Washington County, Rhode Island: 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 High Wind, with 93 records.
- The costliest single record is Flood in 2010: $24.8M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is High Surf in 2008, with 2 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 25 disasters that named this county, most often for hurricane.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2012, with 857 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 25 disasters that named Washington County between 1978 and 2024.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | 8 | 2021 |
| Snowstorm | 7 | 2022 |
| Severe Storm | 6 | 2024 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Fire | 1 | 2023 |
| Toxic Substances | 1 | 1992 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4766 2024 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
- DR-4765 2023 · Severe Storm · Severe Storm And Flooding
- FM-5464 2023 · Fire · Queens River Fire
- DR-4653 2022 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
- EM-3563 2021 · Hurricane · Hurricane Henri
- EM-3440 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4505 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- DR-4212 2015 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
- DR-4107 2013 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
- EM-3355 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
Not counted above: 3 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Rhode Island. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 93 | 0 | 1 | $550K |
| Strong Wind | 77 | 0 | 0 | $88K |
| Heavy Snow | 45 | 0 | 0 | $141K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 41 | 0 | 0 | $922K |
| Flood | 26 | 0 | 0 | $25.2M |
| Hail | 25 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 24 | 0 | 0 | $62K |
| Heavy Rain | 19 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Coastal Flood | 15 | 0 | 0 | $7.9M |
| Winter Weather | 11 | 0 | 0 | $19K |
| Drought | 8 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 8 | 1 | 1 | $52K |
| Tropical Storm | 8 | 0 | 0 | $1.1M |
| Blizzard | 7 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 7 | 0 | 0 | $427K |
| High Surf | 3 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| Rip Current | 3 | 1 | 1 | $0 |
| Tornado | 3 | 0 | 0 | $150K |
| Excessive Heat | 2 | 0 | 3 | $0 |
| Heat | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dense Fog | 1 | 0 | 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. 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 Washington County each year. The busiest year was 2016, with 33 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 20 | 0 | $750K |
| 1997 | 19 | 0 | $100K |
| 1998 | 22 | 0 | $400K |
| 1999 | 19 | 0 | $0 |
| 2000 | 13 | 0 | $0 |
| 2001 | 6 | 0 | $10K |
| 2002 | 2 | 0 | $5K |
| 2003 | 7 | 1 | $100K |
| 2004 | 6 | 1 | $0 |
| 2005 | 13 | 0 | $390K |
| 2006 | 7 | 0 | $37K |
| 2007 | 10 | 0 | $90K |
| 2008 | 15 | 2 | $35K |
| 2009 | 9 | 0 | $35K |
| 2010 | 12 | 0 | $24.9M |
| 2011 | 5 | 0 | $43K |
| 2012 | 18 | 0 | $8.0M |
| 2013 | 7 | 0 | $27K |
| 2014 | 9 | 0 | $13K |
| 2015 | 28 | 0 | $152K |
| 2016 | 33 | 0 | $166K |
| 2017 | 19 | 0 | $70K |
| 2018 | 17 | 0 | $27K |
| 2019 | 22 | 0 | $12K |
| 2020 | 22 | 0 | $31K |
| 2021 | 17 | 0 | $1.1M |
| 2022 | 16 | 0 | $21K |
| 2023 | 12 | 1 | $5K |
| 2024 | 14 | 0 | $15K |
| 2025 | 4 | 0 | $500 |
| 2026 | 6 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flood · Mar 29, 2010$24.8MNOAA name: Washington County · NOAA record 220236
- Coastal Flood · Oct 29, 2012$4.7MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 416567
- Coastal Flood · Oct 29, 2012$3.1MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 416569
- Tropical Storm · Aug 22, 2021$1.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 979377
- Thunderstorm Wind · Aug 24, 1996$750KNOAA name: Washington County · NOAA record 5582204
Deadliest records
- High Surf · Sep 28, 20082 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 137027
- High Surf · Sep 18, 20031 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5374546
- Lightning · Aug 11, 20041 deathNOAA name: Washington County · 1 injury · NOAA record 5422687
- Rip Current · Jul 27, 20231 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1147469
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 $51.3M on 2,410 claims in Washington County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 857 | $32.0M |
| 2010 | 422 | $7.8M |
| 1991 | 338 | $3.1M |
| 1992 | 74 | $665K |
| 2005 | 71 | $944K |
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 Washington 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 3 | 8 NCEI events over 31 years (0.26/yr). 8 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 74 NCEI events over 31 years (2.39/yr). 6 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 67 NCEI events over 31 years (2.16/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 87 NCEI events over 31 years (2.81/yr). 7 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 170 NCEI events over 31 years (5.48/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 2 | 4 NCEI events over 31 years (0.13/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 2 | 8 NCEI events over 31 years (0.26/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 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 | 3 NCEI events over 31 years (0.10/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 Washington 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 Washington 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 429 records, 119 were filed against this county and 310 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.
- 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.