Whatcom 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 High Wind, with 148 records.
- The costliest single record is Flood in 2021: $34.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is High Wind in 1997, with 4 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 27 disasters that named this county, most often for flood.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2021, with 329 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 27 disasters that named Whatcom County between 1971 and 2025.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | 13 | 2025 |
| Severe Storm | 6 | 2018 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Fire | 2 | 2015 |
| 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-4635 2021 · Flood · Severe Storms, 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-4309 2017 · Flood · Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides
- DR-4242 2015 · Severe Storm · Severe Windstorm
- FM-5109 2015 · Fire · Goodell Fire
Not counted above: 46 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 148 | 8 | 11 | $11.4M |
| Heavy Snow | 35 | 0 | 0 | $1.6M |
| Heat | 14 | 0 | 5 | $0 |
| Flood | 12 | 1 | 0 | $48.5M |
| Winter Weather | 8 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 7 | 1 | 0 | $82K |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 6 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 6 | 0 | 1 | $175K |
| Coastal Flood | 5 | 0 | 0 | $201K |
| Ice Storm | 4 | 0 | 0 | $700K |
| Storm Surge/Tide | 4 | 0 | 1 | $930K |
| Winter Storm | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3 | 0 | 0 | $2K |
| Drought | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Avalanche | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Blizzard | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Debris Flow | 1 | 0 | 0 | $5K |
| Funnel Cloud | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 1 | 0 | 0 | $3K |
| Tornado | 1 | 0 | 0 | $10K |
| Waterspout | 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 Whatcom County each year. The busiest year was 2021, with 19 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 8 | 0 | $3K |
| 1997 | 6 | 4 | $0 |
| 1998 | 4 | 0 | $6.5M |
| 1999 | 4 | 1 | $0 |
| 2000 | 4 | 0 | $650K |
| 2001 | 7 | 0 | $250K |
| 2002 | 6 | 0 | $0 |
| 2003 | 10 | 1 | $180K |
| 2004 | 6 | 0 | $35K |
| 2005 | 4 | 0 | $25K |
| 2006 | 9 | 1 | $3.2M |
| 2007 | 6 | 0 | $776K |
| 2008 | 8 | 0 | $100K |
| 2009 | 8 | 0 | $5.6M |
| 2010 | 8 | 0 | $190K |
| 2011 | 9 | 0 | $16K |
| 2012 | 19 | 0 | $102K |
| 2013 | 6 | 0 | $15K |
| 2014 | 17 | 0 | $281K |
| 2015 | 12 | 2 | $500K |
| 2016 | 12 | 0 | $440K |
| 2017 | 19 | 0 | $2.1M |
| 2018 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
| 2019 | 5 | 0 | $0 |
| 2020 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| 2021 | 19 | 2 | $42.7M |
| 2022 | 14 | 0 | $2K |
| 2023 | 9 | 0 | $0 |
| 2024 | 16 | 0 | $0 |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flood · Nov 14, 2021$34.0MNOAA name: WHATCOM · 1 death · NOAA record 993206
- Flood · Nov 28, 2021$8.5MNOAA name: WHATCOM · NOAA record 993338
- High Wind · Nov 23, 1998$6.5MNOAA name: WESTERN WHATCOM · NOAA record 5677253
- Flood · Jan 7, 2009$5.6MNOAA name: WHATCOM · NOAA record 148701
- Heavy Snow · Nov 26, 2006$1.5MNOAA name: WESTERN WHATCOM COUNTY · NOAA record 3638
Deadliest records
- High Wind · Oct 29, 19974 deathsNOAA name: WESTERN WHATCOM · NOAA record 5617197
- High Wind · Aug 29, 20152 deathsNOAA name: Western Whatcom · $250K damage · NOAA record 593403
- High Wind · Mar 2, 19991 deathNOAA name: WESTERN WHATCOM · NOAA record 5692910
- High Wind · Mar 12, 20031 deathNOAA name: WESTERN WHATCOM · NOAA record 5344719
- Strong Wind · Jan 7, 20061 deathNOAA name: WESTERN WHATCOM · NOAA record 5486709
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 $31.2M on 900 claims in Whatcom County from 1979 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 329 | $22.3M |
| 1990 | 135 | $2.0M |
| 2009 | 56 | $1.6M |
| 2006 | 40 | $806K |
| 1995 | 29 | $171K |
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 Whatcom 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 | 4 NCEI events over 30 years (0.13/yr). 6 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 23 NCEI events over 30 years (0.77/yr). 13 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 52 NCEI events over 30 years (1.73/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 155 NCEI events over 30 years (5.17/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 2 | 4 NCEI events over 30 years (0.13/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 2 | 22 NCEI events over 30 years (0.73/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 30 years. 2 federal disaster declarations naming 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. |
| Tornado | 1 | 1 NCEI event over 30 years (0.03/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 1 | 2 NCEI events over 30 years (0.07/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Landslide | 1 | 2 NCEI events over 30 years (0.07/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 Whatcom 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 Whatcom 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 Washington yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: WESTERN WHATCOM, WESTERN WHATCOM COUNTY, WHATCOM, Western Whatcom. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 71% of Washington'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.