Cleburne County, Alabama

What hazards hit Cleburne County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 94 since 1970. The rank column places the county among Alabama's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county and forecast-zone records attributed to the county; a zone record shows its own totals on each county it covers). Days: dates with at least one record of the hazard in the county. Ranks: days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer), since 1950 for tornadoes, 1955 for hail and thunderstorm wind, 1996 for the rest.

How many tornadoes has Cleburne County had?

NOAA records 21 tornadoes in Cleburne County from 1957 to 2026, the strongest rated F3, with 0 deaths and 9 injuries recorded in the county. A tornado that crossed a county line is counted in each county it touched, with the length of its path inside the county.

Counted as whole tornadoes rather than county records, the Storm Prediction Center's database holds 20 tornadoes whose track touched Cleburne County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 21: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 2 people, 0 of them in Cleburne County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Alabama.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, tornado records by county (path length in the county, maximum width); ratings as published: F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after. Whole-track figures: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (1950-2025). SPC severe weather database.

When was the last damaging storm in Cleburne County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the August 3, 2025 flash flood (1 death and 1 injury).

Heavy rain fell over Cleburne County for several hours during the early morning of August 3. Rainfall totals across the southern part of the county between Ranburne and Heflin were generally up to 5-8, with as high as 8-10 estimated by radar in the area of Turkey Heaven Mountain and corroborated by local reports. Numerous roadways were flooded or washed out, along with a bridge on CR 640. Impacted roadways included CR 10 at CR 635, CR 41, CR 633, and CR 640 all around Knokes Creek. Around 4:40 am CDT, a vehicle became stranded in high water on CR 10 at CR 635, and the occupant needed to be rescued. Around 6:20 am CDT, another vehicle became stuck in floodwaters along CR 41. Two occupants of the vehicle were swept away. One was rescued with minor injuries, while the second was found deceased a couple hours later. …
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1269633)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; every record of 2025-2026 is listed, earlier ones when they caused deaths, injuries or $250,000 of damage (2025 dollars), and every tornado.

The deadliest and costliest records

A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths and injuries direct and indirect; damage is property plus crops as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars.

Is it getting more frequent?

Records per decade for Cleburne County's most frequent hazards. Counts rose everywhere after 1996, when NOAA began recording every event type, so compare decades within a hazard's complete period only (the shaded cells come before it).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records per calendar decade; zone records from the CZ_TYPE field (Z).

What time of year?

Records by month in Cleburne County. The two busiest months are in violet.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.

Federal disaster declarations for Cleburne County

FEMA's register lists 22 declarations that include Cleburne County: 11 major disasters, 11 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for hurricane (8) and severe storm (6).

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), declarations through October 2, 2026; one declaration is counted once however many areas it names. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk for Cleburne County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Cleburne County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $6.0 million. These are FEMA's model estimates of future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of what happened; they can differ from the record above.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

Counties that share a border with Cleburne County

1. Talladega County 631
2. Carroll County, GA 606
3. Calhoun County 594
4. Cherokee County 494
5. Polk County, GA 457
6. Randolph County 424
7. Clay County 349
8. Haralson County, GA 326
9. Cleburne County 281

Source: U.S. Census Bureau county adjacency file; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950. The Census Bureau's adjacency file.

Next

• Tornadoes in AlabamaEvery Alabama tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in AlabamaThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Alabama recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Cleburne CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Cleburne County's FEMA declarations (CSV)22 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis