Wythe 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
What this means
- The event NOAA recorded most often here is Thunderstorm Wind, with 94 records.
- The costliest single record is High Wind in 2024: $17.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Winter Storm in 2010, with 2 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 18 disasters that named this county, most often for severe storm.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2024, with 10 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 18 disasters that named Wythe County between 1976 and 2026.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Storm | 4 | 2025 |
| Hurricane | 3 | 2018 |
| Snowstorm | 3 | 1996 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Flood | 2 | 1996 |
| Tropical Storm | 2 | 2024 |
| Drought | 1 | 1976 |
| Winter Storm | 1 | 2026 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3631 2026 · Winter Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- DR-4863 2025 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storms And Flooding
- EM-3621 2024 · Tropical Storm · Post-tropical Cyclone Helene
- DR-4831 2024 · Tropical Storm · Tropical Storm Helene
- EM-3448 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4512 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3403 2018 · Hurricane · Hurricane Florence
- EM-3359 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
- EM-3240 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
- DR-1458 2003 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm, Record/near Record Snowfall, Heavy Rain,floodind, And Mudslide
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
| Event type | Records | Deaths | Injuries | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 94 | 0 | 2 | $709K |
| Hail | 90 | 0 | 0 | $632K |
| Flash Flood | 43 | 0 | 0 | $390K |
| High Wind | 32 | 0 | 0 | $17.3M |
| Winter Storm | 29 | 2 | 0 | $1K |
| Flood | 24 | 1 | 0 | $1.1M |
| Drought | 22 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Snow | 20 | 0 | 0 | $50K |
| Winter Weather | 14 | 0 | 0 | $50K |
| Ice Storm | 7 | 0 | 0 | $13K |
| Lightning | 6 | 0 | 0 | $63K |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Frost/Freeze | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 2 | 1 | 1 | $5K |
| Avalanche | 1 | 0 | 0 | $4K |
| Debris Flow | 1 | 0 | 0 | $8K |
| Dense Fog | 1 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Funnel Cloud | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 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 Wythe County each year. The busiest year was 2012, with 38 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 14 | 0 | $61K |
| 1997 | 13 | 0 | $857K |
| 1998 | 18 | 0 | $100K |
| 1999 | 15 | 0 | $3K |
| 2000 | 11 | 0 | $13K |
| 2001 | 5 | 0 | $0 |
| 2002 | 12 | 0 | $51K |
| 2003 | 15 | 0 | $18K |
| 2004 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
| 2005 | 5 | 0 | $8K |
| 2006 | 8 | 0 | $12K |
| 2007 | 18 | 0 | $116K |
| 2008 | 20 | 0 | $35K |
| 2009 | 19 | 0 | $61K |
| 2010 | 17 | 3 | $14K |
| 2011 | 33 | 1 | $60K |
| 2012 | 38 | 0 | $170K |
| 2013 | 8 | 0 | $28K |
| 2014 | 8 | 0 | $54K |
| 2015 | 14 | 1 | $51K |
| 2016 | 3 | 0 | $65K |
| 2017 | 10 | 0 | $4K |
| 2018 | 16 | 0 | $43K |
| 2019 | 10 | 0 | $17K |
| 2020 | 12 | 0 | $223K |
| 2021 | 7 | 0 | $3K |
| 2022 | 9 | 0 | $115K |
| 2023 | 9 | 0 | $28K |
| 2024 | 8 | 0 | $18.1M |
| 2025 | 6 | 0 | $4K |
| 2026 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- High Wind · Sep 27, 2024$17.0MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1216427
- Flood · Sep 26, 2024$1.0MNOAA name: Wythe County · NOAA record 1212297
- Hail · Jul 4, 1997$500KNOAA name: Wythe County · NOAA record 5615892
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jul 4, 1997$300KNOAA name: Wythe County · NOAA record 5615891
- Flash Flood · Apr 13, 2020$161KNOAA name: Wythe County · NOAA record 885364
Deadliest records
- Winter Storm · Feb 4, 20102 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 215979
- Dense Fog · Aug 29, 20101 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 256782
- Strong Wind · Apr 16, 20111 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $2K damage · 1 injury · NOAA record 304519
- Flood · Apr 19, 20151 deathNOAA name: Wythe County · NOAA record 570721
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 $376K on 30 claims in Wythe County from 1985 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 10 | $176K |
| 1989 | 3 | $12K |
| 2020 | 2 | $17K |
| 2013 | 2 | $3K |
| 1998 | 2 | $1K |
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 Wythe 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 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 5 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 190 NCEI events over 31 years (6.13/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 68 NCEI events over 31 years (2.19/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 70 NCEI events over 31 years (2.26/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 34 NCEI events over 31 years (1.10/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 2 | 7 NCEI events over 31 years (0.23/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 2 | 22 NCEI events over 31 years (0.71/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Tornado | 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. |
| Wild Fire | 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 | 2 NCEI events over 31 years (0.06/yr). 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 Wythe 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 Wythe 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 395 records, 257 were filed against this county and 138 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: 4% of Virginia'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.