Grays Harbor County, Washington: 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 Heavy Rain, with 13 records.
- The costliest single record is Flood in 2022: $3.4M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Flood in 2022, with 2 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 35 disasters that named this county, most often for flood.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2015, with 281 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 35 disasters that named Grays Harbor County between 1964 and 2025.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | 16 | 2025 |
| Severe Storm | 13 | 2024 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Coastal Storm | 1 | 2005 |
| Earthquake | 1 | 2001 |
| Fishing Losses | 1 | 1994 |
| Volcanic Eruption | 1 | 1980 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3629 2025 · Flood · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-4906 2025 · Flood · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-4775 2024 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-4650 2021 · Flood · Severe Winter Storms, Snowstorms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding
- DR-4593 2020 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-4539 2020 · Flood · Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- EM-3427 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4481 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- DR-4418 2018 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides, Tornado
- DR-4253 2015 · Flood · Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides, And A T
Not counted above: 45 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Washington. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Rain | 13 | 0 | 0 | $5.0M |
| Flood | 6 | 3 | 0 | $5.5M |
| Storm Surge/Tide | 3 | 0 | 0 | $1.0M |
| Tornado | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Debris Flow | 1 | 0 | 0 | $300K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 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.
Year by year
NOAA storm event records in Grays Harbor County each year. The busiest year was 1997, with 3 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 1 | 1 | $0 |
| 1997 | 3 | 0 | $1.2M |
| 1998 | 1 | 0 | $200K |
| 1999 | 2 | 0 | $1.0M |
| 2001 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| 2002 | 2 | 0 | $5K |
| 2003 | 1 | 0 | $100K |
| 2005 | 1 | 0 | $100K |
| 2006 | 2 | 0 | $3.7M |
| 2008 | 1 | 0 | $500K |
| 2009 | 1 | 0 | $1.2M |
| 2010 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| 2012 | 1 | 0 | $15K |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | $300K |
| 2020 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| 2021 | 2 | 0 | $119K |
| 2022 | 1 | 2 | $3.4M |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flood · Jan 6, 2022$3.4MNOAA name: Grays Harbor County · 2 deaths · NOAA record 1005540
- Heavy Rain · Jan 5, 2006$2.9MNOAA name: Grays Harbor County · NOAA record 5486712
- Heavy Rain · Mar 15, 1997$1.2MNOAA name: Grays Harbor County · NOAA record 5596627
- Flood · Jan 7, 2009$1.2MNOAA name: Grays Harbor County · NOAA record 148655
- Storm Surge/Tide · Mar 3, 1999$1.0MNOAA name: Grays Harbor County · NOAA record 5692911
Deadliest records
- Flood · Jan 6, 20222 deathsNOAA name: Grays Harbor County · $3.4M damage · NOAA record 1005540
- Flood · Dec 29, 19961 deathNOAA name: Grays Harbor County · NOAA record 5577240
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 $13.6M on 917 claims in Grays Harbor County from 1978 to 2023.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 281 | $5.3M |
| 2007 | 102 | $1.9M |
| 2009 | 71 | $1.6M |
| 1996 | 70 | $627K |
| 1981 | 58 | $94K |
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 Grays Harbor 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 2025 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 1 NCEI event over 30 years (0.03/yr). 13 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 19 NCEI events over 30 years (0.63/yr). 16 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 2 | 3 NCEI events over 30 years (0.10/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Tornado | 2 | 3 NCEI events over 30 years (0.10/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Earthquake | 2 | 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Volcano | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 30 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 30 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 30 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 30 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 30 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 30 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Landslide | 1 | 1 NCEI event over 30 years (0.03/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 30 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 Grays Harbor 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 Grays Harbor 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. Left out: 39% of Washington'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.
- This county's NOAA record is short (under 100 records, under 10 with damage, or under 10 years), so this page is not offered to search engines. It is still accurate.
Related
Responsible for Grays Harbor County?
This page is the record of what has happened. Calchis also watches live NWS, USGS and NHC feeds against the places you name and alerts you when an event approaches them.
Free includes Live map + 3 triggers + 10 bond positions. Analyst is $149/mo for 1,000-location portfolios, ep curves, predictions, parametric triggers.
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.