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Loudoun 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
1,617
1996 to 2026
People killed and injured in those events
7 / 27
Deaths (direct and indirect) / injuries (direct)
Property damage NOAA recorded
$25.7M
Nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation
FEMA disaster declarations naming this county
16
1972 to 2026
NFIP flood insurance claims
169
1979 to 2023; a count, not a rate
NFIP payments on those claims
$2.2M
Nominal dollars

What this means

  • The event NOAA recorded most often here is Thunderstorm Wind, with 627 records.
  • The costliest single record is Tornado in 2020: $5.8M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
  • The deadliest record is Winter Weather in 2004, with 2 deaths.
  • FEMA has declared 16 disasters that named this county, most often for hurricane.
  • The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1996, with 31 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 16 disasters that named Loudoun County between 1972 and 2026.

FEMA disaster declarations naming Loudoun County, by incident type
Incident typeDisastersMost recent
Hurricane52018
Snowstorm42016
Biological22020
Flood21996
Severe Storm22003
Winter Storm12026

Most recent declarations

  • EM-3631 2026 · Winter Storm · Severe Winter Storm
  • EM-3448 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
  • DR-4512 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
  • EM-3403 2018 · Hurricane · Hurricane Florence
  • DR-4262 2016 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
  • EM-3359 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
  • DR-4092 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
  • DR-1905 2010 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorms
  • 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 Loudoun County, 1996 to 2026, by event type
Event typeRecordsDeathsInjuriesProperty damage
Thunderstorm Wind62726$3.8M
Winter Weather20230$0
Hail13400$7.5M
Flood12400$120K
Dense Fog11400$0
Flash Flood7200$2.0M
Winter Storm7000$10K
Frost/Freeze5200$0
Heat48015$0
High Wind2910$858K
Strong Wind2313$105K
Tornado2100$10.3M
Cold/Wind Chill1700$0
Lightning1703$986K
Heavy Rain1600$0
Drought1200$0
Excessive Heat1000$0
Ice Storm900$55K
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill800$0
Heavy Snow500$60K
Blizzard300$10K
Tropical Storm200$5K
Freezing Fog100$0
Funnel Cloud100$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 Loudoun County each year. The busiest year was 2019, with 93 records.

Show the numbers for every year
NOAA storm event records in Loudoun County by year
YearRecordsDeathsProperty damage
1996290$1.7M
1997210$121K
1998310$348K
1999350$7.4M
2000470$178K
2001370$792K
2002350$140K
2003550$1.9M
2004282$3.5M
2005220$6K
2006250$373K
2007481$45K
2008621$153K
2009270$0
2010581$165K
2011851$88K
2012920$181K
2013520$5K
2014650$6K
2015730$18K
2016680$0
2017400$0
2018860$0
2019931$0
2020790$6.0M
2021590$280K
2022720$1.0M
2023580$210K
2024540$931K
2025580$208K
2026230$31K

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

Notable events

Costliest records

  1. Tornado · Feb 7, 2020$5.8M
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · NOAA record 878117
  2. Hail · Apr 23, 1999$3.0M
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · NOAA record 5695110
  3. Tornado · Sep 17, 2004$3.0M
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · NOAA record 5425472
  4. Hail · Apr 23, 1999$2.0M
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · NOAA record 5695108
  5. Hail · Apr 23, 1999$2.0M
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · NOAA record 5695109

Deadliest records

  1. Winter Weather · Jan 26, 20042 deaths
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · NOAA record 5381715
  2. Strong Wind · Feb 14, 20071 death
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · 1 injury · NOAA record 16426
  3. High Wind · Dec 31, 20081 death
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · NOAA record 144639
  4. Thunderstorm Wind · Jul 25, 20101 death
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · NOAA record 249196
  5. Thunderstorm Wind · Jul 3, 20111 death
    NOAA name: LOUDOUN · NOAA record 334153

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 $2.2M on 169 claims in Loudoun County from 1979 to 2023.

Years with the most NFIP claims in Loudoun County
YearClaimsPaid
199631$775K
201119$374K
201814$83K
200310$366K
198510$118K

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 Loudoun 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 Storm32 NCEI events over 31 years (0.06/yr). 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Severe Thunderstorm3778 NCEI events over 31 years (25.10/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Flood, External3212 NCEI events over 31 years (6.84/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm3290 NCEI events over 31 years (9.35/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Temperature Extremes3135 NCEI events over 31 years (4.35/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
High Wind (non-convective)352 NCEI events over 31 years (1.68/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Tornado221 NCEI events over 31 years (0.68/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Drought212 NCEI events over 31 years (0.39/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Epidemic22 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Wild Fire1No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 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 Loudoun 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 Loudoun 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: EASTERN LOUDOUN, LOUDOUN, WESTERN LOUDOUN. 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.