Help Intro 01_Orleans Parish 02_Bay St. Louis 03_Biloxi_Gulfport 04_Pascagoula 05_Cameron 06_Lakewood 07_Chalmette 08_Galveston 09_Ottawa County 10_Delaware County 11_Plaquemines Parish 12_Gainesville 13_Galena 14_Kemper County 15_Memphis 16_Hattiesburg 17_San Rafael 18_Poplarville 19_Benton 20_Ashland Mississippi 21_Cherokee County 22_HomelessReno 23_Bakersfield 24_Doniphan 25_Mena Arkansas Outro Our Methodology Twitter Facebook By Nick Wiltgen and Eric Zerkel Worst Places To Own A Home The 50 worst counties for homeowners, based on natural factors Choosing where to buy a home can be downright daunting. There are practical components to consider, like the cost of living, commute times, schools and locale, just to name a few. But how often do weather, climate and natural risks and disasters factor into that decision? Maybe they should. A detailed analysis by The Weather Channel of both historical and risk-related weather, climate and natural disaster data reveals that certain counties in the United States are more at risk for natural impacts like severe storms, hurricanes and floods that often damage and destroy homes, putting lives and livelihoods at risk. Using data from government sources like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and others, The Weather Channel has compiled a list of the 50 worst counties in the U.S. to own a home, based entirely on natural factors. The list takes into account everything from the cost to heat and cool a home to weather-related deaths in homes. Scroll through to see if your county cracks the top 50. People come out of their homes to a flooded street after Hurricane Katrina hit the area with heavy wind and rain Aug. 29, 2005 in New Orleans. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) 1. Orleans Parish, Louisiana City: New Orleans Hurricane Katrina struck at New Orleans’ Achilles’ heel and revealed its chief vulnerability in the most devastating and dramatic way possible. Katrina’s huge wind circulation piled water from Lake Pontchartrain into the city’s canals, which eventually succumbed and flooded about 80 percent of the city. As a result, Orleans Parish – coterminous with the city of New Orleans – suffered more damage than any other county or county equivalent on our list, with most of its $21.6 billion total coming from Katrina. Adjusted for population, the damage tally of $57,000 per person ranks ninth in the nation out of 3,111 geographical areas analyzed. Hundreds of people died in New Orleans in Katrina’s flooding. Based on available data and research, we estimated 215 people died in their homes due to Katrina. Three other deaths in unrelated weather events push the death toll in homes in New Orleans to 218 over the course of our 1996-2013 survey period. Only the far more populous counties of Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) and Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania had more weather-related deaths in homes during that span (due mainly to heat waves). While the oldest portions of New Orleans were built on a natural levee along the Mississippi River, much of the city was later built on reclaimed cypress swamps. After being drained for development, much of that land has sunk below sea level due to soil subsidence. That leaves New Orleans dependent on mechanical pumping for drainage, and therefore highly vulnerable to flooding. As a result of these unique circumstances, FEMA rates Orleans Parish No. 1 among all county equivalents in the nation for flood-damage risk. Ivan Anthony Richard reads a newspaper Sept. 7, 2005, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 2. Hancock County, Mississippi Cities: Bay St. Louis, Waveland Hancock County, the westernmost of Mississippi’s three Gulf Coast counties, has taken hits from two catastrophic hurricanes in the past half-century. Hurricane Katrina made its final landfall on the western edge of the county in August 2005, putting most of the county in the dangerous eastern eyewall, where some of the highest winds and highest storm surge occurred. Waveland was virtually obliterated by Katrina’s storm surge, which exceeded 24 feet. The town gained notoriety as one of the hardest-hit communities in 1969’s Hurricane Camille, which made landfall as a Category 5 cyclone 36 years earlier. Neighboring Bay St. Louis was also devastated by both hurricanes. Katrina’s damage added up to an estimated $4.8 billion in this county of 45,000 residents, or about $107,000 per person, helping it to rank it fourth in the nation in our analysis. Of the 51 deaths here during Katrina, we estimate 18 of them were in homes, placing Hancock County in the top 1 percent of all county equivalents for weather-related home deaths per capita. While Hancock County predictably ranks high in our damage, death, flood risk and housing assistance categories, it also ranks high in wildfire risk, since 70 percent of the county is covered in pine forest. A residental area stands destroyed, Aug. 30, 2005, in Gulfport, Mississippi, following high winds and waves of Hurricane Katrina. (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images) 3. Harrison County, Mississippi Cities: Biloxi, Gulfport Hurricane Katrina’s highest confirmed storm surge occurred in Harrison County, home to the cities of Gulfport and Biloxi. FEMA collected and analyzed high-water marks from the devastated Mississippi Gulf Coast and found a maximum storm surge of 27.8 feet at Pass Christian. According to NOAA estimates, Harrison County incurred $8.57 billion in damage from Katrina – about two-thirds of it from storm surge and one-third from the hurricane’s winds. Katrina accounts for more than 97 percent of the county’s 1996 to 2013 weather-related damage tally. The county ranks 12th in the nation for per-capita damage, at $44,800 per person. Based on available research, we estimated 45 deaths in homes from Katrina in Harrison County, for a total of 47 when counting other weather-related fatalities. That ranks the county among the top 2 percent in the nation in per-capita weather deaths in homes. Katrina was no fluke. Hurricane Camille also devastated this area in 1969, and Harrison County averages about one tornado per year since detailed records began in 1953. Like the other two Mississippi Gulf Coast counties that made our list, 70 percent of Harrison County is covered by pine forest, giving it a significant wildfire risk. Mississippi residents scramble for donated goods handed out by members of the Alabama National Guard at a distribution center Sept. 4, 2005, in Pascagoula. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) 4. Jackson County, Mississippi City: Pascagoula The easternmost of the three Mississippi Gulf Coast counties is Jackson County, home to the city of Pascagoula. Like its neighbors to the west, Jackson County suffered tremendously from Hurricane Katrina. NOAA estimated $3.35 billion in damage, two-thirds of it from storm surge, in this county of 140,000 residents. That ranks it 15th in damage per capita among the 3,111 geographical areas in our survey. Katrina took 12 lives in the county, of which we estimated four were in homes. On a per-capita basis, Jackson County fares better than many of its neighbors on this measure. However, Jackson County is one of only two Mississippi counties to rank among the top 100 in the nation for wildfire risk (at No. 64, behind Perry County at No. 13), and it also leads the state in FEMA’s flood risk analysis (21st in the nation). An automobile and ruined houses are strewn amid the hurricane-battered southwest Louisiana coastal town of Cameron, Sept. 26, 2005. (Robert Sullivan/AFP/Getty Images) 5. Cameron Parish, Louisiana City: Cameron Cameron Parish was practically wiped out by Hurricane Rita in September 2005. Just three years later, Hurricane Ike sent as much as 14 feet of water into the parish again, flooding at least 3,000 homes. NOAA estimated Rita-related damage at $2.75 billion along with another $100 million from Ike. Combined with other more minor events, the total storm damage tally of $2.86 billion in this parish of fewer than 7,000 residents makes it the worst county equivalent in the nation in damage per capita. In just 18 years weather caused a whopping $424,000 in damage per person – nearly seven times the median annual household income here. Lying on a marshy portion of the Gulf Coast, FEMA ranks Cameron Parish second in the nation for flood risk, trailing behind only New Orleans. Additionally, the parish ranks ninth in the country and first in Louisiana for wildfire risk. With high scores in so many categories, the only factor that kept Cameron Parish out of our top slot overall was that there were no deaths in homes during the 1996-2013 survey period, which indicates residents safely fled the area ahead of those destructive hurricanes. Had there been even one death in a home, Cameron Parish would have vaulted to the top of our list. An American flag flies in front of a home damaged by Hurricane Sandy on Nov. 1, 2012, in Toms River, N.J. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) 6. Ocean County, New Jersey Cities: Lakehurst, Lakewood, Toms River, Seaside Heights, Point Pleasant Beach Ocean County, on the Jersey Shore due east of Philadelphia, is the most populous county in our top 10, with about 580,000 residents. Superstorm Sandy made landfall just south of the county in October 2012, causing enormous storm surge that battered the county’s highly developed coastline, including places such as Mantoloking, Point Pleasant Beach and Seaside Heights. Boardwalks and amusement parks were famously reduced to splinters, but thousands of homes were also ravaged by the seawater and Sandy’s high winds. NOAA estimated that Ocean County incurred $10 billion in damage from Sandy. For our 1996-2013 survey period, total damage was about $11.1 billion, trailing only the area’s northern neighbor, Monmouth County ($11.8 billion), and New Orleans (see above). In terms of damage per capita, Ocean and Monmouth counties rank No. 22 and No. 23 nationally, and No. 1 and No. 2 in the Northeast. What landed Ocean County at No. 6 and Monmouth County outside of the top 100 (No. 121)? Ocean County has a modest wildfire risk from the Pine Barrens in its interior, and Monmouth’s wildfire risk was too low to score any points. Ocean County also reported eight deaths in homes during the survey period to Monmouth County’s three, and Monmouth’s larger population reduces its per-capita damage and death scores. Donnie Panarello Sr., right, and Donnie Panarello Jr., left, pull dogs down a flooded street as they evacuate the hard-hit Chalmette community of St. Bernard Parish in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on Sept. 3, 2005. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) 7. St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana City: Chalmette More people died from weather-related causes on a per-capita basis in St. Bernard Parish than in any other location in our list. Only six counties fared worse in this measure, all of which were low-population counties where any deaths quickly escalated their per-capita rates. Kiowa County, Kansas, which has a population of only 2,523, ranked worst because of nine deaths in the 2007 Greensburg tornado. We estimated 43 deaths in homes in St. Bernard Parish, all in Hurricane Katrina, based on an estimated death toll of 120 there and published studies showing that about 36 percent of Katrina deaths in Louisiana occurred in private residences. This gave the parish a mortality rate of about one death per 1,000 people. Most of those deaths were from drowning, as the same flood problems that ravaged New Orleans spilled over into St. Bernard Parish as well. The damage was extraordinary, leading St. Bernard to rank third nationally in per-capita damage with about $222,500 in weather-related damage per person from 1996 to 2013. Given its similar geographic situation to adjacent Orleans Parish, St. Bernard understandably ranks eighth nationally for flood risk. Workers remove debris from Monte Calvario church after it was flood damaged by Hurricane Ike, Sept. 21, 2008, in Galveston, Texas. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) 8. Galveston County, Texas Cities: Galveston, League City Galveston is the home of the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history: the 1900 Galveston hurricane. At least 6,000 people – possibly many more – died in that disaster. Hurricane Ike came along 108 years later. While modern forecasting and the ability to evacuate people by motorized vehicle saved many lives, the storm still took a huge toll on the county. Storm surge did about $4 billion in damage, with another $1 billion attributed to the hurricane’s damaging winds. Both the city of Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula were hit hard. Ike accounted for the vast majority of the county’s $5.3 billion in storm damage in the 1996-2013 survey period. That’s about $17,200 in damage per person, 28th among the 3,111 locations in our survey. Ike also caused eight of the county’s 10 deaths in homes in that 18-year period. FEMA also ranks Galveston County among the top 50 county equivalents nationally for flood risk, at No. 39. Lead contaminated chat piles backdrop the effects of a tornado as a man surveys the damage May 14, 2008, in Picher, Okla. (Brandi Simons/Getty Images) 9. Ottawa County, Oklahoma Cities: Miami, Commerce, Quapaw. Former cities: Picher, Cardin The northeasternmost county in Oklahoma cracks our top 25 in large part due to a single catastrophic event. On May 10, 2008, an EF4 tornado packing winds up to 200 mph carved through Picher, destroying more than 100 homes in a 20-block area, killing six people and injuring 150. Picher was already on its last legs by the time the tornado devastated the area. In 1996 the EPA had declared the Ottawa County towns of Picher and Cardin uninhabitable due to the Tar Creek Superfund Site, a 40-square-mile area polluted by years of lead and zinc mining. Longtime residents of Picher stayed in the town well after the EPA declared the area uninhabitable, but after the tornado the federal government was able to convince many residents to take buyouts, effectively turning Picher into a ghost town. Picher, once one of the largest towns in Ottawa County, no longer exists. Now, nearly half of Ottawa Countys population lives in the community of Miami. The Picher tornado accounted for three of Ottawa Countys four deaths in homes, boosting its score significantly. Interestingly, infamous as this tornado was, it accounted for only one-sixth of the county’s $90 million damage toll from 1996 to 2013. Most of the rest came from a $50-million ice storm and a $20-million flood that occurred five months apart in 2007. Still, without the Picher tornado, Ottawa County would have ranked no higher than 26th. In addition, Ottawa County has experienced at least seven 300-acre or larger wildfires since 1994, a relatively large amount for a county as small as Ottawa. The Delaware County Courthouse is seen in this undated image. (Puddog/Wikimedia) 10. Delaware County, New York Cities: Delhi, Sidney This county in the Catskill Mountains rates above the national median for flood risk, according to FEMA, and in June 2006 that flood risk was illustrated to devastating effect. A frontal boundary stalled late in the month and interacted with moist tropical air to wring out up to 15 inches of rain in three days over the county’s rugged terrain, resulting in severe flash flooding. Many towns suffered severe damage to their business districts and many homes were inundated. NOAA estimated $275 million in damage to this county of 47,000 people. While that was by far the worst flood in recent years, Delaware County also racked up $85 million in damage from a multitude of other lesser floods, boosting its damage total to $370 million, or nearly $8,000 per person, sixth highest in the Northeast and in the top 3 percent nationally. Delaware County’s score is further boosted by four flood deaths in homes and an energy cost index much higher than most other parts of the country. Among the locations that made our top 50 list, only Alaska’s boroughs and census areas have higher costs for home heating and cooling. Water floods an above-ground cemetery outside Saint Patricks Church in Plaquemines Parish, Sept. 11, 2005, in Port Sulphur, Louisiana. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) 11. Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana Cities: Belle Chasse, Pointe à la Hache, Boothville, Venice Like the other Louisiana parishes high on our list, hurricanes and storm surge are serious vulnerabilities for the southeasternmost parish in the Bayou State. Katrina did the most damage by far to this parish of 23,000 residents, accounting for just over $7 billion. However, 2012’s slow-moving Hurricane Isaac did another $50 million in damage to the parish, and NOAA recorded at least $2 million in damage each from Hurricane Georges (1998); Tropical Storm Isidore and Hurricane Lili (2002); Tropical Storm Bill (2003); and Hurricane Cindy (July 2005). With over $305,000 in damage per resident from 1996 to 2013, Plaquemines Parish ranks behind only Cameron Parish (see above) in our measure of weather’s financial toll. As one might expect, given its position jutting into the Gulf of Mexico at the delta of the Mississippi River, the parish ranks sixth in the country in FEMA’s flood risk. The Hodgson Mill uses a natural spring to power their buhrstones, in Gainesville, Missouri. (Getty Images) 12. Ozark County, Missouri City: Gainesville Theres not a particular factor that catapults Ozark County into the top 25, but rather a combination of high scores across multiple categories. The area has a history of tornadoes, though most are weaker and short-lived. According to the National Weather Service, from 1950 to 2008 there were 26 confirmed tornadoes in Ozark County, 21 of which were rated F1 or lower. However, that doesnt mean the county doesnt experience catastrophic severe weather. On April 2, 1982, a half-mile-wide F4 tornado cut through 20 miles of Ozark County, killing two and injuring 28 en route to an estimated $50 million in damage. Flooding is a nearly annual occurrence in the county, particularly in low-lying areas. Ozark County features seven watersheds, all of which are susceptible to flooding after heavy rainfall events. Temperatures can soar in the summer, with averages well into the 90s. Couple that with occasional droughts, thick foliage and thunderstorms, and Ozark County sees its fair share of wildfires. Flora Jean Keogh, 69, hangs laundry at her house in Galena, Alaska, on July 29, 2010. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images) 13. Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska Cities: Galena, Fort Yukon, McGrath, Tanana, Bettles Three factors push this vast, sparsely populated area of Alaska – Yukon-Koyukuk is the most sparsely populated county equivalent in the U.S. – into our top 25: the cost to heat and cool (but lets be real, mostly heat) a home, weather-related damage per capita and wildfires. Roughly 6,000 people live in the entire census area, which is about the size of Germany, and those who do must pay the price to stay warm. The Yukon-Koyukuk census area garners the third-highest score on our energy index. Alaska as a whole dominated the energy index category because of its number of heating degree days. Heating degree days occur when the average of the high and low temperature is below 65 degrees; the number of heating degree days on a given day is simply the daily average temperature subtracted from 65. Heating degree days can be added up over a season or a year to estimate heating demand. The converse is true of cooling degree days, which add up in hot weather, but 99.8 percent of Yukon-Koyukuk’s degree days are heating degree days. Because of the often exorbitant cost for fuels to generate sufficient heat to warm a home in Alaska, homes’ sky-high heating needs are a huge expense for residents. Unlike, say Florida, where most homes feature central heat and air systems, homes in Alaska use fuel-based heating methods like boilers and furnaces to provide sufficient warmth during the winter. In fact, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, of the 2,061 occupied residences across the Yukon-Koyukok census area, nearly half (1,018) use some sort of liquid fossil fuel like fuel oil or kerosene. Only 13 residences warmed their homes with electricity, and a large portion of residences (982) used wood as a source of fuel. Fuel costs in Alaska can reach such heights that both federal and state governments supplement a heating assistance program to help low-income families warm their homes during Alaskas brutal winters. When it finally warms up, a new risk arises: fires. From 1994 to 2013 there were 841 wildfires 300 acres or larger, more than twice as many as the next county on the list, Collier County, Florida, with 344. Our wildfire index adjusts that total based on land area, meaning that Yukon-Koyukuk doesnt take home the highest score for the wildfire category, but still the potential for large, destructive wildfires during the summer months is a real threat to homeowners. Margaret McDonald of Winston County, Mississippi, hadnt even made the first payment on her new car when it was destroyed by a tornado in Kemper County on April 27, 2011. (John Fitzhugh/Biloxi Sun Herald/MCT via Getty Images) 14. Kemper County, Mississippi City: DeKalb Mississippi is vulnerable to many natural hazards – most famously hurricanes, tornadoes and river flooding, but also forest fires and even the risk that the New Madrid Fault in southeast Missouri could someday reawaken and rattle the northern part of this state. Specifically, though, Kemper County’s high ranking is an unlucky combination of $100 million in damage from Hurricane Katrina’s inland wind swath, $20 million in damage from tornadoes and hailstorms and three deaths in mobile homes from an EF5 tornado in the April 2011 Super Outbreak. Those numbers set against a population of barely 10,000 puts Kemper County in the top 2 percent nationally in both deaths and damage per capita, ranking 36th in the former and 45th in the latter out of 3,111 locations. Kemper County is not Mississippis most fire-prone county, historically. However, 85.9 percent of the county is covered in forest, and 96.5 percent of those 420,000 acres are under private ownership. If a serious drought should return, one spark could be all it takes to bring another disaster to homeowners in this disaster-prone county. Flooding is seen on May 9, 2011 in Memphis. (Getty Images, file) 15. Shelby County, Tennessee Cities: Memphis, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown Shelby Countys westernmost boundary straddles the Mississippi River, so it may come as no surprise that Tennessees most populous county scores high in both flood risk and flood-related home damage per capita. One of the most recent examples came a little more than three years ago, when months of heavy rain fell on the Mississippi River watershed, including a six-day stretch of rainfall during which more than 10 inches of rain fell on some areas of the region. Eventually that water found its way into the main waterway, the Mississippi River, and caused the river to swell to near record-breaking levels. With the Mississippi River at capacity, tributaries like creeks and streams burst their banks in residential areas of Shelby County, causing widespread flooding in neighborhoods across the county. And on May 10, 2011, flooding in Shelby County reached new heights, literally, when the Mississippi River crested at nearly 48 feet, inundating low-lying neighborhoods of its biggest city, Memphis. Preliminary damage assessments conducted by FEMA estimated that more than 1,000 homes were impacted by the flooding and associated severe storms, including an estimated 601 homes that were destroyed across five Tennessee counties, Shelby County among them. Those preliminary figures were likely surpassed by the actuals, given that, according to the New York Times, more than 3,000 properties in Shelby County alone were affected by 2011s floods. Even though flooding is the most immediate risk, Shelby County also scores high on the earthquake index due to its location inside the New Madrid Seismic Zone. In a recent report, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) outlined new, elevated risks for strong earthquakes in the area, which stretches from southern Illinois down along the borders of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. A student takes a picture with her iPhone on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi after a tornado touched down on Feb. 11, 2013, in Hattiesburg. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images) 16. Forrest County, Mississippi Cities: Hattiesburg, Petal Forrest County is another of Mississippi’s inland counties ravaged by Hurricane Katrina’s large swath of damaging winds. Falling trees contributed significantly to a $750 million damage bill from Katrina. Based on available information, we estimated that three of the county’s Katrina-related deaths were in private residences. Katrina dwarfs the second-costliest storm, an EF3 tornado that struck the county seat, Hattiesburg, in February 2013. That storm added $25 million to the tally. At $800 million from all weather-related damage combined, Forrest County suffered $10,400 in losses per person from 1996 to 2013, ranking 61st in the nation. Wildfire risk is another major concern for local homeowners. While Forrest County was not named for its forests -- it was named for Confederate War general Nathan B. Forrest -- the county nonetheless sports a dense tree cover, with woodlands covering 78.7 percent of its land area in 2006 according to the Mississippi Institute for Forest Inventory. (mfc.ms.gov/pdf/Info/FF/Other/Forest_Statistic_2006_MFC.pdf) In fact, Mississippi State University reports that forestry and forest products generated nearly $65 million in wages and 1,567 jobs in 2007 here, offering many homeowners a solid financial reward for dealing with the countys high levels of natural disaster risk. (msucares/forestry/economics/counties/forrest.html) Real estate agents arrive at a brokers tour showing a house for sale on May 17, 2007, in San Rafael, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) 17. Marin County, California Cities: San Rafael, Novato, Mill Valley, Sausalito Drive north out of San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge and youll end up in Marin County, home to picturesque cliffside Pacific Ocean and bayside views, multimillion dollar mansions and one of the worst places to own a home in the U.S. Marin Countys rank has less to do with what happened in recent years, and more to do with what could happen. The county earns the highest score in both measures of earthquake risk for its location above a tectonic hotbed of sorts. Seven fault zones, including the notorious San Andreas Fault, weave through the San Francisco Bay area, including Marin County. When strong earthquakes hit the San Francisco Bay area, the results can be catastrophic. In 1989, the magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake struck nearly 100 miles to the south of Marin County and 60 miles to the south of San Francisco, but still managed to cause serious damage. The quake killed 63 people across California, and according to the USGS, racked up some $10 billion in property damage. And the episode 83 years earlier was even worse. On April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake destroyed much of Santa Rosa to the north of Marin County, and more famously, San Francisco to its south. Buildings crumbled, fires ignited and burned 500 city blocks to the ground, 3,000 people died and 200,000 others were left homeless. Couple earthquake risk with flood risk and Marin County easily breaks into our top 25. Marin County’s rugged terrain, carved up by dozens of short streams in narrow valleys, gives residents a higher than average potential for flood loss. Floods are most likely in the winter, during northern California’s occasional bouts with prolonged heavy rain from Pacific storms. While a large portion of Marin Countys land juts up to bodies of water, including the Pacific Ocean, San Pablo Bay, Richardson Bay and Drakes Bay, less than 1 percent of its flood damage between 1996 and 2013 came from coastal flooding. Most of the damage came from rainfall-induced floods, including the December 2005 to January 2006 event that caused more than $100 million in losses and affected 1,600 homes across the county. And though Marin County experienced only three wildfires 300 acres or larger from 1994 to 2013, the potential exists, especially given Californias ongoing worst drought in recorded history. Former President George W. Bush, center, talks to residents as he tours a neighbourhood affected by Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 5, 2005, in Poplarville, Mississippi. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) 18. Pearl River County, Mississippi Cities: Picayune, Poplarville Pearl River County lies just north of Hancock County (see above) and took a severe blow from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Katrina’s highest measured wind gust on land in Mississippi, 134 mph, occurred in Poplarville, the county seat. The extreme winds caused $1.1 billion in damage to this county of 55,000 people, accounting for about 99 percent of its entire storm damage total from 1996 to 2013. At $20,400 per person, Pearl River County is 19th in the nation for per-capita storm damage. Above-average scores for flood risk, fire risk, and deaths per capita (all six were from Katrina) help drive this county into the top 20 worst places to own a home in the nation. Tornado damage is seen in Hurricane Creek mobile home park, April 4, 2008 in Benton, Arkansas. (AP Photo/Mike Wintroath) 19. Saline County, Arkansas City: Benton Just to the southwest of downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, lies Saline County, a serene suburban zone that zig-zags through a chunk of central Arkansas. The area scores high in just about every category, save for the energy index, but of particular note is the countys history of severe weather and destructive storms. On March 1, 1997, a supercell spawned an F4 tornado just outside of Saline Countys most populous city, Benton. The twister destroyed everything in its path as it moved to the northeast, cutting through 27 miles of land before dissipating just outside of Little Rock. Saline County took the brunt of the damage, particularly the town of Shannon Hills, where nearly 100 homes were destroyed. Tragically, 10 people in Saline County lost their lives in the event. Seven of those were in site-built or mobile homes, accounting for most of the county’s deaths-per-capita score. History would repeat itself less than two years later, on Jan. 17, 1999, when an F3 tornado touched down near Shannon Hills in Saline County, before moving into the Little Rock area, where it destroyed a grocery store and killed three people. In fact, in the 18-year period of detailed data analyzed, NOAA listed property damage in Benton County from 20 different tornadoes totaling $63 million, nearly two-thirds of all weather-related damage in the county. However, even without those tornadoes, Saline County would place within our top 100. Four watersheds also occupy Saline County, elevating flood risk after heavy rain events. Finally, the area also falls within the New Madrid seismic zone, albeit less so than Tennessees Shelby County, but enough to elevate FEMA earthquake risk scores and push Saline County into our top 25. William Tipler tries to find his glasses in whats left of his bedroom after severe weather tore the roof off his house in Ashland, Mississippi, while he slept in the bed, May 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Thomas Wells) 20. Benton County, Mississippi City: Ashland Fewer than 10,000 people call this small, north-central Mississippi county home, but the area still experiences big impacts from weather-related events. Benton County, located in the heart of the so-called Dixie Alley, is exposed to regular severe weather, including deadly tornadoes. During the overnight hours of May 2, 2010, an EF3 tornado touched down just outside of Benton Countys most populous city, Ashland. The tornado would travel more than 27 miles to the northeast and into Tennessee, destroying at least 30 homes and killing three people before finally lifting. Thomas Cowan, 26, and his girlfriend Latoya Long, 25, were both killed in Benton County when the tornado shredded their mobile home as they slept, WLBT reported. Counties in Mississippi received the second highest total of FEMA individual housing assistance per capita due to a rash of weather-related catastrophes, just like the May 2, 2010 tragedy. And though the area has experienced only five wildfires of at least 300 acres since 1994, that total becomes much more significant when adjusted for Benton Countys land area. At just over 406 square miles, Benton County is less than half the average size of a county in the U.S., meaning every large fire has a much greater risk of having impacting homes in the county. On top of that, 70 percent of Benton County’s land is forest, increasing the potential risk for large-scale wildfires across the area. Officials survey a home damaged on County Road 10 in Arkansas Cherokee County on March 15, 2008. (AP Photo/The Anniston Star, Bill Wilson) 21. Cherokee County, Alabama City: Centre Cherokee County did not rank in the top 100 of any particular category on our list, but places high on a combination of solid scores in many categories. This northeast Alabama county has been raked by many tornadoes over the years. These include a killer tornado in the Palm Sunday outbreak of 1994, not included in our damage period of 1996-2013, and a destructive tornado in the April 2011 Super Outbreak, which accounts for about three-fourths of the county’s $24 million in damage in our tally. From 1996 to 2013 there were three deaths in homes, all from November tornadoes (two in 2001 and one in 2002). The county also has significant flood and wildfire risks given its position in the forested ridge-and-valley region of the southern Appalachians. Alabama’s frequent encounters with hurricanes and tornadoes mean Cherokee County, along with all other Alabama counties, scored high in both FEMA’s housing assistance, and our home damage index from federally declared disasters. A tent city for the homeless sits in the shadow of high-rise casinos Oct. 6, 2008, in downtown Reno. (Max Whittaker/Getty Images) 22. Washoe County, Nevada Cities: Reno, Sparks More than 2.7 million people call Nevada home, but more than two-thirds of those all live in two counties: Clark and Washoe. Nevada certainly has its fair share of arid desert, but Washoe County actually features dozens of lakes and skirts the northeastern boundaries of Lake Tahoe. Reno, Washoe Countys largest city, traces its origins back to the Truckee River, which meanders through the heart of town. Reno’s relationship to the river turned ugly in January 1997, when the Truckee burst its banks after an abrupt change in the weather pattern. After a massive snowstorm dumped up to 8 feet of snow on the nearby Sierra Nevada just before Christmas 1996, the weather suddenly warmed dramatically and brought heavy rain to mountain elevations as high as 11,700 feet. Scientists estimated that 25 inches of rainfall and snowmelt runoff drained from the upper Truckee River basin. This resulted in a disastrous flood on the Truckee River in Reno and nearby Sparks, flooding hundreds of homes and businesses as well as Reno-Tahoe International Airport and causing $500 million in damage in Reno and Sparks alone. Amazingly, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated this to be a less than 50-year flood. The amount of property at risk of such floods elevates Washoe County in FEMAs flood risk indicator, although the county still ranks sixth in the state in the category. Homeowners in Washoe must also contend with an abundance of large wildfires. According to a 2009 study prepared by Wildland Fire Associates for the Nevada Fire Board, 65 percent of Washoe County has a moderate to high risk for wildfires. And the data seems to support that. More than one hundred 300 acre or greater fires broke out in the county from 1994 to 2013, the 29th most out of any county in the U.S. Fires destroyed homes in the Reno area as recently as 2012. More than 10,000 people were evacuated in a January 2012 fire that burned through more than 3,000 acres, destroying 29 homes and killing a 93-year-old woman. A neighboring farm is seen through a broken and dirty window at an abandoned farmhouse on Feb. 6, 2014 near Bakersfield, California. (David McNew/Getty Images) 23. Kern County, California Cities: Bakersfield, Delano, Ridgecrest, Wasco Kern County carves out a massive, 8,100-plus-square-mile chunk of south-central California. Along with that size comes an elevated natural disaster risk. Like so many other California counties, Kern is at a tremendous risk for powerful earthquakes due to its location above active fault zones. The most notorious of these faults might just be the White Wolf Fault, a nearly 17-mile-long fault just a few miles to the southeast of Kern Countys most populous city of Bakersfield. The White Wolf Fault is responsible for the last major earthquake to hit Kern County. More than six decades ago, on July 21, 1952, a magnitude-7.2 tremblor ruptured the White Wolf Fault, causing damage as far south as San Diego. The earthquake killed 12 people and caused at least $50 million in property damage, including at least 100 buildings in Kern County that were beyond repair and had to be demolished. Unlike earthquakes, fires are a much more immediate threat. Kern County experienced the ninth most 300-acre or larger fires from 1994 to 2013, racking up 192 such blazes. Just this August the so-called Way Fire destroyed at least eight homes and 10 other buildings in Kern County as it charred more than 4,000 acres of land. In fact, according to CalFire, there have already been four wildfires in Kern County this year, underlying the vulnerability of this large, forest-rich county. Four houses are surrounded by floodwaters from the Current River just outside Doniphan, Missouri, April 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Daily American Republic, Paul Davis) 24. Ripley County, Missouri City: Doniphan Ripley County, located just two counties to the east of Ozark County (see No. 12) in far southern Missouri, sneaks into the top 25 because of above average scores in nearly every category save for the cost to heat and cool a home. The area has a history of severe storms, including one that spawned an F2 tornado that destroyed homes and killed a 74-year-old man in November 2005. In April of this year, an EF2 tornado ripped through Ripley County again, but luckily the twister was limited to a mostly rural area of the county and didnt cause any injuries or deaths. Of course, tornadoes arent the only threat to homeowners. Damaging wind events also take place across Missouri and Ripley County. In 2009, a macroburst with wind gusts up to 90 mph ripped apart the roof of the Ripley County courthouse and a nearby business. Largely because of its history with severe weather, Missouri also earns the highest possible rating for the composite damage index, a measure of the severity of home damage across multiple destructive weather-related events. Residents of Mena, Arkansas, look over tornado damaged areas on April 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Mike Wintroath) 25. Polk County, Arkansas City: Mena This far western Arkansas county shares a border and a history of severe weather with Oklahoma. Though the county earns higher than average marks across the board, Polk Countys highest scores come in two categories: storm damage dollars per capita and deaths in homes. Those scores were bolstered by a number of severe weather events, a few of which turned deadly. On April 9, 2009, a line of severe thunderstorms spawned at least two tornadoes in Polk County, including an EF3 tornado that hit Mena, the countys largest and most populous city. The tornado devastated the town of about 6,000 people, destroying hundreds of buildings, including homes. Three people died in the incident and around 30 others were injured. And detailed data from our survey period (1996 to 2013) just missed the tornado that hit Mena before 2009s twister. In November 1993, an F2 tornado tore through Mena and damaged buildings downtown. At least two people were injured in that event. Polk County, home to a portion of the Ouachita National Forest, is also susceptible to wildfires. There were just five 300-acre or larger wildfires in the county from 1994 to 2013, but the area has a rich history with wildfires, albeit not in recent years. In a history of Arkansas fire lookout towers, Mattie Robinson, a former fire watch tower operator, said that we [fire tower operators] probably reported 50 fires each year, sometimes several in one day if conditions were bad. And a piece of the Polk Countys fire history still stands as a reminder of wildfire risk. You can visit and climb to the top of Rich Mountain Fire tower, the only remaining fire watch tower in Polk County. See the remaining 25 counties for the worst place to own a home here. Our Methodology The seven factors in our index are taken from nine different data sets. Dollar losses per capita were taken from property damage estimates published in the National Climatic Data Center’s Storm Events Database for events occurring between Jan. 1, 1996, and Dec. 31, 2013. This period was chosen because the most thorough data for all types of weather events in NCDC’s database begins in 1996. The data were quality controlled to remove obvious errors. For several counties in the New York City area, where NCDC figures were missing or incomplete, damage from Superstorm Sandy was estimated using figures from the state of New York’s damage recovery request. Total dollar losses over the 18-year period were divided by the 2013 Census estimated population for each geographic area. The score was standardized by assigning 100 points to the location with the highest value ($424,057.68 in Cameron Parish, Louisiana) and scaling all other counties proportionally using a logarithmic scale. Deaths in homes per capita were taken from data published published in the National Climatic Data Center’s Storm Events Database for events occurring between Jan. 1, 1996, and Dec. 31, 2013. The database classifies storm-related deaths by the location in which they occurred; for our index, only the “Permanent Home” and “Mobile/Trailer Home” categories counted toward our index. Deaths from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi were notably absent in the NCDC database; we estimated the number of deaths in homes using available data, including a 2008 study published in the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. Total deaths in homes over the 18-year period were divided by the 2013 Census estimated population for each geographic area. The score was standardized by assigning 100 points to the location with the highest value (Kiowa County, Kansas) and scaling all other counties proportionally using a logarithmic scale. For dollar losses and deaths, some events were categorized by National Weather Service zone rather than by county. In those cases the authors made every effort to assign the damage or death toll to the appropriate geographic area(s) based on available information, but where that was not possible, the damage or death toll was generally assigned to each county or equivalent area within the NWS zone proportional to its population. Energy cost index was computed by first calculating the estimated amount of energy required to heat and cool a home, determined by computing the combined number of heating degree days and cooling degree days for each climate division in the contiguous U.S., using official 1981-2010 normals from the National Climatic Data Center. The values were then assigned to each county equivalent within the climate division. For counties (mainly in the West) split among two or more climate divisions, the climate division representing the most populated area of the county was used (generally determined using the location of the county’s center of population, as determined by the U.S. Census Bureau). For Alaska and Hawaii, values for each area were computed using representative climate sites within each county, borough or census area. For the District of Columbia, the value was computed using data from Reagan National Airport. For each geographic area, the energy demand was multiplied by the average cost of electricity per kilowatt-hour in its state using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. While electricity is not the only means of heating and cooling homes, we used this as a reasonable proxy for energy cost. The score was standardized by assigning 200 points to the location with the highest value (North Slope Borough, Alaska) and scaling all other counties proportionally using a linear scale. We assigned a maximum of 200 points to this category because unlike disasters, energy costs are an everyday fact of life for most homeowners. Flood risk was determined using the total average annualized flood loss per capita for each county equivalent from FEMA’s HAZUS Average Annualized Flood Loss data. The score was standardized by assigning 100 points to the location with the highest value (Orleans Parish, Louisiana) and scaling all other counties proportionally using a logarithmic scale. Fire risk was determined using the number of wildfires of 300 acres or larger in size for each county equivalent from 1994 to 2013, using the U.S. Geological Survey’s Federal Fire Occurrence Database. The number of fires was divided by the land area for each county equivalent. The score was standardized by assigning 100 points to the location with the most fires per unit area (Collier County, Florida) and scaling all other counties proportionally using a logarithmic scale. Quake risk was determined using two sets of data from FEMA’s HAZUS MH Estimated Annualized Earthquake Losses data. The first was annualized estimated household displacement, indicating the number of households that can expect to be displaced from their homes due to earthquake damage per year, averaged over a very long period of time. This value is available at a state level. The second was the annualized earthquake loss ratio for major metropolitan areas. This is an estimate of the amount of dollar losses per year, proportional to the total value of all property, within selected Census Metropolitan Statistical Areas in seismic risk zones, averaged over a very long period of time. These values were assigned to each county or county equivalent within the listed MSAs. The score was standardized by assigning 50 points to the location with the highest value in each half of the index, and scaling all other areas proportionally for that metric using a logarithmic scale. The values were then combined, with a maximum possible score of 100. Home damage was determined using two sets of data from FEMA. The first was Preliminary Damage Assessment Reports from FEMA documents. These documents described different categories of damage or destruction to homes in various natural disasters. Point values were assigned to the damage categories and multiplied by the number of homes in each damage category to come up with a “Composite Damage Index” for each state. This value was then standardized by assigning 50 points to the state with the highest value (Missouri), and scaling all other states proportionally for that metric using a logarithmic scale. The second was federally approved housing assistance, in dollars, from federal disaster declarations involving natural events. (Man-made disasters such as explosions and chemical spills were not included.) The dollar figures were summed for each state. This value was then standardized by assigning 50 points to the state with the highest value (Louisiana), and scaling all other states proportionally for that metric using a logarithmic scale. The home damage score was computed by adding the two values together for each state and assigning that score to all geographic areas within each state. The maximum possible score was 100, though no location actually earned 100 points. Geographic units of analysis: We analyzed data for 3,111 geographical areas in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. For the vast majority of the country, these were counties. In Louisiana, parishes were used. We counted the independent cities of Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; and Carson City, Nevada, as separate counties. In Virginia, we combined most independent cities with their adjacent or surrounding counties, following the practice established by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U.S. Department of Commerce, but the independent cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News were analyzed separately. In Alaska we analyzed the data by borough; for the Unorganized Borough we used the census areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. In Hawaii we used the counties, except that we combined Maui County with the very tiny Kalawao County. In the special case of Monroe County, Florida, we analyzed the mainland portion separately from the Florida Keys portion because they were treated separately in the federal fire risk data, and the stark difference between the two in geography, natural hazards, and population density supported extending that distinction across all other county-level categories. Credits Research, Reporting and Story: Nick Wiltgen, Digital Meteorologist, and Eric Zerkel, Associate Editor Photo Editing and Design: Edecio Martinez, Senior Editor Editing: Patty Cox, Managing Editor Company Sitemap Support Feedback Careers About Us Press Room Advertising Advertise- Self Service Explore Storm Encyclopedia Weather Glossary Top 100 U.S. Cities Search by State City Guides Hurricanes Top Social Weather Cities TOR:CON Partners The Home Depot Project of the Week WebMD Asthma & Allergy Center Web Hosting at GoDaddy Breaking News Our Products Desktop Weather Mobile Products WEATHER? 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Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:35:00 +0000
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