Lafayette County, Arkansas

What hazards hit Lafayette County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 206 since 1956. The rank column places the county among Arkansas'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 Lafayette County had?

NOAA records 19 tornadoes in Lafayette County from 1963 to 2025, the strongest rated F3, with 0 deaths and 0 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 18 tornadoes whose track touched Lafayette County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 19: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 0 people.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Arkansas.

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 Lafayette County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the April 2, 2025 tornado ($50,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

A brief EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 95 mph touched down over a wooded area just west of Highway 53 and just south of Lafayette Road 249, where multiple trees were uprooted. This tornado crossed Highway 53 and snapped/uprooted several additional trees and tree tops before lifting.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1255659)

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

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 Lafayette 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: 19 records against 6 in the decade before, 19 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 Lafayette 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 Lafayette County. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Lafayette County

FEMA's register lists 21 declarations that include Lafayette County: 15 major disasters, 6 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (9) 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 Lafayette County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 62 flood or flash flood records for Lafayette County from 1999 to 2026, on 30 days, with 1 death. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Lafayette County ranks 2590th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $102,000 on 5 claims filed in Lafayette County; the most in one year was 1 in 1981. 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 Lafayette County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Lafayette County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $6.9 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 Lafayette County

1. Bossier Parish, LA 1,334
2. Webster Parish, LA 910
3. Miller County 762
4. Hempstead County 730
5. Columbia County 637
6. Lafayette County 599
7. Nevada County 509

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 ArkansasEvery Arkansas tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in ArkansasThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Arkansas recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Lafayette CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Lafayette County's FEMA declarations (CSV)21 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis