Hendry County, Florida

What hazards hit Hendry County most?

The most frequent records are drought records: 54 since 2001. The rank column places the county among Florida'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 Hendry County had?

NOAA records 32 tornadoes in Hendry County from 1957 to 2024, the strongest rated F2, with 2 deaths and 11 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 34 tornadoes whose track touched Hendry County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 32: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 3 people, 2 of them in Hendry County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Florida.

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 Hendry County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the October 9, 2024 tornado ($14,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

A tornado was produced as a storm took on super-cellular characteristics as it exited Collier County and moved into Hendry County. Although there were no eyewitness reports, a National Weather Service survey team was able to find scattered areas of utility pole damage. Coincident with one area of pole damage was a tornadic debris signature (TDS) as the tornado crossed State Route 80 at the Hendry/Glades County line around 10:55 AM EST. The TDS dissipated and the last damage was identified just south of Palmdale in Glades County. The tornado was rated as an EF-1, after traveling a total 29.89 miles, with an estimated maximum winds around 110 mph.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1219889)

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

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

Federal disaster declarations for Hendry County

FEMA's register lists 38 declarations that include Hendry County: 22 major disasters, 13 emergencies and 3 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for hurricane (18) and fire (5).

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 Hendry County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 8 flood or flash flood records for Hendry County from 2000 to 2023, on 7 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Hendry County ranks 1163rd of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $742,000 on 132 claims filed in Hendry County; the most in one year was 49 in 2005. 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 Hendry County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Hendry County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $22.4 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 Hendry County

1. Palm Beach County 1,499
2. Broward County 1,480
3. Lee County 782
4. Collier County 651
5. Charlotte County 388
6. Martin County 270
7. Hendry County 255
8. Glades County 240
9. Okeechobee County 158

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 FloridaEvery Florida tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Drought in FloridaThe state's drought records, by county, year and month
• The Florida recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Hendry CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Hendry County's FEMA declarations (CSV)38 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis