Sevier County, Arkansas

What hazards hit Sevier County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 219 since 1957. 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 Sevier County had?

NOAA records 23 tornadoes in Sevier County from 1954 to 2026, the strongest rated F4, with 0 deaths and 15 injuries recorded in the county. That is 35th of 75 Arkansas 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 23 tornadoes whose track touched Sevier County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 23, the same count); along their whole tracks they killed 4 people, 0 of them in Sevier County.

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 Sevier County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the March 11, 2026 tornado ($25,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

Early on the morning of March 11th, a line of severe thunderstorms moved into Sevier County, Arkansas. The line of thunderstorms produced a brief EF1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 95 mph just east of U.S. Highway 71 southeast of Gillham. As the tornado touched down east of the highway, it damaged several large barns before it then snapped several hardwood trees in a downstream field. The tornado then crossed Kind Road where multiple trees were snapped and uprooted. As the tornado moved east of Kind Road, it damaged several more trees before quickly lifting.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1326489)

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 Sevier 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: 20 records against 6 in the decade before, 20 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 Sevier 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 Sevier County. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Sevier County

FEMA's register lists 18 declarations that include Sevier County: 11 major disasters, 7 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (5) and flood (3).

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 Sevier County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 35 flood or flash flood records for Sevier County from 1997 to 2025, on 25 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Sevier County ranks 2105th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $774,000 on 19 claims filed in Sevier County; the most in one year was 7 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 Sevier County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Sevier County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $13.8 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 Sevier County

1. McCurtain County, OK 1,236
2. Howard County 783
3. Polk County 703
4. Sevier County 656
5. Little River County 614

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