Franklin County, Kansas

What hazards hit Franklin County most?

The most frequent records are hail reports: 250 since 1959. 51% of its hail reports since 1959 fell in April and May. The rank column places the county among Kansas'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 Franklin County had?

NOAA records 29 tornadoes in Franklin County from 1951 to 2026, the strongest rated F5, with 3 deaths and 17 injuries recorded in the county. That is 49th of 105 Kansas counties by days with tornadoes per 1,000 square miles since 1950. 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 30 tornadoes whose track touched Franklin County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 29: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 44 people, 3 of them in Franklin County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Kansas.

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 Franklin County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the April 13, 2026 tornado (3 injuries).

NWS storm survey revealed a tornado formed a few miles west of Ottawa and proceeded to move ESE through the southern parts of the city of Ottawa. The tornado turned to the ENE as it exited to the city and moved across interstate 35 doing more damage to structures before it ended near the Marais des Cygness River. The tornado produced EF2 damage with estimated winds of 120-125 mph throughout the southern parts of the city of Ottawa and to other structures to the ENE of the city before it ended. There were 3 non serious injuries reported at a home near the end point of the tornado.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1318032)

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 Franklin 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?

51% of its hail reports since 1959 fell in April and May. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Franklin County

FEMA's register lists 22 declarations that include Franklin County: 18 major disasters, 4 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (14) and biological (2).

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.

How many floods has Franklin County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 68 flood or flash flood records for Franklin County from 1996 to 2025, on 46 days, with 1 death. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Franklin County ranks 1944th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $711,000 on 28 claims filed in Franklin County; the most in one year was 10 in 2007. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026; claims by year of loss, payments in the dollars of the year paid. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk for Franklin County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Franklin County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $15.5 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 Franklin County

1. Johnson County 1,514
2. Douglas County 1,068
3. Osage County 1,025
4. Franklin County 740
5. Coffey County 657
6. Anderson County 540
7. Miami County 532
8. Linn County 404

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 KansasEvery Kansas tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Hail in KansasThe state's hail reports, by county, year and month
• The Kansas recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Franklin CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Franklin County's FEMA declarations (CSV)22 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis