Mills County, Texas
County storm and disaster record · FIPS 48333 · population 4,448 · 748 sq mi
NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 389 records for Mills County, Texas from 1950 through June 30, 2026, on 293 days; the most frequent are hail reports (129 records). The most damaging was the February 20, 1997 flash flood ($3.7 million in 2025 dollars). FEMA has issued 17 declarations naming the county since 1990, 15 of them for natural hazards; the latest for a natural hazard was “Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding” on May 17, 2024.
The record, 1950 to 2026
Storm records filed for the county each year (2026 to June 30, 2026). Before 1996 NOAA recorded only tornadoes (from 1950), thunderstorm wind and hail (from 1955).
- recorded, no damage figure
- under $100,000
- $100,000 or more
- $1 million or more
- $10 million or more, or a death
- $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
- a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
- a year with a death
- 1955: wind and hail recorded from 1955
- 1996: all 48 event types from 1996
- Storm records
- 389on 293 days, 1950 to June 30, 2026
- Deaths recorded
- 01 injuries
- Damage, 2025 dollars
- $9.4Mas filed (scale steps before 1993)
- Tornadoes
- 14strongest F2
- FEMA declarations
- 17latest 2024
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026 (file revision 20260918); damage converted to 2025 dollars with the BLS CPI-U. Search the record at NCEI. BLS consumer price index.
What hazards hit Mills County most?
The most frequent records are hail reports: 129 since 1967. 62% of its hail reports since 1967 fell in April and May. The rank column places the county among Texas's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.
| Hazard | Records | Days | First, last | Killed | Injured | Damage | Rank in state |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 129 | 87 | 1967-2026 | 0 | 0 | $448K | 139 of 254 |
| Drought | 93 | 92 | 1996-2025 | 0 | 0 | $1.8M | 36 of 254 |
| Severe thunderstorm wind | 46 | 37 | 1957-2011 | 0 | 0 | $240K | 203 of 254 |
| Heat | 39 | 37 | 1998-2026 | 0 | 0 | – | 72 of 254 |
| Floods | 33 | 23 | 1996-2026 | 0 | 0 | $3.7M | 155 of 254 |
| Winter storms | 20 | 20 | 1996-2026 | 0 | 0 | $647K | 145 of 254 |
| Tornadoes | 14 | 11 | 1967-2013 | 0 | 0 | $571K | 204 of 254 |
| Extreme cold | 8 | 8 | 2019-2026 | 0 | 0 | $534K | 56 of 254 |
| Heavy rain | 3 | 3 | 1997-1998 | 0 | 0 | – | 77 of 254 |
| Lightning | 2 | 2 | 2003-2009 | 0 | 1 | $32K | 88 of 254 |
| Wildfires | 2 | 2 | 2011-2011 | 0 | 0 | $1.5M | 144 of 254 |
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 Mills County had?
NOAA records 14 tornadoes in Mills County from 1967 to 2013, the strongest rated F2, 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 13 tornadoes whose track touched Mills County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 14: 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 Texas.
Every tornado record filed for Mills County (14)
| Date | Place | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-05-20 | Priddy, Mills County | EF0 1.08 mi x 100 yd | 0 | 0 | $6K |
| 2013-05-15 | Priddy, Mills County | EF0 3.42 mi x 50 yd | 0 | 0 | $4K |
| 2006-05-05 | Mullin, Mills County | F0 0.1 mi x 25 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1999-04-26 | Goldthwaite, Mills County | F0 0.1 mi x 0 yd | 0 | 0 | $9K |
| 1998-01-05 | Goldthwaite, Mills County | F1 0.5 mi x 40 yd | 0 | 0 | $72K |
| 1998-01-05 | Goldthwaite, Mills County | F0 0.1 mi x 30 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1991-04-13 | Mills County | F0 0.2 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 0 | $25K step |
| 1982-05-12 | Mills County | F2 4 mi x 100 yd | 0 | 0 | $25K step |
| 1982-05-12 | Mills County | F2 6 mi x 100 yd | 0 | 0 | $25K step |
| 1982-05-12 | Mills County | F1 2 mi x 50 yd | 0 | 0 | $3K step |
| 1978-04-30 | Mills County | F1 5.9 mi x 33 yd | 0 | 0 | $25K step |
| 1975-05-13 | Mills County | F0 20 mi x 800 yd | 0 | 0 | $25K step |
| 1974-10-31 | Mills County | F1 | 0 | 0 | $3K step |
| 1967-03-26 | Mills County | F1 | 0 | 0 | – |
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, 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 Mills County?
The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the May 10, 2026 hail ($1,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-19 | Flash FloodGoldthwaite, Mills County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-18 | HeatMills County · forecast zone Mills | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-05-10 | HailGoldthwaite Mills Ar, Mills County | 1.00 in hail | 0 | 0 | $1K |
| 2026-05-10 | HailGoldthwaite, Mills County | 0.75 in hail | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-04-18 | HailPriddy, Mills County | 0.88 in hail | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-01-28 | Cold/Wind ChillMills County · forecast zone Mills | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-01-24 | Extreme Cold/Wind ChillMills County · forecast zone Mills | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-01-24 | Winter StormMills County · forecast zone Mills | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-07-07 | Flash FloodCaradan, Mills County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-04-30 | HailDemocrat, Mills County | 1.00 in hail | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2025-04-01 | DroughtMills County · forecast zone Mills | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-03-18 | DroughtMills County · forecast zone Mills | 0 | 0 | – |
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
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-06-11 | LightningCaradan, Mills County A Caradan man was struck by lightning that hit a nearby television pole, traveled through the ground and up his body. He was hospitalized for approximately 24 hours but not seriously injured. | 0 | 1 | – |
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-02-20 | Flash FloodGoldthwaite, Mills County | 0 | 0 | $3.7M | |
| 2011-08-05 | WildfireMills County · forecast zone Mills | 0 | 0 | $1.4M | |
| 2013-12-05 | Winter StormMills County · forecast zone Mills | 0 | 0 | $633K | |
| 2021-02-14 | Extreme Cold/Wind ChillMills County · forecast zone Mills | 0 | 0 | $534K | |
| 2023-05-04 | HailDemocrat, Mills County | 2.00 in hail | 0 | 0 | $97K |
| 1998-01-05 | TornadoGoldthwaite, Mills County | F1 0.5 mi x 40 yd | 0 | 0 | $72K |
| 2013-05-15 | HailCaradan, Mills County | 2.75 in hail | 0 | 0 | $51K |
| 2023-06-12 | HailGoldthwaite, Mills County | 2.00 in hail | 0 | 0 | $10K |
Before 1993 NOAA filed damage by category, not amount, so the list above starts in 1993. The highest category filed here before then (entered as $25K, in the dollars of the day) holds: May 13, 1975 (tornado, Mills County); April 30, 1978 (tornado, Mills County); May 12, 1982 (tornado, Mills County).
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 Mills 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).
| Hazard | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 43 | 34 | 21 | 18 |
| Drought | – | – | – | – | 2 | 20 | 39 | 32 |
| Severe thunderstorm wind | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 25 | 3 | 0 |
| Heat | – | – | – | – | 2 | 3 | 5 | 29 z |
| Floods | – | – | – | – | 11 | 12 | 5 | 5 |
| Winter storms | – | – | – | – | 4 | 10 | 2 | 4 |
Heat in the 2020-26: 29 records against 5 in the decade before, 29 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 Mills 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?
62% of its hail reports since 1967 fell in April and May. The two busiest months are in violet.
The values, month by month
Jan 33 · Feb 23 · Mar 30 · Apr 51 · May 82 · Jun 59 · Jul 20 · Aug 35 · Sep 14 · Oct 18 · Nov 9 · Dec 15 (records).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.
Federal disaster declarations for Mills County
FEMA's register lists 17 declarations that include Mills County: 10 major disasters, 7 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for fire (4) and severe storm (3).
| Declared | Number | Type | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-05-17 | DR-4781 | Flood | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding |
| 2021-02-19 | DR-4586 | Severe Ice Storm | Severe Winter Storms |
| 2021-02-14 | EM-3554 | Severe Ice Storm | Severe Winter Storm |
| 2020-03-25 | DR-4485 | Biological | Covid-19 Pandemic |
| 2020-03-13 | EM-3458 | Biological | Covid-19 |
| 2011-07-01 | DR-1999 | Fire | Wildfires |
| 2008-03-14 | EM-3284 | Fire | Wildfires |
| 2007-06-29 | DR-1709 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding |
| 2006-01-11 | DR-1624 | Fire | Extreme Wildfire Threat |
| 2005-09-24 | DR-1606 | Hurricane | Hurricane Rita |
| 2005-09-21 | EM-3261 | Hurricane | Hurricane Rita |
| 2005-09-02 | EM-3216 | Hurricane | Hurricane Katrina Evacuation |
| 1999-09-01 | EM-3142 | Fire | Extreme Fire Hazards |
| 1998-08-26 | DR-1239 | Severe Storm | Tropical Storm Charley |
| 1993-09-10 | EM-3113 | Drought | Extreme Fire Hazard |
| 1991-12-26 | DR-930 | Flood | Severe Thunderstorms |
| 1990-05-02 | DR-863 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding |
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.
FEMA's modeled risk for Mills County
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Mills County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $2.2 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.
| Hazard | Risk rating | Expected annual loss | Modeled frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | $206K | once in about 308 years (modeled) |
| Hail | Relatively Low | $182K | 4.8 a year (modeled) |
| Drought | Relatively Low | $86K | 62 modeled event-days a year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | $340K | once in about 3 years (modeled) |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | $17K | 4.2 a year (modeled) |
| Hurricane | Very Low | $13K | once in about 139 years (modeled) |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | $67K | 8.8 modeled event-days a year |
| Lightning | Very Low | $50K | 47 a year (modeled) |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.
Counties that share a border with Mills County
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 TexasEvery Texas tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
- Hail in TexasThe state's hail reports, by county, year and month
- The Texas recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
- FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Mills CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
- Download Mills County's FEMA declarations (CSV)17 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis