Lavaca County, Texas: 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 Flash Flood, with 104 records.
- The costliest single record is Flash Flood in 1998: $3.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in 2021, with 2 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 19 disasters that named this county, most often for hurricane.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1981, with 33 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 19 disasters that named Lavaca County between 1967 and 2024.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | 8 | 2024 |
| Flood | 3 | 1998 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Fire | 2 | 2005 |
| Severe Ice Storm | 2 | 2021 |
| Drought | 1 | 1993 |
| Severe Storm | 1 | 1998 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4798 2024 · Hurricane · Hurricane Beryl
- DR-4586 2021 · Severe Ice Storm · Severe Winter Storms
- EM-3554 2021 · Severe Ice Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- DR-4485 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3458 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4332 2017 · Hurricane · Hurricane Harvey
- EM-3294 2008 · Hurricane · Hurricane Ike
- EM-3290 2008 · Hurricane · Hurricane Gustav
- DR-1624 2005 · Fire · Extreme Wildfire Threat
- DR-1606 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Rita
Not counted above: 102 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Texas. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | 104 | 1 | 350 | $6.6M |
| Drought | 57 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Hail | 50 | 0 | 0 | $101K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 40 | 0 | 0 | $1.4M |
| Tornado | 15 | 0 | 4 | $280K |
| Flood | 9 | 0 | 5 | $250K |
| Winter Storm | 6 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 4 | 1 | 0 | $350K |
| Winter Weather | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Tropical Storm | 3 | 0 | 0 | $200K |
| Excessive Heat | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Funnel Cloud | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 1 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Snow | 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 Lavaca County each year. The busiest year was 2004, with 35 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 15 | 0 | $65K |
| 1997 | 18 | 2 | $1.3M |
| 1998 | 23 | 0 | $5.8M |
| 1999 | 11 | 0 | $133K |
| 2000 | 11 | 0 | $75K |
| 2001 | 9 | 0 | $218K |
| 2002 | 15 | 0 | $170K |
| 2003 | 10 | 0 | $346K |
| 2004 | 35 | 0 | $178K |
| 2005 | 10 | 0 | $0 |
| 2006 | 6 | 0 | $100K |
| 2007 | 19 | 0 | $175K |
| 2008 | 1 | 0 | $1K |
| 2009 | 11 | 0 | $35K |
| 2010 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| 2011 | 12 | 0 | $51K |
| 2012 | 8 | 0 | $55K |
| 2013 | 4 | 0 | $0 |
| 2014 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
| 2015 | 5 | 0 | $0 |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| 2017 | 2 | 0 | $100K |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| 2019 | 8 | 0 | $12K |
| 2020 | 4 | 0 | $0 |
| 2021 | 9 | 2 | $80K |
| 2022 | 11 | 0 | $250K |
| 2023 | 10 | 0 | $0 |
| 2024 | 8 | 0 | $65K |
| 2025 | 8 | 0 | $0 |
| 2026 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flash Flood · Oct 18, 1998$3.0MNOAA name: Lavaca County · 300 injuries · NOAA record 5672508
- Flash Flood · Oct 17, 1998$2.0MNOAA name: Lavaca County · 50 injuries · NOAA record 5672507
- Flash Flood · Apr 10, 1997$1.0MNOAA name: Lavaca County · 1 death · NOAA record 5599954
- Lightning · Sep 3, 2022$250KNOAA name: Lavaca County · NOAA record 1052173
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jun 15, 1998$200KNOAA name: Lavaca County · NOAA record 5650773
Deadliest records
- Extreme Cold/Wind Chill · Feb 15, 20212 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 951836
- Flash Flood · Apr 10, 19971 deathNOAA name: Lavaca County · $1.0M damage · NOAA record 5599954
- Lightning · Jul 31, 19971 deathNOAA name: Lavaca County · NOAA record 5611496
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 $1.5M on 114 claims in Lavaca County from 1981 to 2021.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 33 | $800K |
| 1987 | 18 | $3K |
| 1994 | 11 | $17K |
| 1998 | 8 | $65K |
| 1997 | 8 | $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 Lavaca 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 | 3 NCEI events over 31 years (0.10/yr). 8 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 94 NCEI events over 31 years (3.03/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 114 NCEI events over 31 years (3.68/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Drought | 3 | 57 NCEI events over 31 years (1.84/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Tornado | 2 | 15 NCEI events over 31 years (0.48/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 2 | 11 NCEI events over 31 years (0.35/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming 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. |
| Wild Fire | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 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. |
| 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 Lavaca 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 Lavaca 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 300 records, 216 were filed against this county and 84 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 Texas'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.