Whitman 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 Snow, with 101 records.
- The costliest single record is Wildfire in 2025: $1.4M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Winter Weather in 2014, with 2 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 18 disasters that named this county, most often for flood.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1996, with 21 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 Whitman County between 1964 and 2023.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | 6 | 1996 |
| Fire | 4 | 2023 |
| Severe Storm | 3 | 2015 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Coastal Storm | 1 | 2005 |
| Drought | 1 | 1977 |
| Volcanic Eruption | 1 | 1980 |
Most recent declarations
- DR-4759 2023 · Fire · Wildfires
- FM-5355 2020 · Fire · Babb Fire
- DR-4584 2020 · Fire · Wildfires And Straight-line Winds
- DR-4481 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3427 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4249 2015 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-1825 2008 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm And Record And Near Record Snow
- EM-3227 2005 · Coastal Storm · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
- DR-1159 1996 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storms, Land & Muds Slides,flooding
- DR-1100 1996 · Flood · High Winds, Severe Storms And Flooding
Not counted above: 49 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 Snow | 101 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flood | 35 | 0 | 0 | $1.2M |
| High Wind | 33 | 1 | 1 | $1.0M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 32 | 0 | 5 | $456K |
| Hail | 22 | 0 | 0 | $15K |
| Winter Weather | 21 | 3 | 1 | $152K |
| Wildfire | 19 | 0 | 1 | $5.3M |
| Flash Flood | 13 | 0 | 0 | $2.3M |
| Strong Wind | 12 | 1 | 0 | $134K |
| Winter Storm | 12 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dust Storm | 10 | 0 | 0 | $15K |
| Funnel Cloud | 9 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 4 | 0 | 0 | $3K |
| Debris Flow | 3 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Blizzard | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dense Smoke | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 2 | 0 | 0 | $2K |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 2 | 0 | 0 | $3K |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 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 Whitman County each year. The busiest year was 2020, with 24 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| 1997 | 6 | 0 | $0 |
| 1998 | 7 | 0 | $710K |
| 1999 | 5 | 0 | $1.0M |
| 2000 | 7 | 0 | $210K |
| 2001 | 8 | 0 | $14K |
| 2002 | 6 | 0 | $0 |
| 2003 | 8 | 0 | $13K |
| 2004 | 8 | 0 | $108K |
| 2005 | 6 | 0 | $4K |
| 2006 | 7 | 0 | $17K |
| 2007 | 16 | 0 | $32K |
| 2008 | 18 | 0 | $2K |
| 2009 | 12 | 0 | $10K |
| 2010 | 15 | 1 | $174K |
| 2011 | 6 | 0 | $30K |
| 2012 | 15 | 1 | $17K |
| 2013 | 7 | 1 | $60K |
| 2014 | 17 | 2 | $842K |
| 2015 | 21 | 0 | $400K |
| 2016 | 5 | 0 | $0 |
| 2017 | 12 | 0 | $70K |
| 2018 | 10 | 0 | $21K |
| 2019 | 19 | 0 | $1.1M |
| 2020 | 24 | 0 | $980K |
| 2021 | 9 | 0 | $30K |
| 2022 | 17 | 0 | $1.4M |
| 2023 | 7 | 0 | $1.5M |
| 2024 | 15 | 0 | $264K |
| 2025 | 17 | 0 | $1.5M |
| 2026 | 6 | 0 | $47K |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Wildfire · Jul 2, 2025$1.4MNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1288378
- Flash Flood · Apr 9, 2019$1.1MNOAA name: Whitman County · NOAA record 818104
- Wildfire · Aug 18, 2022$985KNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1055024
- Wildfire · Sep 7, 2020$850KNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 920992
- Wildfire · Jul 12, 2023$800KNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1127100
Deadliest records
- Winter Weather · Feb 21, 20142 deathsNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $20K damage · NOAA record 499057
- High Wind · May 3, 20101 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 228718
- Strong Wind · Apr 1, 20121 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 373905
- Winter Weather · Dec 2, 20131 deathNOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $40K damage · NOAA record 482254
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 $515K on 53 claims in Whitman County from 1979 to 2019.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 21 | $319K |
| 1979 | 10 | $37K |
| 1997 | 8 | $84K |
| 1998 | 5 | $27K |
| 2019 | 2 | $47K |
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 Whitman 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 56 NCEI events over 31 years (1.81/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 52 NCEI events over 31 years (1.68/yr). 6 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 136 NCEI events over 31 years (4.39/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 3 | 19 NCEI events over 31 years (0.61/yr). 4 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 45 NCEI events over 31 years (1.45/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 2 | 5 NCEI events over 31 years (0.16/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Volcano | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Tornado | 1 | 1 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/yr). 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 | 3 NCEI events over 31 years (0.10/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. |
| 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 Whitman 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 Whitman 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 338 records, 121 were filed against this county and 217 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: 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.
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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.