Cumberland County, Maine: 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 262 records.
- The costliest single record is Ice Storm in 1998: $25.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Lightning in 2008, with 2 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 39 disasters that named this county, most often for severe storm.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2024, with 85 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 39 disasters that named Cumberland County between 1970 and 2024.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Storm | 12 | 2024 |
| Flood | 8 | 1996 |
| Snowstorm | 8 | 2015 |
| Hurricane | 4 | 2023 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Fishing Losses | 2 | 1980 |
| Coastal Storm | 1 | 1991 |
| Freezing | 1 | 2002 |
| Winter Storm | 1 | 2024 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4785 2024 · Winter Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- DR-4764 2024 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
- EM-3598 2023 · Hurricane · Hurricane Lee
- DR-4522 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3444 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4354 2017 · Severe Storm · Severe Storm And Flooding
- DR-4208 2015 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, And Flooding
- DR-4108 2013 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, And Flooding
- DR-1891 2010 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- EM-3298 2008 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm
Not counted above: 4 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Maine. 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 | 262 | 1 | 2 | $943K |
| Heavy Snow | 237 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Hail | 114 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 94 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 74 | 1 | 1 | $1.6M |
| Flood | 65 | 0 | 0 | $11.1M |
| Coastal Flood | 62 | 0 | 1 | $39.2M |
| High Wind | 61 | 2 | 1 | $307K |
| Drought | 54 | 0 | 0 | $20K |
| Winter Weather | 52 | 0 | 0 | $153K |
| Lightning | 42 | 2 | 13 | $1.8M |
| Flash Flood | 33 | 1 | 0 | $18.6M |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 28 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 16 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Storm Surge/Tide | 16 | 0 | 0 | $377K |
| Blizzard | 13 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 8 | 0 | 1 | $3K |
| Ice Storm | 6 | 0 | 0 | $53.2M |
| Tropical Storm | 5 | 0 | 0 | $40K |
| Heat | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| High Surf | 4 | 0 | 1 | $75K |
| Frost/Freeze | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Funnel Cloud | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Astronomical Low Tide | 1 | 0 | 0 | $5K |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | 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. 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 Cumberland County each year. The busiest year was 2008, with 78 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 37 | 1 | $16.4M |
| 1997 | 24 | 0 | $338K |
| 1998 | 59 | 0 | $51.3M |
| 1999 | 63 | 0 | $375K |
| 2000 | 63 | 0 | $1.2M |
| 2001 | 70 | 0 | $175K |
| 2002 | 42 | 1 | $160K |
| 2003 | 26 | 0 | $51K |
| 2004 | 25 | 0 | $88K |
| 2005 | 46 | 0 | $1.2M |
| 2006 | 45 | 0 | $814K |
| 2007 | 44 | 0 | $15.6M |
| 2008 | 78 | 2 | $4.0M |
| 2009 | 31 | 0 | $258K |
| 2010 | 41 | 0 | $487K |
| 2011 | 48 | 0 | $13K |
| 2012 | 31 | 0 | $25K |
| 2013 | 35 | 0 | $164K |
| 2014 | 38 | 0 | $1.4M |
| 2015 | 41 | 0 | $88K |
| 2016 | 52 | 0 | $55K |
| 2017 | 37 | 0 | $85K |
| 2018 | 51 | 0 | $1.2M |
| 2019 | 16 | 0 | $60K |
| 2020 | 46 | 0 | $67K |
| 2021 | 14 | 0 | $145K |
| 2022 | 40 | 1 | $10.4M |
| 2023 | 34 | 2 | $554K |
| 2024 | 39 | 0 | $20.5M |
| 2025 | 29 | 0 | $84K |
| 2026 | 19 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Ice Storm · Jan 5, 1998$25.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5639234
- Ice Storm · Jan 5, 1998$22.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5639230
- Coastal Flood · Jan 13, 2024$20.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1158389
- Flash Flood · Oct 21, 1996$15.0MNOAA name: Cumberland County · 1 death · NOAA record 5583837
- Coastal Flood · Dec 23, 2022$10.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1069638
Deadliest records
- Lightning · Jul 18, 20082 deathsNOAA name: Cumberland County · NOAA record 128962
- Flash Flood · Oct 21, 19961 deathNOAA name: Cumberland County · $15.0M damage · NOAA record 5583837
- Strong Wind · Sep 11, 20021 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5321045
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jul 21, 20221 deathNOAA name: Cumberland County · $300K damage · NOAA record 1048613
- High Wind · Dec 18, 20231 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1146589
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 $5.6M on 501 claims in Cumberland County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 85 | $2.2M |
| 2007 | 68 | $1.2M |
| 1978 | 50 | $178K |
| 1996 | 48 | $834K |
| 1991 | 43 | $421K |
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 Cumberland 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 | 22 NCEI events over 31 years (0.71/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 418 NCEI events over 31 years (13.48/yr). 12 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 164 NCEI events over 31 years (5.29/yr). 8 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 402 NCEI events over 31 years (12.97/yr). 8 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 53 NCEI events over 31 years (1.71/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Drought | 3 | 54 NCEI events over 31 years (1.74/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 135 NCEI events over 31 years (4.35/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Tornado | 2 | 8 NCEI events over 31 years (0.26/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 Cumberland 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 Cumberland 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 1,264 records, 506 were filed against this county and 758 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.
- 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.