Berrien County, Michigan: 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 251 records.
- The costliest single record is Flood in 2018: $8.4M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Rip Current in 2020, with 3 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 12 disasters that named this county, most often for flood.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2018, with 54 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 12 disasters that named Berrien County between 1972 and 2020.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | 5 | 1982 |
| Snowstorm | 3 | 2000 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
| Severe Storm | 1 | 2004 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4494 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3455 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- EM-3225 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
- DR-1527 2004 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
- EM-3160 2000 · Snowstorm · Snow
- EM-3137 1999 · Snowstorm · Mi - Severe Weather 1/2 /99
- DR-654 1982 · Flood · Flooding
- DR-631 1980 · Flood · Severe Storms & Flooding
- EM-3057 1978 · Snowstorm · Blizzards & Snowstorms
- DR-465 1975 · Flood · Severe Storms, High Winds & Flooding
Not counted above: 4 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Michigan. 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 | 251 | 1 | 9 | $1.1M |
| Hail | 74 | 0 | 0 | $15K |
| Winter Storm | 61 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lake-Effect Snow | 47 | 0 | 0 | $20K |
| Winter Weather | 33 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Snow | 30 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Rip Current | 19 | 18 | 27 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 18 | 0 | 0 | $7.4M |
| High Wind | 17 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Flood | 15 | 0 | 0 | $9.2M |
| Tornado | 8 | 0 | 0 | $2.1M |
| Blizzard | 5 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Ice Storm | 5 | 0 | 0 | $30K |
| Lakeshore Flood | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 3 | 0 | 1 | $840K |
| Strong Wind | 3 | 0 | 0 | $12K |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Seiche | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Frost/Freeze | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| High Surf | 1 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Waterspout | 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 Berrien County each year. The busiest year was 2021, with 36 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 18 | 0 | $5.5M |
| 1997 | 28 | 0 | $428K |
| 1998 | 17 | 0 | $1.1M |
| 1999 | 8 | 0 | $40K |
| 2000 | 15 | 0 | $0 |
| 2001 | 14 | 2 | $1.6M |
| 2002 | 8 | 0 | $0 |
| 2003 | 17 | 0 | $8K |
| 2004 | 28 | 1 | $137K |
| 2005 | 13 | 1 | $150K |
| 2006 | 13 | 1 | $25K |
| 2007 | 22 | 0 | $120K |
| 2008 | 21 | 1 | $1.3M |
| 2009 | 10 | 1 | $0 |
| 2010 | 35 | 3 | $280K |
| 2011 | 30 | 5 | $15K |
| 2012 | 22 | 3 | $0 |
| 2013 | 17 | 1 | $0 |
| 2014 | 20 | 0 | $0 |
| 2015 | 16 | 0 | $0 |
| 2016 | 11 | 0 | $0 |
| 2017 | 18 | 0 | $0 |
| 2018 | 9 | 0 | $8.4M |
| 2019 | 16 | 0 | $0 |
| 2020 | 24 | 3 | $0 |
| 2021 | 36 | 0 | $1.3M |
| 2022 | 35 | 0 | $77K |
| 2023 | 13 | 0 | $32K |
| 2024 | 25 | 0 | $121K |
| 2025 | 25 | 0 | $87K |
| 2026 | 21 | 0 | $14K |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flood · Feb 20, 2018$8.4MNOAA name: BERRIEN · NOAA record 741201
- Flash Flood · May 9, 1996$5.4MNOAA name: BERRIEN · NOAA record 5555341
- Flash Flood · Aug 10, 2021$1.3MNOAA name: BERRIEN · NOAA record 981108
- Tornado · Aug 25, 1998$1.1MNOAA name: BERRIEN · NOAA record 5662065
- Lightning · Jun 12, 2001$800KNOAA name: BERRIEN · NOAA record 5249576
Deadliest records
- Rip Current · Jul 30, 20203 deathsNOAA name: BERRIEN · 5 injuries · NOAA record 897946
- Rip Current · Jul 1, 20011 deathNOAA name: BERRIEN · NOAA record 5253211
- Rip Current · Aug 17, 20011 deathNOAA name: BERRIEN · NOAA record 5264209
- Thunderstorm Wind · May 21, 20041 deathNOAA name: BERRIEN · $10K damage · NOAA record 5399156
- Rip Current · Aug 27, 20051 deathNOAA name: BERRIEN · NOAA record 5469540
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 315 claims in Berrien County from 1978 to 2023.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 54 | $2.0M |
| 1985 | 49 | $406K |
| 1982 | 37 | $128K |
| 1979 | 31 | $117K |
| 2008 | 17 | $229K |
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 Berrien 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 | 328 NCEI events over 31 years (10.58/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 39 NCEI events over 31 years (1.26/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 181 NCEI events over 31 years (5.84/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 | 8 NCEI events over 31 years (0.26/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 2 | 6 NCEI events over 31 years (0.19/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 2 | 20 NCEI events over 31 years (0.65/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 | 2 NCEI events over 31 years (0.06/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 Berrien 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 Berrien 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 Michigan yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: BERRIEN, NORTHERN BERRIEN COUNTY, SOUTHERN BERRIEN COUNTY. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 0% of Michigan's NOAA records.
- Counts last rebuilt from the source records on Sep 15, 2026.
Related
Responsible for Berrien County?
This page is the record of what has happened. Calchis also watches live NWS, USGS and NHC feeds against the places you name and alerts you when an event approaches them.
Free includes Live map + 3 triggers + 10 bond positions. Analyst is $149/mo for 1,000-location portfolios, ep curves, predictions, parametric triggers.
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.