Freeborn County, Minnesota

What hazards hit Freeborn County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 166 since 1958. 64% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1958 fell in June and July. The rank column places the county among Minnesota'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 Freeborn County had?

NOAA records 72 tornadoes in Freeborn County from 1952 to 2026, the strongest rated EF4, with 14 deaths and 92 injuries recorded in the county. That is 1st of 87 Minnesota 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 69 tornadoes whose track touched Freeborn County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 72: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 20 people, 14 of them in Freeborn County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Minnesota.

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 Freeborn County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the July 5, 2022 flash flood ($303,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

Heavy rain caused flooding across much of western, southern, and central Freeborn County, with significant damage to numerous roads, bridges, and ditches in multiple townships, affecting areas in and near Shell Rock Watershed. Flooding caused major damage to two homes in Alden and two in Albert Lea, with walls collapsed. One more home in Albert Lea sustained minor damage. Local media also showed two vehicles fully submerged at the intersection of Franks Avenue and East 8th Street in Albert Lea. There were also cars submerged in a parking lot on Main Street and South Washington Avenue.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1033374)

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 Freeborn 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?

64% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1958 fell in June and July. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Freeborn County

FEMA's register lists 21 declarations that include Freeborn County: 19 major disasters, 2 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for flood (8) and severe storm (7).

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 Freeborn County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 28 flood or flash flood records for Freeborn County from 1998 to 2025, on 23 days, with 3 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Freeborn County ranks 1710th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $902,000 on 45 claims filed in Freeborn County; the most in one year was 7 in 1993. 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 Freeborn County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Freeborn County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $17.2 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 Freeborn County

1. Mower County 732
2. Freeborn County 616
3. Winnebago County, IA 542
4. Worth County, IA 513
5. Faribault County 499
6. Waseca County 492
7. Steele County 420

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 MinnesotaEvery Minnesota tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in MinnesotaThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Minnesota recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Freeborn CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Freeborn County's FEMA declarations (CSV)21 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis