St. Joseph 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 338 records.
- The costliest single record is Flash Flood in 2016: $5.1M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Winter Weather in 2008, with 4 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 17 disasters that named this county, most often for severe storm.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1982, with 37 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 17 disasters that named St. Joseph County between 1965 and 2026.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Storm | 5 | 2009 |
| Snowstorm | 4 | 2007 |
| Flood | 3 | 2026 |
| 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
- 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
- EM-3238 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
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 | 338 | 0 | 5 | $2.0M |
| Hail | 130 | 0 | 0 | $1.0M |
| Winter Weather | 58 | 8 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 40 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lake-Effect Snow | 27 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Snow | 25 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 18 | 1 | 2 | $4.9M |
| High Wind | 14 | 0 | 0 | $61K |
| Flash Flood | 12 | 0 | 0 | $5.1M |
| Lightning | 12 | 0 | 5 | $2.5M |
| Flood | 11 | 1 | 0 | $1.6M |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 7 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Ice Storm | 5 | 0 | 0 | $25K |
| Blizzard | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 4 | 0 | 0 | $100K |
| Strong Wind | 3 | 1 | 0 | $18K |
| Dense Fog | 2 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 1 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 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.
Year by year
NOAA storm event records in St. Joseph County each year. The busiest year was 2021, with 50 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 20 | 0 | $0 |
| 1997 | 13 | 0 | $0 |
| 1998 | 19 | 0 | $750K |
| 1999 | 11 | 0 | $0 |
| 2000 | 19 | 0 | $115K |
| 2001 | 16 | 1 | $4.8M |
| 2002 | 8 | 0 | $0 |
| 2003 | 23 | 0 | $265K |
| 2004 | 24 | 0 | $25K |
| 2005 | 9 | 0 | $360K |
| 2006 | 10 | 0 | $930K |
| 2007 | 16 | 0 | $198K |
| 2008 | 26 | 6 | $2.6M |
| 2009 | 10 | 0 | $70K |
| 2010 | 25 | 1 | $0 |
| 2011 | 21 | 1 | $25K |
| 2012 | 20 | 0 | $15K |
| 2013 | 33 | 0 | $0 |
| 2014 | 32 | 0 | $0 |
| 2015 | 23 | 0 | $0 |
| 2016 | 26 | 3 | $5.1M |
| 2017 | 21 | 0 | $0 |
| 2018 | 18 | 0 | $1.1M |
| 2019 | 42 | 1 | $0 |
| 2020 | 14 | 0 | $0 |
| 2021 | 50 | 0 | $55K |
| 2022 | 29 | 0 | $58K |
| 2023 | 43 | 0 | $126K |
| 2024 | 48 | 0 | $447K |
| 2025 | 24 | 0 | $272K |
| 2026 | 20 | 0 | $58K |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flash Flood · Aug 15, 2016$5.1MNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · NOAA record 658591
- Tornado · Oct 24, 2001$3.0MNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · 1 death · 2 injuries · NOAA record 5270577
- Tornado · Oct 24, 2001$1.3MNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · NOAA record 5270586
- Flood · Feb 20, 2018$1.1MNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · NOAA record 742450
- Hail · Jun 15, 2008$1.0MNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · NOAA record 107336
Deadliest records
- Winter Weather · Dec 21, 20084 deathsNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · NOAA record 139184
- Winter Weather · Dec 16, 20082 deathsNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · NOAA record 140585
- Tornado · Oct 24, 20011 deathNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · $3.0M damage · 2 injuries · NOAA record 5270577
- Strong Wind · Oct 27, 20101 deathNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · NOAA record 265090
- Excessive Heat · Jul 21, 20111 deathNOAA name: ST. JOSEPH · NOAA record 330670
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 $1.4M on 179 claims in St. Joseph County from 1979 to 2021.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 37 | $133K |
| 2018 | 28 | $555K |
| 2016 | 23 | $316K |
| 2008 | 23 | $90K |
| 1985 | 15 | $22K |
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 St. Joseph 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 | 480 NCEI events over 31 years (15.48/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 27 NCEI events over 31 years (0.87/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 159 NCEI events over 31 years (5.13/yr). 4 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 | 18 NCEI events over 31 years (0.58/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 | 17 NCEI events over 31 years (0.55/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 | 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 St. Joseph 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 St. Joseph 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: EASTERN ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, ST. JOSEPH, WESTERN ST. JOSEPH 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.