Montgomery County, Maryland: 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 804 records.
- The costliest single record is Flood in 1996: $20.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Heat in 1997, with 2 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 21 disasters that named this county, most often for hurricane.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1996, with 104 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 21 disasters that named Montgomery County between 1971 and 2026.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | 5 | 2012 |
| Severe Storm | 5 | 2012 |
| Snowstorm | 5 | 2016 |
| Flood | 3 | 1975 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Winter Storm | 1 | 2026 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3634 2026 · Winter Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- EM-3430 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4491 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- DR-4261 2016 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
- DR-4091 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
- EM-3349 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
- DR-4075 2012 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds
- EM-3335 2011 · Hurricane · Hurricane Irene
- DR-1910 2010 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorms
- DR-1875 2009 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
Not counted above: 1 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Maryland. 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 | 804 | 5 | 6 | $28.8M |
| Flash Flood | 242 | 3 | 4 | $3.4M |
| Flood | 202 | 0 | 1 | $20.3M |
| Hail | 156 | 0 | 0 | $111K |
| Winter Weather | 145 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dense Fog | 64 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 55 | 2 | 0 | $5K |
| Heat | 42 | 7 | 36 | $0 |
| Lightning | 42 | 1 | 4 | $9.3M |
| Frost/Freeze | 38 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 29 | 1 | 2 | $23K |
| Strong Wind | 23 | 0 | 1 | $171K |
| High Wind | 21 | 0 | 0 | $5.5M |
| Tornado | 20 | 0 | 5 | $8.5M |
| Drought | 13 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 9 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 8 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Snow | 6 | 0 | 0 | $30K |
| Excessive Heat | 5 | 0 | 2 | $0 |
| Funnel Cloud | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Ice Storm | 4 | 0 | 0 | $2.9M |
| Blizzard | 3 | 0 | 0 | $10K |
| Tropical Storm | 2 | 0 | 0 | $300K |
| Dust Devil | 1 | 0 | 0 | $5K |
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 Montgomery County each year. The busiest year was 2019, with 146 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 37 | 0 | $21.1M |
| 1997 | 24 | 3 | $1.3M |
| 1998 | 24 | 0 | $345K |
| 1999 | 30 | 0 | $3.0M |
| 2000 | 59 | 0 | $603K |
| 2001 | 43 | 0 | $2.8M |
| 2002 | 46 | 4 | $546K |
| 2003 | 65 | 2 | $2.9M |
| 2004 | 32 | 0 | $2.0M |
| 2005 | 31 | 1 | $510K |
| 2006 | 38 | 0 | $8.0M |
| 2007 | 44 | 1 | $37K |
| 2008 | 63 | 0 | $872K |
| 2009 | 31 | 2 | $0 |
| 2010 | 84 | 2 | $297K |
| 2011 | 55 | 0 | $320K |
| 2012 | 63 | 0 | $3.8M |
| 2013 | 54 | 0 | $8K |
| 2014 | 90 | 0 | $28K |
| 2015 | 64 | 3 | $43K |
| 2016 | 92 | 0 | $125K |
| 2017 | 110 | 0 | $6K |
| 2018 | 89 | 0 | $100 |
| 2019 | 146 | 1 | $1.5M |
| 2020 | 118 | 0 | $1.8M |
| 2021 | 113 | 1 | $4.8M |
| 2022 | 81 | 0 | $1.6M |
| 2023 | 56 | 0 | $12.9M |
| 2024 | 42 | 0 | $6.7M |
| 2025 | 88 | 0 | $1.4M |
| 2026 | 26 | 0 | $85K |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flood · Jan 19, 1996$20.0MNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · NOAA record 5541353
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jul 29, 2023$10.0MNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · NOAA record 1108179
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jul 2, 2006$5.0MNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · NOAA record 5519697
- Tornado · Jun 5, 2024$5.0MNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · 5 injuries · NOAA record 1174096
- High Wind · Oct 29, 2012$3.7MNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · NOAA record 417702
Deadliest records
- Heat · Jul 13, 19972 deathsNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · 25 injuries · NOAA record 5611120
- Heat · Jul 2, 20022 deathsNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · NOAA record 5308352
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jun 26, 20092 deathsNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · NOAA record 181373
- Flash Flood · Jun 27, 20152 deathsNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · $10K damage · NOAA record 583774
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jun 18, 19971 deathNOAA name: MONTGOMERY · $300K damage · NOAA record 5604776
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 $4.2M on 751 claims in Montgomery County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 104 | $732K |
| 2014 | 55 | $251K |
| 1979 | 51 | $74K |
| 2020 | 43 | $176K |
| 2006 | 43 | $535K |
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 Montgomery 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 3 | 2 NCEI events over 31 years (0.06/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 1,002 NCEI events over 31 years (32.32/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 473 NCEI events over 31 years (15.26/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 213 NCEI events over 31 years (6.87/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 102 NCEI events over 31 years (3.29/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 44 NCEI events over 31 years (1.42/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Tornado | 2 | 20 NCEI events over 31 years (0.65/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 2 | 13 NCEI events over 31 years (0.42/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming 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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery 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 Maryland yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: MONTGOMERY, NORTHWEST MONTGOMERY. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 4% of Maryland'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.