Houghton 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 Winter Weather, with 277 records.
- The costliest single record is Flash Flood in 2018: $100.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Winter Weather in 2017, with 1 death.
- FEMA has declared 9 disasters that named this county, most often for flood.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2018, with 4 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 9 disasters that named Houghton County between 1977 and 2020.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | 3 | 2018 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Drought | 1 | 1977 |
| Freezing | 1 | 1994 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
| Snowstorm | 1 | 1978 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4494 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3455 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4381 2018 · Flood · Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-4121 2013 · Flood · Flooding
- EM-3225 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
- DR-1413 2002 · Flood · Flooding
- DR-1028 1994 · Freezing · Severe Deep Freeze
- EM-3057 1978 · Snowstorm · Blizzards & Snowstorms
- EM-3035 1977 · Drought · Drought
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | 277 | 2 | 0 | $99K |
| Winter Storm | 175 | 1 | 0 | $81K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 98 | 0 | 0 | $395K |
| Hail | 66 | 0 | 0 | $10K |
| High Wind | 63 | 0 | 0 | $156K |
| Heavy Snow | 51 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lake-Effect Snow | 47 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 38 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Blizzard | 35 | 0 | 0 | $35K |
| Flood | 19 | 0 | 0 | $21.4M |
| Heavy Rain | 18 | 0 | 0 | $2K |
| Frost/Freeze | 16 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 12 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dense Fog | 10 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 9 | 1 | 0 | $106.8M |
| Heat | 8 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Ice Storm | 7 | 0 | 0 | $20K |
| Strong Wind | 7 | 0 | 0 | $15K |
| Excessive Heat | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 2 | 0 | 0 | $25K |
| Funnel Cloud | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lakeshore Flood | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Rip Current | 1 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Seiche | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Sleet | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Wildfire | 1 | 0 | 0 | $200K |
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 Houghton County each year. The busiest year was 2013, with 59 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 17 | 0 | $25K |
| 1997 | 11 | 0 | $1K |
| 1998 | 6 | 0 | $25K |
| 1999 | 10 | 0 | $0 |
| 2000 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
| 2001 | 12 | 0 | $0 |
| 2002 | 33 | 0 | $0 |
| 2003 | 14 | 0 | $0 |
| 2004 | 19 | 0 | $0 |
| 2005 | 24 | 0 | $0 |
| 2006 | 45 | 0 | $20K |
| 2007 | 35 | 0 | $30K |
| 2008 | 41 | 0 | $0 |
| 2009 | 35 | 0 | $3K |
| 2010 | 17 | 0 | $9K |
| 2011 | 51 | 0 | $102K |
| 2012 | 39 | 0 | $10K |
| 2013 | 59 | 0 | $2.9M |
| 2014 | 51 | 0 | $0 |
| 2015 | 32 | 0 | $3K |
| 2016 | 39 | 0 | $136K |
| 2017 | 37 | 1 | $91K |
| 2018 | 44 | 2 | $101.1M |
| 2019 | 46 | 0 | $53K |
| 2020 | 42 | 2 | $122K |
| 2021 | 36 | 0 | $69K |
| 2022 | 43 | 0 | $226K |
| 2023 | 30 | 0 | $18.5M |
| 2024 | 31 | 0 | $58K |
| 2025 | 36 | 0 | $5.7M |
| 2026 | 25 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flash Flood · Jun 17, 2018$100.0MNOAA name: Houghton County · 1 death · NOAA record 759145
- Flood · Apr 12, 2023$18.0MNOAA name: Houghton County · NOAA record 1093599
- Flash Flood · Jul 23, 2025$5.5MNOAA name: Houghton County · NOAA record 1287885
- Flood · Apr 28, 2013$2.9MNOAA name: Houghton County · NOAA record 445529
- Flash Flood · Jul 21, 2018$1.0MNOAA name: Houghton County · NOAA record 775709
Deadliest records
- Winter Weather · Jan 9, 20171 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 682566
- Flash Flood · Jun 17, 20181 deathNOAA name: Houghton County · $100.0M damage · NOAA record 759145
- Winter Storm · Nov 9, 20181 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $20K damage · NOAA record 788886
- Rip Current · Aug 11, 20201 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 915468
- Winter Weather · Nov 29, 20201 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $10K damage · NOAA record 924641
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 $117K on 6 claims in Houghton County from 2014 to 2018.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 4 | $96K |
| 2014 | 2 | $21K |
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 Houghton 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 | 166 NCEI events over 31 years (5.35/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 47 NCEI events over 31 years (1.52/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 593 NCEI events over 31 years (19.13/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 77 NCEI events over 31 years (2.48/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 70 NCEI events over 31 years (2.26/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named 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. |
| Drought | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Tornado | 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 | 1 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/yr). 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 Houghton 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 Houghton 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 967 records, 209 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. Left out: 2% of Michigan's NOAA records, which are marine zones or zones NWS does not map to a county.
- 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.