Issaquena County, Mississippi

What hazards hit Issaquena County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 86 since 1960. The rank column places the county among Mississippi'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 Issaquena County had?

NOAA records 26 tornadoes in Issaquena County from 1953 to 2025, the strongest rated F5, with 0 deaths and 26 injuries recorded in the county. That is 36th of 82 Mississippi 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 25 tornadoes whose track touched Issaquena 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 134 people, 0 of them in Issaquena County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Mississippi.

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 Issaquena County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the December 28, 2024 tornado ($28,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

This tornado began near LA Highway 580 in the Alsatia community and moved across US 65 and downed trees and large tree limbs. Some tree limbs blocked railroad tracks. One house near the intersection of Fletcher Loop and George Hart Road sustained significant shingle loss, but the wooden beams and plywood remained intact. The tornado continued northeastward and paralleled the Mississippi River east of Transylvania for some time before crossing into Issaquena County near the Fitler community. The tornado crossed MS Highway 1, where it destroyed a shed, damaged a carport, and shifted a mobile home off its foundation. It continued to break branches and snap small softwood trees. The tornado dissipated just beyond Moon Lake where additional tree damage was noted from hi-res satellite data west of Cary. The total path length from the Louisiana side into Mississippi is roughly 18 miles. …
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1225301)

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

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

Federal disaster declarations for Issaquena County

FEMA's register lists 27 declarations that include Issaquena County: 18 major disasters, 9 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (10) and hurricane (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 Issaquena County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 10 flood or flash flood records for Issaquena County from 1997 to 2017, on 9 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Issaquena County ranks 1180th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $2.0 million on 127 claims filed in Issaquena County; the most in one year was 19 in 2019. 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 Issaquena County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Issaquena County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $2.9 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 Issaquena County

1. Warren County 827
2. Yazoo County 674
3. Washington County 625
4. Chicot County, AR 555
5. East Carroll Parish, LA 367
6. Sharkey County 271
7. Issaquena County 228

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