Marion County, Alabama

What hazards hit Marion County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 276 since 1965. The rank column places the county among Alabama'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 Marion County had?

NOAA records 47 tornadoes in Marion County from 1953 to 2024, the strongest rated EF5, with 48 deaths and 493 injuries recorded in the county. That is 21st of 67 Alabama 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 48 tornadoes whose track touched Marion County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 47: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 124 people, 48 of them in Marion County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Alabama.

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 Marion County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the April 1, 2023 tornado (1 injury).

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Marion County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph. The tornado began on Marion County Road 348 west of Alabama Highway 253 south of Hackleburg, where minor tree damage was noted. The tornado rapidly increased and caused significant damage as it crossed Alabama Highway 253, uprooting several trees and causing superficial damage to a home on the edge of the track. The tornado continued east-northeastward along Union Hill Road, crossing the road twice before the intersection with Chalk Mine Road. Damage in this segment of the path consisted solely of pockets of tree damage which varied in intensity but was easily identified as tornado damage. As the tornado paralleled Chalk Mine Road, it produced more widespread tree damage, and destroyed a manufactured home. …
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1093449)

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

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

Federal disaster declarations for Marion County

FEMA's register lists 26 declarations that include Marion County: 17 major disasters, 9 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (12) and hurricane (7).

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 Marion County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 31 flood or flash flood records for Marion County from 1997 to 2024, on 25 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Marion County ranks 2321st of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $170,000 on 11 claims filed in Marion County; the most in one year was 4 in 2015. 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 Marion County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Marion County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $16.6 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 Marion County

1. Walker County 733
2. Franklin County 732
3. Monroe County, MS 682
4. Marion County 619
5. Lamar County 598
6. Winston County 527
7. Itawamba County, MS 476
8. Fayette County 403

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 AlabamaEvery Alabama tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in AlabamaThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Alabama recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Marion CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Marion County's FEMA declarations (CSV)26 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis