Russell County, Alabama

What hazards hit Russell County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 130 since 1971. 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 Russell County had?

NOAA records 32 tornadoes in Russell County from 1954 to 2026, the strongest rated F3, with 2 deaths and 61 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 31 tornadoes whose track touched Russell County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 32: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 4 people, 2 of them in Russell 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 Russell County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the April 19, 2009 tornado ($688,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

The tornado touched down near the intersection of 22nd Avenue and 17th Street in Phenix City. It then traveled northeast through the south end of Phenix City, and crossed the Chattahoochee River and moved into Muscogee County Georgia. Five businesses sustained major damage, and seven homes received varying degrees of roof damage. At least 100 and as many as 200 trees were snapped or uprooted.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 168568)

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

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

Federal disaster declarations for Russell County

FEMA's register lists 24 declarations that include Russell County: 14 major disasters, 10 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (11) and hurricane (9).

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 Russell County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 23 flood or flash flood records for Russell County from 1998 to 2025, on 23 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Russell County ranks 1569th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $1.1 million on 60 claims filed in Russell County; the most in one year was 11 in 2017. 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 Russell County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Russell County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $14.7 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 Russell County

1. Lee County 553
2. Muscogee County, GA 485
3. Russell County 372
4. Barbour County 350
5. Macon County 296
6. Bullock County 238
7. Chattahoochee County, GA 194
8. Stewart County, GA 190

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 Russell CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Russell County's FEMA declarations (CSV)24 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis