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Augusta County, Virginia: 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

Storm events recorded by NOAA
853
1996 to 2026
People killed and injured in those events
3 / 9
Deaths (direct and indirect) / injuries (direct)
Property damage NOAA recorded
$20.7M
Nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation
FEMA disaster declarations naming this county
24
1969 to 2026
NFIP flood insurance claims
195
1979 to 2024; a count, not a rate
NFIP payments on those claims
$3.5M
Nominal dollars

What this means

  • The event NOAA recorded most often here is Thunderstorm Wind, with 247 records.
  • The costliest single record is Flood in 1996: $4.2M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
  • The deadliest record is Flash Flood in 1996, with 2 deaths.
  • FEMA has declared 24 disasters that named this county, most often for hurricane.
  • The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1996, with 90 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 24 disasters that named Augusta County between 1969 and 2026.

FEMA disaster declarations naming Augusta County, by incident type
Incident typeDisastersMost recent
Hurricane62018
Flood51996
Severe Storm42012
Snowstorm42010
Biological22020
Drought21977
Winter Storm12026

Most recent declarations

  • EM-3631 2026 · Winter Storm · Severe Winter Storm
  • DR-4512 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
  • EM-3448 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
  • EM-3403 2018 · Hurricane · Hurricane Florence
  • EM-3359 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
  • DR-4072 2012 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds
  • DR-1905 2010 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorms
  • DR-1874 2009 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
  • EM-3240 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
  • DR-1491 2003 · Hurricane · Hurricane Isabel

Not counted above: 3 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Virginia. 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

NOAA storm event records for Augusta County, 1996 to 2026, by event type
Event typeRecordsDeathsInjuriesProperty damage
Thunderstorm Wind24700$2.1M
Winter Weather11000$0
Flood9800$8.7M
Dense Fog6800$0
Hail6115$25K
Flash Flood5720$4.5M
Winter Storm5600$1.5M
Frost/Freeze4600$0
High Wind2300$828K
Heat1700$0
Heavy Rain1500$0
Heavy Snow800$3K
Ice Storm800$65K
Cold/Wind Chill700$0
Strong Wind700$107K
Drought600$0
Lightning604$170K
Tornado600$2.7M
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill400$0
Blizzard200$10K
Wildfire100$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 Augusta County each year. The busiest year was 2018, with 83 records.

Show the numbers for every year
NOAA storm event records in Augusta County by year
YearRecordsDeathsProperty damage
1996222$10.2M
199770$30K
1998170$130K
1999130$205K
2000220$60K
2001110$6K
2002110$34K
2003290$5.2M
2004100$4K
2005110$0
2006260$809K
2007300$89K
2008110$34K
2009180$0
2010270$17K
2011310$2.4M
2012360$28K
2013340$0
2014260$0
2015180$2K
2016470$0
2017110$0
2018830$5K
2019500$0
2020491$242K
2021440$73K
2022390$303K
2023280$303K
2024310$127K
2025540$108K
202670$250K

Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.

Notable events

Costliest records

  1. Flood · Sep 6, 1996$4.2M
    NOAA name: AUGUSTA · NOAA record 5572180
  2. Flood · Jan 19, 1996$3.0M
    NOAA name: AUGUSTA · NOAA record 5541113
  3. Tornado · Apr 16, 2011$2.2M
    NOAA name: AUGUSTA · NOAA record 302294
  4. Flash Flood · Sep 6, 1996$2.0M
    NOAA name: AUGUSTA · 2 deaths · NOAA record 5571988
  5. Winter Storm · Feb 14, 2003$1.5M
    NOAA name: AUGUSTA · NOAA record 5342877

Deadliest records

  1. Flash Flood · Sep 6, 19962 deaths
    NOAA name: AUGUSTA · $2.0M damage · NOAA record 5571988
  2. Hail · Apr 7, 20201 death
    NOAA name: AUGUSTA · 5 injuries · NOAA record 881954

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 $3.5M on 195 claims in Augusta County from 1979 to 2024.

Years with the most NFIP claims in Augusta County
YearClaimsPaid
199690$2.2M
200318$517K
199514$52K
198510$127K
19988$16K

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 Augusta 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.

HazardProb.Basis, from the county record
Hurricane / Tropical Storm3No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 6 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Severe Thunderstorm3314 NCEI events over 31 years (10.13/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Flood, External3170 NCEI events over 31 years (5.48/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm3184 NCEI events over 31 years (5.94/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Temperature Extremes374 NCEI events over 31 years (2.39/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Tornado26 NCEI events over 31 years (0.19/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Drought26 NCEI events over 31 years (0.19/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
High Wind (non-convective)230 NCEI events over 31 years (0.97/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Epidemic22 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Wild Fire11 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Earthquake1No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Landslide1No 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 / Tsunami1No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Volcano1No 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 Inundation1No 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 Augusta 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 Augusta 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 Virginia yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: AUGUSTA. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 2% of Virginia'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.