Madison Parish, Louisiana

What hazards hit Madison Parish most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 170 since 1960. The rank column places the county among Louisiana'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 Madison Parish had?

NOAA records 65 tornadoes in Madison Parish from 1971 to 2025, the strongest rated F5, with 11 deaths and 51 injuries recorded in the county. That is 12th of 64 Louisiana counties and 124th of 3,080 U.S. 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 64 tornadoes whose track touched Madison Parish since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 65: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 57 people, 11 of them in Madison Parish.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Louisiana.

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 Madison Parish?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the October 18, 2025 tornado ($130,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

An EF-1 tornado touched down just south of the Hunters Bend area and moved northeast through the community. Several large trees were blown down across power lines and Hunters Bend Road near the start, with continued tree damage through the forest areas to the northeast. Trees were snapped and uprooted where the road turned north. Additional damage to a mobile home and several barns and outbuildings occurred at the east of of Dr. Thomason Road at the Tensas River. A 12x24 foot hunting shed was completely destroyed with debris blown north into the tree line. High resolution satellite imagery and accounts from area landowners indicated that the tornado continued east across Tensas River bend into National Wildlife Refuge land with damage at least 200 yards wide in that area. The tornado ended in a field south of Sharky Rd. Estimated peak wind speeds were 105 mph.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1298927)

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 Madison Parish'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 Madison Parish. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Madison Parish

FEMA's register lists 33 declarations that include Madison Parish: 18 major disasters, 15 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for hurricane (16) and flood (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 Madison Parish had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 25 flood or flash flood records for Madison Parish from 1997 to 2019, on 22 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Madison Parish ranks 827th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $2.7 million on 250 claims filed in Madison Parish; the most in one year was 27 in 2013. 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 Madison Parish

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Madison Parish Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $6.2 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 Madison Parish

1. Warren County, MS 827
2. Franklin Parish 518
3. Richland Parish 461
4. Madison Parish 403
5. Tensas Parish 367
6. East Carroll Parish 367

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 LouisianaEvery Louisiana tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in LouisianaThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Louisiana recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Madison ParishThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Madison Parish's FEMA declarations (CSV)33 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis