Adams County, Wisconsin: hazard history

FEMA declared 12 disasters that named Adams County between 1976 and 2020.

Most recent declarations

• EM-3454 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
• DR-4520 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
• DR-4402 2018 · Flood · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, And Landslides
• DR-4288 2016 · Flood · Severe Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides
• DR-1768 2008 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
• EM-3249 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
• DR-1526 2004 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
• DR-1429 2002 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
• DR-1369 2001 · Flood · Flooding, Severe Storms And Tornadoes
• DR-1332 2000 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding

Not counted above: 5 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Wisconsin. 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.

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.

NOAA storm event records in Adams County each year. The busiest year was 2011, with 24 records.

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

Costliest records

1. Thunderstorm Wind · Aug 28, 2018$6.0M
   NOAA name: Adams County · NOAA record 779026
2. Tornado · Apr 10, 2011$3.3M
   NOAA name: Adams County · NOAA record 293736
3. Wildfire · May 5, 2005$1.0M
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5447140
4. Flash Flood · Aug 28, 2018$780K
   NOAA name: Adams County · NOAA record 780462
5. Flood · Mar 14, 2019$750K
   NOAA name: Adams County · NOAA record 811305

Deadliest records

1. Winter Weather · Feb 10, 20131 death
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $20K damage · NOAA record 432835
2. Wildfire · May 6, 20201 death
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · $3K damage · NOAA record 892202
3. Cold/Wind Chill · Dec 24, 20201 death
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 933827

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.

The National Flood Insurance Program paid $90K on 32 claims in Adams County from 1986 to 2021.

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.

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.

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 Adams 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.

• 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 Adams 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 417 records, 269 were filed against this county and 148 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.
• Counts last rebuilt from the source records on Sep 15, 2026.