Preston County, West Virginia: 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 Thunderstorm Wind, with 228 records.
- The costliest single record is Tornado in 1998: $5.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Thunderstorm Wind in 2019, with 1 death.
- FEMA has declared 24 disasters that named this county, most often for severe storm.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1996, with 25 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 24 disasters that named Preston County between 1972 and 2026.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Storm | 8 | 2024 |
| Flood | 6 | 2019 |
| Hurricane | 3 | 2012 |
| Snowstorm | 3 | 2010 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Mud/Landslide | 1 | 2018 |
| Winter Storm | 1 | 2026 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3639 2026 · Winter Storm · Severe Winter Storm
- DR-4783 2024 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-4517 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- EM-3450 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4455 2019 · Flood · Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-4359 2018 · Mud/Landslide · Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- DR-4331 2017 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
- EM-3358 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
- DR-4093 2012 · Hurricane · Hurricane Sandy
- DR-4071 2012 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds
Not counted above: 6 statewide declarations, which covered every county in West Virginia. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 228 | 1 | 6 | $1.8M |
| Heavy Snow | 98 | 0 | 0 | $50K |
| Winter Weather | 79 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 72 | 0 | 0 | $538K |
| Hail | 67 | 0 | 0 | $141K |
| Winter Storm | 67 | 0 | 1 | $97K |
| High Wind | 38 | 0 | 0 | $522K |
| Flood | 29 | 0 | 0 | $1.2M |
| Ice Storm | 20 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Drought | 11 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 8 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 7 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 7 | 0 | 1 | $5.6M |
| Strong Wind | 6 | 0 | 0 | $21K |
| Lightning | 4 | 0 | 0 | $374K |
| Blizzard | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Funnel Cloud | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Astronomical Low Tide | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Debris Flow | 1 | 0 | 0 | $30K |
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 Preston County each year. The busiest year was 2025, with 64 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 25 | 0 | $789K |
| 1997 | 18 | 0 | $358K |
| 1998 | 18 | 0 | $5.1M |
| 1999 | 17 | 0 | $106K |
| 2000 | 17 | 0 | $148K |
| 2001 | 17 | 0 | $270K |
| 2002 | 15 | 0 | $35K |
| 2003 | 53 | 0 | $52K |
| 2004 | 23 | 0 | $83K |
| 2005 | 16 | 0 | $87K |
| 2006 | 16 | 0 | $50K |
| 2007 | 13 | 0 | $52K |
| 2008 | 14 | 0 | $430K |
| 2009 | 14 | 0 | $125K |
| 2010 | 22 | 0 | $155K |
| 2011 | 17 | 0 | $254K |
| 2012 | 23 | 0 | $210K |
| 2013 | 27 | 0 | $220K |
| 2014 | 25 | 0 | $235K |
| 2015 | 20 | 0 | $35K |
| 2016 | 22 | 0 | $73K |
| 2017 | 17 | 0 | $66K |
| 2018 | 15 | 0 | $2K |
| 2019 | 27 | 1 | $12K |
| 2020 | 16 | 0 | $20K |
| 2021 | 30 | 0 | $46K |
| 2022 | 39 | 0 | $100K |
| 2023 | 45 | 0 | $163K |
| 2024 | 51 | 0 | $892K |
| 2025 | 64 | 0 | $93K |
| 2026 | 13 | 0 | $59K |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Tornado · Jun 2, 1998$5.0MNOAA name: PRESTON · NOAA record 5669114
- Flood · Jan 19, 1996$710KNOAA name: PRESTON · NOAA record 5544526
- Lightning · Aug 17, 1997$300KNOAA name: PRESTON · NOAA record 5621679
- Tornado · May 11, 2024$300KNOAA name: PRESTON · NOAA record 1180422
- Flood · Apr 3, 2024$250KNOAA name: PRESTON · NOAA record 1178226
Deadliest records
- Thunderstorm Wind · May 19, 20191 deathNOAA name: PRESTON · 2 injuries · NOAA record 821773
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 $842K on 105 claims in Preston County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 25 | $161K |
| 1985 | 22 | $424K |
| 1980 | 10 | $16K |
| 1994 | 9 | $72K |
| 2000 | 8 | $28K |
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 Preston 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 3 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 299 NCEI events over 31 years (9.65/yr). 8 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 103 NCEI events over 31 years (3.32/yr). 6 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 266 NCEI events over 31 years (8.58/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 44 NCEI events over 31 years (1.42/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Tornado | 2 | 7 NCEI events over 31 years (0.23/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 2 | 15 NCEI events over 31 years (0.48/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 2 | 11 NCEI events over 31 years (0.35/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Landslide | 2 | 1 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Wild Fire | 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. |
| Earthquake | 1 | 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. |
| Volcano | 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 Preston 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 Preston 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 West Virginia yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: EASTERN PRESTON, PRESTON. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 0% of West Virginia'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.