Garland County, Arkansas

What hazards hit Garland County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 346 since 1956. The rank column places the county among Arkansas'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 Garland County had?

NOAA records 41 tornadoes in Garland County from 1955 to 2024, the strongest rated EF3, with 1 death and 58 injuries recorded in the county. That is 21st of 75 Arkansas 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 40 tornadoes whose track touched Garland County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 41: 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, 1 of them in Garland County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Arkansas.

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 Garland County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the January 2, 2023 tornado (2 injuries and $4.8 million in damage in 2025 dollars).

This tornado began just to the southwest of Jessieville, causing tree damage around an Arkansas Forestry Commission building. The tornado then quickly moved northeast into Jessieville, and caused damage to a few homes in town. Most notably, damage was noted to several buildings on the campus of Jessieville High School, and three out of four fixed light poles for the football field were bent over. The tornado continued to move northeast, doing damage to a pole barn just north of town, before finally dissipating.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1069133)

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

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 Garland 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 Garland County. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Garland County

FEMA's register lists 21 declarations that include Garland County: 13 major disasters, 8 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (5) and flood (4).

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 Garland County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 78 flood or flash flood records for Garland County from 1996 to 2026, on 64 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Garland County ranks 798th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $4.3 million on 271 claims filed in Garland County; the most in one year was 35 in 2008. 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 Garland County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Garland County Relatively Moderate overall, with an expected annual loss of $57.1 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 Garland County

1. Saline County 976
2. Garland County 954
3. Hot Spring County 728
4. Yell County 722
5. Montgomery County 586
6. Perry County 528

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