Iron County, Missouri

What hazards hit Iron County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 89 since 1965. The rank column places the county among Missouri'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 Iron County had?

NOAA records 27 tornadoes in Iron County from 1950 to 2025, the strongest rated F4, with 0 deaths and 16 injuries recorded in the county. That is 56th of 114 Missouri 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 26 tornadoes whose track touched Iron County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 27: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 6 people, 0 of them in Iron County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Missouri.

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 Iron County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the March 14, 2025 tornado (2 injuries and $800,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

In Iron County the tornado caused some of its most significant damage in Des Arc where residences were significantly damaged. Two injuries were confirmed here. The tornado continued to track northeast beyond Des Arc where it caused damage to a few more residences, an outbuilding, and numerous trees. It then exited into Madison County. In Iron County the tornado was rated EF-3 with a path length of 7.64 miles and a maximum path width of 800 yards.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1241385)

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

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

Federal disaster declarations for Iron County

FEMA's register lists 27 declarations that include Iron County: 19 major disasters, 8 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (17) 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 Iron County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 25 flood or flash flood records for Iron County from 1996 to 2025, on 25 days, with 2 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Iron County ranks 1584th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $409,000 on 59 claims filed in Iron County; the most in one year was 28 in 2002. 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 Iron County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Iron County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $22.8 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 Iron County

1. Wayne County 850
2. Dent County 497
3. St. Francois County 494
4. Crawford County 478
5. Washington County 474
6. Iron County 333
7. Reynolds County 297
8. Madison County 285

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 MissouriEvery Missouri tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in MissouriThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Missouri recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Iron CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Iron County's FEMA declarations (CSV)27 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis