Jefferson County, AL

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-a Hazard identification

14 of the 18 National Risk Index hazards apply here.

Not applicable to this county per NRI, with no federal declaration and no Storm Events record since 1996: avalanche, coastal flooding, tsunami and volcanic activity. That is the evidence for leaving them out of the plan.

Highest expected annual loss (NRI, modeled): Inland Flooding, Tornado and Cold Wave.

Not covered by NRI (local data needed): dam failure (incl. upstream dams); levee failure; flash flood as its own subtype; ice jams; debris flows; erosion (riverine and coastal); land subsidence and sinkholes; expansive soils.

The state hazard mitigation plan also lists hazards for this county; FEMA asks the plan to explain any hazard it leaves out.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-b Hazard location

• Cold Wave, Drought, Hail, Heat Wave, Ice Storm, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather: affects the whole county; national data give no location within it.
• Earthquake, Hurricane, Landslide, Tornado and Wildfire vary within the county; the packet lists the highest-rated census tracts for each.
• Inland Flooding: the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) is the required location source for flooding. See the FEMA Flood Map Service Center (https://msc.fema.gov) for this county.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-c Hazard extent

Storm Events records for 14 of the 20 NOAA event-type groups mapped to the 18 hazards, with the scale, observed range and worst recorded event for each; the others say which local data are needed.

Worst recorded tornado, hail and thunderstorm wind (the three event types on record since the 1950s; the packet has every group):

• Hail: 3 in hail, 2012-03-31; same size also recorded on 1959-03-21, 1960-03-29, 1994-03-27
• Thunderstorm Wind: 90 kt (104 mph) estimated sustained, Thunderstorm Wind, 2011-04-11; same speed and measurement basis also recorded on 2000-03-10
• Tornado: F5 tornado, 1998-04-08, 24.3 mi within this county, 1,320 yd wide, $200,000,000 property; $2,200,000 crops (1998 dollars), 32 direct deaths, 258 direct injuries

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-d Previous occurrences

Federal declarations for this area: 39 declarations covering 35 separate hazard incidents counted in this packet; each with type, dates and county Public Assistance dollars.

New since the last plan (approved 2026-05-13): none.

1 statewide declaration listed separately.

Hazards with no Storm Events record and no federal declaration are stated as such (5 of 18).

Storm Events history: 1,766 records (notable ones in the PDF, all of them in the Excel file).

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-e Probability of future events

FEMA annualized frequency (modeled) for each hazard, with a descriptor from a scale defined in the packet.

• Highly likely: Hail, Inland Flooding, Landslide, Lightning, Strong Wind and Tornado
• Likely: Cold Wave, Drought, Heat Wave and Winter Weather
• Possible: Hurricane and Ice Storm
• Unlikely: Earthquake and Wildfire

Historical frequency by intensity band (tornado, hail, wind): 9 bands from Storm Events.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-f Hazards that vary across jurisdictions

Range of census tract risk scores within the area for 14 of the 18 hazards (189 tracts; rated tracts only).

37 jurisdictions: plan clock, repeat-flood count, Public Assistance dollars and event records naming the place (starting figures from federal data).

County Public Assistance in B1-d also includes applicants filed under the county that are not matched to a jurisdiction row here (for example county departments filed under their own names, such as a highway department or emergency management agency, and state agencies, special districts and nonprofits), so the jurisdiction rows add up to less.

Supports FEMA checklist items B2-a and B2-b Vulnerability and potential impacts

The packet's table gives county-level starting figures; the plan describes impacts for each jurisdiction and its own assets.

Storm Events damage since 2026-05-13: $0 in county-coded records (14 records); none reported reported for the zone (0 zone records). Data through 2026-06-30; nominal dollars.

Local data needed

To gather:

• Critical facilities and lifelines per hazard
• A problem statement per jurisdiction per hazard
• Changes in development in hazard-prone areas since the last approval, or a statement of none (E1-a)
• Future assets

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-a Vulnerability (county context)

Population 673,766; building value $143,665,275,284 and agriculture value $6,359,075 (total, not at risk).

National Risk Index rating Relatively High; social vulnerability Relatively Moderate; community resilience Relatively High.

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-c Repetitive loss properties

Repetitive-loss properties, FMA definition (44 CFR 77.2): 11 repetitive loss, 37 severe repetitive loss. NFIP insurance definition: 273 and 33.

Mitigated 5; insured 64; NFIP data as of 2026-08-02. Counts by occupancy group and for each jurisdiction are in the packet.