Washington County, Wisconsin: hazard history

FEMA declared 14 disasters that named Washington County between 1976 and 2026.

Most recent declarations

• DR-4923 2026 · Flood · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
• DR-4892 2025 · Flood · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, And Mudslides
• EM-3454 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
• DR-4520 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
• DR-1966 2011 · Snowstorm · Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm
• DR-1768 2008 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
• EM-3285 2008 · Snowstorm · Record Snow And Near Record Snow
• EM-3249 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
• DR-1526 2004 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
• DR-1180 1997 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding

Not counted above: 4 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 Washington County each year. The busiest year was 2006, with 49 records.

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

Costliest records

1. Thunderstorm Wind · May 31, 1998$8.6M
   NOAA name: Washington County · 1 death · 2 injuries · NOAA record 5640113
2. Flash Flood · Jun 8, 2008$5.1M
   NOAA name: Washington County · NOAA record 113092
3. Tornado · Jun 18, 2006$4.0M
   NOAA name: Washington County · 1 injury · NOAA record 5515439
4. Flood · Jun 1, 2004$3.0M
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 5406983
5. Flash Flood · Jun 21, 1997$2.7M
   NOAA name: Washington County · NOAA record 5608894

Deadliest records

1. Winter Storm · Mar 28, 20093 deaths
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 159346
2. Winter Weather · Mar 23, 20163 deaths
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 625080
3. Thunderstorm Wind · May 31, 19981 death
   NOAA name: Washington County · $8.6M damage · 2 injuries · NOAA record 5640113
4. Cold/Wind Chill · Mar 3, 20101 death
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 221865
5. Winter Weather · Feb 23, 20121 death
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 367516

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 $883K on 67 claims in Washington County from 1979 to 2019.

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 Washington 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 Washington 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 791 records, 330 were filed against this county and 461 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.