Grand Forks County, North Dakota: 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 Hail, with 355 records.
- The costliest single record is Flood in 1997: $3.0B in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Flash Flood in 2000, with 2 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 38 disasters that named this county, most often for flood.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1997, with 2,285 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 38 disasters that named Grand Forks County between 1965 and 2025.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | 23 | 2023 |
| Severe Storm | 12 | 2025 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Coastal Storm | 1 | 2005 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4895 2025 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes
- DR-4717 2023 · Flood · Flooding
- DR-4660 2022 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm And Flooding
- DR-4565 2020 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
- DR-4553 2020 · Flood · Flooding
- DR-4509 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3477 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4475 2019 · Flood · Flooding
- DR-4444 2019 · Flood · Flooding
- EM-3364 2013 · Flood · Flooding
Not counted above: 11 statewide declarations, which covered every county in North Dakota. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 355 | 0 | 1 | $20.0M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 328 | 0 | 13 | $18.4M |
| Blizzard | 89 | 0 | 0 | $6.0M |
| Tornado | 75 | 1 | 18 | $50.0M |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 56 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 54 | 2 | 0 | $18.1M |
| Winter Storm | 49 | 0 | 0 | $2K |
| Heavy Snow | 46 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| High Wind | 43 | 0 | 0 | $955K |
| Funnel Cloud | 42 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flood | 26 | 1 | 0 | $3.0B |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 20 | 0 | 0 | $50K |
| Drought | 8 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Frost/Freeze | 8 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 8 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Ice Storm | 8 | 0 | 0 | $6.0M |
| Lightning | 7 | 0 | 1 | $110K |
| Winter Weather | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Wildfire | 1 | 0 | 0 | $250K |
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 Grand Forks County each year. The busiest year was 2022, with 68 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 38 | 0 | $10.1M |
| 1997 | 34 | 0 | $3.0B |
| 1998 | 10 | 0 | $250K |
| 1999 | 23 | 0 | $183K |
| 2000 | 46 | 2 | $17.0M |
| 2001 | 61 | 0 | $31.5M |
| 2002 | 36 | 0 | $1.0M |
| 2003 | 28 | 0 | $55K |
| 2004 | 57 | 0 | $1.2M |
| 2005 | 56 | 0 | $30K |
| 2006 | 31 | 1 | $887K |
| 2007 | 36 | 1 | $50.0M |
| 2008 | 22 | 0 | $25K |
| 2009 | 37 | 0 | $35K |
| 2010 | 39 | 0 | $5K |
| 2011 | 32 | 0 | $0 |
| 2012 | 37 | 0 | $95K |
| 2013 | 24 | 0 | $15K |
| 2014 | 40 | 0 | $60K |
| 2015 | 44 | 0 | $0 |
| 2016 | 64 | 0 | $7K |
| 2017 | 43 | 0 | $814K |
| 2018 | 61 | 0 | $20K |
| 2019 | 43 | 0 | $300K |
| 2020 | 67 | 0 | $580K |
| 2021 | 37 | 0 | $166K |
| 2022 | 68 | 0 | $50K |
| 2023 | 31 | 0 | $1.0M |
| 2024 | 23 | 0 | $2K |
| 2025 | 53 | 0 | $0 |
| 2026 | 10 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flood · Apr 18, 1997$3.0BNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5591885
- Tornado · Aug 26, 2007$50.0MNOAA name: Grand Forks County · 1 death · 18 injuries · NOAA record 48727
- Thunderstorm Wind · Aug 8, 2001$18.0MNOAA name: Grand Forks County · 12 injuries · NOAA record 5264396
- Hail · Jul 21, 1996$10.0MNOAA name: Grand Forks County · NOAA record 5578128
- Hail · May 15, 2001$10.0MNOAA name: Grand Forks County · 1 injury · NOAA record 5250363
Deadliest records
- Flash Flood · Jun 12, 20002 deathsNOAA name: Grand Forks County · $4.0M damage · NOAA record 5147444
- Flood · Apr 1, 20061 deathNOAA name: Grand Forks County · $887K damage · NOAA record 5502719
- Tornado · Aug 26, 20071 deathNOAA name: Grand Forks County · $50.0M damage · 18 injuries · NOAA record 48727
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 $76.0M on 3,094 claims in Grand Forks County from 1978 to 2022.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 2,285 | $71.3M |
| 1979 | 289 | $1.9M |
| 1989 | 84 | $81K |
| 2019 | 71 | $279K |
| 2001 | 66 | $237K |
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 Grand Forks 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado | 3 | 75 NCEI events over 31 years (2.42/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 690 NCEI events over 31 years (22.26/yr). 12 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 88 NCEI events over 31 years (2.84/yr). 23 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 195 NCEI events over 31 years (6.29/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 87 NCEI events over 31 years (2.81/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 45 NCEI events over 31 years (1.45/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 | 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 | 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 | 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 Grand Forks 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 Grand Forks 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 1,231 records, 886 were filed against this county and 345 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: 3% of North Dakota'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.
Related
Responsible for Grand Forks 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.