Harrison County, Indiana

What hazards hit Harrison County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 213 since 1971. The rank column places the county among Indiana'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 Harrison County had?

NOAA records 26 tornadoes in Harrison County from 1971 to 2026, the strongest rated F5, with 4 deaths and 42 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 25 tornadoes whose track touched Harrison County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 26: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 39 people, 4 of them in Harrison County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Indiana.

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 Harrison County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the December 31, 2018 tornado ($24,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

A National Weather Service damage survey team determined an intermittent skipping tornado varying in width, size and speed had a maximum wind speed of 100 mph along with a max width of 140 yards. The tornado initially touched down at 7231 IN-337. At this location, a heavy metal chain fence weighing several hundred pounds was picked up and thrown 30 yards into the back of the house causing significant damage to the house. A chicken house weighing hundreds of pounds was rolled over and moved several feet. A purple Martin house was bent over 60 degrees facing east. Shingles and yard decorations were thrown in various directions east of the house along with driveway gravel thrown in every direction. A swing set was thrown from the back of the house to the front. Throughout the property there were twisted and uprooted trees. …
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 793799)

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 Harrison 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: 20 records against 6 in the decade before, 20 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 Harrison 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 Harrison County. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Harrison County

FEMA's register lists 22 declarations that include Harrison County: 16 major disasters, 6 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (9) and flood (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.

How many floods has Harrison County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 69 flood or flash flood records for Harrison County from 1996 to 2026, on 50 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Harrison County ranks 922nd of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $8.6 million on 207 claims filed in Harrison County; the most in one year was 49 in 1997. 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 Harrison County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Harrison County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $18.0 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 Harrison County

1. Jefferson County, KY 1,264
2. Hardin County, KY 543
3. Harrison County 467
4. Crawford County 405
5. Washington County 368
6. Floyd County 337
7. Meade County, KY 330

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