Seminole 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 173 records.
- The costliest single record is Ice Storm in 2000: $2.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Heat in 1998, with 1 death.
- FEMA has declared 33 disasters that named this county, most often for severe storm.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2015, with 11 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 33 disasters that named Seminole County between 1970 and 2024.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Storm | 14 | 2022 |
| Severe Ice Storm | 8 | 2021 |
| Flood | 3 | 2008 |
| Tornado | 3 | 2024 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Fire | 2 | 2005 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4776 2024 · Tornado · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding
- DR-4657 2022 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
- EM-3555 2021 · Severe Ice Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- DR-4587 2021 · Severe Ice Storm · Severe Winter Storms
- EM-3462 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4530 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- DR-4222 2015 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding
- DR-4117 2013 · Tornado · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
- EM-3316 2011 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- DR-1917 2010 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds
Not counted above: 41 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 | 173 | 0 | 0 | $10K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 82 | 0 | 0 | $1.2M |
| Drought | 75 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 58 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 26 | 0 | 26 | $933K |
| Excessive Heat | 24 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 21 | 2 | 0 | $355K |
| Heavy Snow | 12 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dense Fog | 10 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 10 | 0 | 0 | $80K |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 9 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Weather | 9 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Ice Storm | 8 | 0 | 0 | $2.0M |
| High Wind | 7 | 0 | 0 | $1K |
| Flood | 6 | 0 | 0 | $120K |
| Wildfire | 6 | 0 | 0 | $5K |
| Lightning | 5 | 0 | 0 | $219K |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 2 | 0 | 0 | $6K |
| Blizzard | 1 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Dust Storm | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Frost/Freeze | 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 Seminole County each year. The busiest year was 2023, with 62 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 28 | 0 | $30K |
| 1997 | 16 | 0 | $73K |
| 1998 | 24 | 1 | $348K |
| 1999 | 31 | 0 | $877K |
| 2000 | 21 | 0 | $2.0M |
| 2001 | 17 | 0 | $3K |
| 2002 | 12 | 0 | $38K |
| 2003 | 23 | 0 | $81K |
| 2004 | 20 | 0 | $10K |
| 2005 | 11 | 0 | $15K |
| 2006 | 20 | 0 | $500 |
| 2007 | 12 | 1 | $260K |
| 2008 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
| 2009 | 7 | 1 | $0 |
| 2010 | 5 | 0 | $0 |
| 2011 | 21 | 0 | $0 |
| 2012 | 8 | 0 | $150K |
| 2013 | 15 | 0 | $5K |
| 2014 | 6 | 0 | $0 |
| 2015 | 17 | 0 | $4K |
| 2016 | 8 | 0 | $5K |
| 2017 | 19 | 1 | $55K |
| 2018 | 5 | 0 | $0 |
| 2019 | 8 | 0 | $114K |
| 2020 | 5 | 0 | $1K |
| 2021 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
| 2022 | 20 | 0 | $580K |
| 2023 | 62 | 0 | $45K |
| 2024 | 38 | 0 | $30K |
| 2025 | 41 | 0 | $130K |
| 2026 | 14 | 0 | $30K |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Ice Storm · Dec 26, 2000$2.0MNOAA name: SEMINOLE · NOAA record 5177058
- Thunderstorm Wind · Aug 26, 1999$500KNOAA name: SEMINOLE · NOAA record 5714986
- Tornado · May 4, 2022$300KNOAA name: SEMINOLE · NOAA record 1030829
- Thunderstorm Wind · May 16, 1999$200KNOAA name: SEMINOLE · NOAA record 5705785
- Flash Flood · Apr 26, 1998$165KNOAA name: SEMINOLE · NOAA record 5660374
Deadliest records
- Heat · Jul 11, 19981 deathNOAA name: SEMINOLE · NOAA record 5672587
- Flash Flood · Aug 19, 20071 deathNOAA name: SEMINOLE · $50K damage · NOAA record 58267
- Blizzard · Dec 24, 20091 deathNOAA name: SEMINOLE · NOAA record 207677
- Flash Flood · May 19, 20171 deathNOAA name: SEMINOLE · $5K damage · NOAA record 698402
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 $1.1M on 43 claims in Seminole County from 1979 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 11 | $429K |
| 2024 | 6 | $567K |
| 2007 | 4 | $40K |
| 1996 | 4 | $12K |
| 1985 | 3 | $0 |
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 Seminole 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 | 26 NCEI events over 31 years (0.84/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 260 NCEI events over 31 years (8.39/yr). 14 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 27 NCEI events over 31 years (0.87/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 40 NCEI events over 31 years (1.29/yr). 8 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 3 | 94 NCEI events over 31 years (3.03/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 3 | 75 NCEI events over 31 years (2.42/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. |
| Wild Fire | 2 | 6 NCEI events over 31 years (0.19/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 2 | 9 NCEI events over 31 years (0.29/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 Seminole 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 Seminole 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 Oklahoma yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: SEMINOLE. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 0% of Oklahoma's NOAA records.
- 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.