Pawnee County, Oklahoma: 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 193 records.
- The costliest single record is Ice Storm in 2007: $20.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Heat in 2001, with 1 death.
- FEMA has declared 36 disasters that named this county, most often for severe ice storm.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1986, with 5 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 36 disasters that named Pawnee County between 1974 and 2025.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Ice Storm | 10 | 2021 |
| Severe Storm | 9 | 2023 |
| Fire | 8 | 2025 |
| Flood | 4 | 2019 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Tornado | 2 | 1991 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
Most recent declarations
- FM-5572 2025 · Fire · 328 Fire
- FM-5568 2025 · Fire · Barn Fire
- FM-5567 2025 · Fire · Keystone Fire
- DR-4866 2025 · Fire · Wildfires And Straight-line Winds
- DR-4721 2023 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes
- DR-4587 2021 · Severe Ice Storm · Severe Winter Storms
- EM-3555 2021 · Severe Ice Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- DR-4575 2020 · Severe Ice Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- DR-4530 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3462 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
Not counted above: 40 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Oklahoma. 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 | 193 | 0 | 0 | $385K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 182 | 1 | 2 | $1.8M |
| Drought | 89 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 51 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 35 | 0 | 0 | $768K |
| Winter Storm | 25 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Snow | 12 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flood | 10 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Ice Storm | 10 | 0 | 0 | $20.2M |
| Tornado | 10 | 0 | 0 | $930K |
| Wildfire | 8 | 1 | 1 | $10.2M |
| High Wind | 6 | 0 | 0 | $25K |
| Heat | 5 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Blizzard | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Funnel Cloud | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Weather | 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 Pawnee County each year. The busiest year was 2008, with 43 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 27 | 0 | $200 |
| 1997 | 32 | 0 | $21K |
| 1998 | 38 | 0 | $1.9M |
| 1999 | 33 | 0 | $48K |
| 2000 | 20 | 0 | $100K |
| 2001 | 18 | 1 | $4K |
| 2002 | 18 | 0 | $200K |
| 2003 | 22 | 0 | $16K |
| 2004 | 15 | 0 | $78K |
| 2005 | 14 | 0 | $3K |
| 2006 | 27 | 0 | $1K |
| 2007 | 16 | 0 | $20.4M |
| 2008 | 43 | 0 | $240K |
| 2009 | 28 | 0 | $114K |
| 2010 | 15 | 0 | $55K |
| 2011 | 27 | 0 | $34K |
| 2012 | 19 | 0 | $7K |
| 2013 | 18 | 0 | $0 |
| 2014 | 18 | 0 | $15K |
| 2015 | 20 | 0 | $355K |
| 2016 | 13 | 0 | $210K |
| 2017 | 16 | 0 | $45K |
| 2018 | 17 | 0 | $2K |
| 2019 | 20 | 0 | $27K |
| 2020 | 10 | 0 | $15K |
| 2021 | 10 | 0 | $35K |
| 2022 | 22 | 0 | $3K |
| 2023 | 21 | 0 | $85K |
| 2024 | 19 | 1 | $140K |
| 2025 | 14 | 1 | $10.2M |
| 2026 | 9 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Ice Storm · Dec 8, 2007$20.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 63387
- Wildfire · Mar 13, 2025$10.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · 1 death · NOAA record 1245212
- Thunderstorm Wind · Oct 4, 1998$1.1MNOAA name: Pawnee County · NOAA record 5667714
- Tornado · Oct 4, 1998$800KNOAA name: Pawnee County · NOAA record 5667639
- Flash Flood · May 7, 2007$350KNOAA name: Pawnee County · NOAA record 37049
Deadliest records
- Heat · Jul 16, 20011 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5260595
- Thunderstorm Wind · Sep 19, 20241 deathNOAA name: Pawnee County · $100K damage · 2 injuries · NOAA record 1207399
- Wildfire · Mar 13, 20251 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $10.0M damage · NOAA record 1245212
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 $24K on 6 claims in Pawnee County from 1986 to 2019.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | 5 | $15K |
| 2019 | 1 | $9K |
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 Pawnee 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 | 375 NCEI events over 31 years (12.10/yr). 9 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 45 NCEI events over 31 years (1.45/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 49 NCEI events over 31 years (1.58/yr). 10 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 56 NCEI events over 31 years (1.81/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 3 | 89 NCEI events over 31 years (2.87/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 3 | 8 NCEI events over 31 years (0.26/yr). 8 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 | 10 NCEI events over 31 years (0.32/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 2 | 6 NCEI events over 31 years (0.19/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming 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 Pawnee 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 Pawnee 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 639 records, 426 were filed against this county and 213 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: 1% of Oklahoma'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.