Giles County, Tennessee

What hazards hit Giles County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 193 since 1957. The rank column places the county among Tennessee'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 Giles County had?

NOAA records 20 tornadoes in Giles County from 1951 to 2026, the strongest rated F4, with 1 death and 10 injuries recorded in the county. That is 48th of 95 Tennessee 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 22 tornadoes whose track touched Giles County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 20: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 7 people, 1 of them in Giles County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Tennessee.

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 Giles County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the March 15, 2026 tornado ($250,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

This narrative is a continuation of the tornado that originated in Lauderdale County, Alabama and traveled into Lawrence County and then Giles County. As the tornado crossed into Giles County, damage was mostly trees downed or uprooted and branches snapped. A few structures were impacted in Giles County south to southwest of Minor Hill due to trees falling. A few metal farm outbuildings were also collapsed. The tornado ended quickly south-southeast of Minor Hill. Damages are a rough estimate.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1312569)

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 Giles 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).

Winter storms in the 2010s: 22 records against 5 in the decade before, 22 of them forecast-zone records. Cells marked z rose mostly through zone records. The local National Weather Service office files these once per forecast zone, so a change in how it draws its zones or splits a storm into records moves this count as much as the weather does; read it beside the Giles County days with a record above.

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 Giles County. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Giles County

FEMA's register lists 24 declarations that include Giles County: 20 major disasters, 4 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (14) and flood (3).

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 Giles County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 49 flood or flash flood records for Giles County from 1996 to 2025, on 40 days, with 2 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Giles County ranks 1907th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $457,000 on 30 claims filed in Giles County; the most in one year was 4 in 2003. 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 Giles County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Giles County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $17.6 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 Giles County

1. Lauderdale County, AL 2,199
2. Limestone County, AL 1,174
3. Lawrence County 846
4. Lincoln County 800
5. Maury County 639
6. Giles County 422
7. Marshall County 372

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 TennesseeEvery Tennessee tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in TennesseeThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Tennessee recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Giles CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Giles County's FEMA declarations (CSV)24 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis