LaPorte County, Indiana: 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 230 records.
- The costliest single record is Thunderstorm Wind in 2006: $1.5M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Winter Weather in 2017, with 3 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 19 disasters that named this county, most often for severe storm.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1993, with 22 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 19 disasters that named LaPorte County between 1965 and 2026.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Storm | 6 | 2009 |
| Flood | 5 | 2026 |
| Snowstorm | 3 | 2007 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
| Tornado | 1 | 1965 |
| Winter Storm | 1 | 2026 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3651 2026 · Flood · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding
- DR-4933 2026 · Flood · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding
- EM-3641 2026 · Winter Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- EM-3456 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4515 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- DR-4363 2018 · Flood · Severe Storms And Flooding
- DR-1832 2009 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
- DR-1795 2008 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
- DR-1740 2008 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
- EM-3274 2007 · Snowstorm · Snow
Not counted above: 4 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Indiana. 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 | 230 | 1 | 2 | $3.4M |
| Hail | 73 | 0 | 0 | $134K |
| Winter Weather | 48 | 5 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 39 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| Lake-Effect Snow | 31 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Snow | 22 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| High Wind | 17 | 0 | 1 | $7K |
| Tornado | 15 | 1 | 1 | $1.6M |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 8 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 7 | 0 | 0 | $450K |
| Lightning | 6 | 0 | 8 | $20K |
| Ice Storm | 5 | 0 | 0 | $30K |
| Blizzard | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flood | 4 | 0 | 0 | $1.0M |
| Rip Current | 3 | 3 | 4 | $0 |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 2 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| Dense Fog | 2 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| Funnel Cloud | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lakeshore Flood | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Seiche | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 1 | 0 | 0 | $10K |
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 LaPorte County each year. The busiest year was 2024, with 36 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 9 | 0 | $0 |
| 1997 | 9 | 0 | $0 |
| 1998 | 16 | 0 | $360K |
| 1999 | 13 | 0 | $13K |
| 2000 | 12 | 0 | $25K |
| 2001 | 19 | 2 | $782K |
| 2002 | 9 | 0 | $5K |
| 2003 | 12 | 0 | $0 |
| 2004 | 21 | 1 | $4K |
| 2005 | 10 | 0 | $10K |
| 2006 | 12 | 0 | $1.6M |
| 2007 | 24 | 1 | $300K |
| 2008 | 23 | 4 | $710K |
| 2009 | 13 | 0 | $250K |
| 2010 | 22 | 2 | $1.3M |
| 2011 | 20 | 0 | $15K |
| 2012 | 21 | 1 | $0 |
| 2013 | 24 | 1 | $0 |
| 2014 | 26 | 0 | $0 |
| 2015 | 18 | 2 | $0 |
| 2016 | 15 | 0 | $75K |
| 2017 | 11 | 4 | $0 |
| 2018 | 11 | 1 | $500K |
| 2019 | 18 | 0 | $0 |
| 2020 | 11 | 0 | $0 |
| 2021 | 11 | 0 | $0 |
| 2022 | 20 | 0 | $31K |
| 2023 | 16 | 0 | $14K |
| 2024 | 36 | 0 | $463K |
| 2025 | 24 | 0 | $176K |
| 2026 | 15 | 0 | $67K |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Thunderstorm Wind · Aug 23, 2006$1.5MNOAA name: LA PORTE · NOAA record 5529061
- Tornado · Oct 24, 2001$750KNOAA name: LA PORTE · 1 death · NOAA record 5271991
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jun 23, 2010$750KNOAA name: LA PORTE · NOAA record 235364
- Flood · Sep 13, 2008$500KNOAA name: LA PORTE · NOAA record 136591
- Tornado · Oct 26, 2010$500KNOAA name: LA PORTE · NOAA record 261331
Deadliest records
- Winter Weather · Mar 17, 20173 deathsNOAA name: LA PORTE · NOAA record 675656
- Cold/Wind Chill · Jan 19, 20082 deathsNOAA name: LA PORTE · NOAA record 73357
- Rip Current · Aug 22, 20102 deathsNOAA name: LA PORTE · 2 injuries · NOAA record 246838
- Tornado · Oct 24, 20011 deathNOAA name: LA PORTE · $750K damage · NOAA record 5271991
- Dense Fog · Nov 16, 20011 deathNOAA name: LA PORTE · NOAA record 5272204
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 $885K on 147 claims in LaPorte County from 1978 to 2020.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 22 | $236K |
| 2008 | 13 | $97K |
| 1983 | 13 | $71K |
| 1982 | 10 | $129K |
| 2018 | 9 | $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 LaPorte 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 | 309 NCEI events over 31 years (9.97/yr). 6 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 13 NCEI events over 31 years (0.42/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 149 NCEI events over 31 years (4.81/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming 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. |
| Tornado | 2 | 15 NCEI events over 31 years (0.48/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 2 | 10 NCEI events over 31 years (0.32/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 2 | 18 NCEI events over 31 years (0.58/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 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 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. |
| 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. |
| Tidal Wave / Tsunami | 1 | 1 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/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 LaPorte 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 LaPorte 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 Indiana yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: LA PORTE, NORTHERN LA PORTE COUNTY, SOUTHERN LA PORTE COUNTY. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 0% of Indiana'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.