5 | 16 | $1.3M |
| Winter Weather | 78 | 4 | 0 | $500K |
| Heavy Rain | 61 | 1 | 0 | $330K |
| Lightning | 57 | 3 | 19 | $6.5M |
| Winter Storm | 57 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 54 | 303 | 8 | $25K |
| Tornado | 44 | 0 | 1 | $5.3M |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 24 | 34 | 5 | $0 |
| Heavy Snow | 24 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Drought | 21 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 21 | 38 | 0 | $750K |
| Rip Current | 17 | 15 | 8 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 16 | 1 | 17 | $198K |
| Lakeshore Flood | 9 | 0 | 0 | $25.3M |
| Funnel Cloud | 7 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lake-Effect Snow | 6 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| High Surf | 5 | 5 | 1 | $0 |
| Blizzard | 4 | 5 | 0 | $200K |
| Seiche | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dust Storm | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Ice Storm | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Coastal Flood | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Frost/Freeze | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Sleet | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Wildfire | 1 | 0 | 0 | $2.0M |
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 Cook County each year. The busiest year was 2024, with 215 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 27 | 11 | $44.7M |
| 1997 | 34 | 33 | $0 |
| 1998 | 18 | 16 | $0 |
| 1999 | 18 | 112 | $0 |
| 2000 | 34 | 1 | $0 |
| 2001 | 33 | 37 | $37.6M |
| 2002 | 20 | 44 | $205K |
| 2003 | 100 | 7 | $7.0M |
| 2004 | 82 | 13 | $0 |
| 2005 | 52 | 9 | $120K |
| 2006 | 116 | 46 | $5.1M |
| 2007 | 115 | 19 | $6.6M |
| 2008 | 111 | 25 | $68.6M |
| 2009 | 80 | 12 | $612K |
| 2010 | 123 | 18 | $259.5M |
| 2011 | 155 | 33 | $56.2M |
| 2012 | 79 | 35 | $831K |
| 2013 | 97 | 21 | $18.1M |
| 2014 | 101 | 18 | $51.6M |
| 2015 | 49 | 7 | $213K |
| 2016 | 35 | 4 | $135K |
| 2017 | 42 | 0 | $1.1M |
| 2018 | 59 | 4 | $800K |
| 2019 | 104 | 1 | $45K |
| 2020 | 155 | 3 | $25.0M |
| 2021 | 133 | 3 | $0 |
| 2022 | 214 | 1 | $3.1M |
| 2023 | 169 | 2 | $550.0M |
| 2024 | 215 | 7 | $50K |
| 2025 | 213 | 3 | $494.9M |
| 2026 | 90 | 2 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flash Flood · Jul 2, 2023$500.0MNOAA name: COOK · NOAA record 1141644
- Flash Flood · Jul 24, 2010$253.4MNOAA name: COOK · NOAA record 254362
- Flash Flood · Aug 17, 2025$230.0MNOAA name: COOK · NOAA record 1295012
- Flash Flood · Jul 25, 2025$200.0MNOAA name: COOK · NOAA record 1280005
- Flash Flood · Aug 17, 2025$55.0MNOAA name: COOK · NOAA record 1295014
Deadliest records
- Heat · Jul 28, 199993 deathsNOAA name: COOK · NOAA record 5710162
- Excessive Heat · Jul 4, 201225 deathsNOAA name: COOK · $750K damage · NOAA record 404050
- Heat · Aug 1, 200624 deathsNOAA name: COOK · NOAA record 5526217
- Heat · Jun 21, 199716 deathsNOAA name: COOK · NOAA record 5609402
- Heat · Jul 17, 201116 deathsNOAA name: COOK · NOAA record 335133
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 $138.8M on 15,134 claims in Cook County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 2,048 | $33.7M |
| 2013 | 1,981 | $35.5M |
| 2010 | 1,559 | $18.1M |
| 1982 | 937 | $2.3M |
| 1987 | 931 | $8.4M |
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 Cook 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado | 3 | 44 NCEI events over 31 years (1.42/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 1,799 NCEI events over 31 years (58.03/yr). 8 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 477 NCEI events over 31 years (15.39/yr). 8 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 173 NCEI events over 31 years (5.58/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 209 NCEI events over 31 years (6.74/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 113 NCEI events over 31 years (3.65/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. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Drought | 2 | 21 NCEI events over 31 years (0.68/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Tidal Wave / Tsunami | 2 | 4 NCEI events over 31 years (0.13/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Wild Fire | 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. |
| Landslide | 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 Cook 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 by county and others by forecast zone, and names both. Records are counted as Cook County 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 Illinois yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: CENTRAL COOK COUNTY, COOK, NORTHERN COOK COUNTY, SOUTHERN COOK COUNTY. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 0% of Illinois'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.