Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana

What hazards hit Tangipahoa Parish most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 280 since 1956. 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 Tangipahoa Parish had?

NOAA records 79 tornadoes in Tangipahoa Parish from 1951 to 2026, the strongest rated F3, with 1 death and 24 injuries recorded in the county. That is 10th of 64 Louisiana counties and 104th 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 77 tornadoes whose track touched Tangipahoa Parish since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 79: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 10 people, 1 of them in Tangipahoa 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 Tangipahoa Parish?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the March 9, 2026 lightning ($276,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

Lightning struck Twin Steeples Creative Arts Center, a historic art gallery in Ponchatoula. A fire started as a result of this strike.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1323900)

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 Tangipahoa 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 Tangipahoa Parish. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Tangipahoa Parish

FEMA's register lists 48 declarations that include Tangipahoa Parish: 29 major disasters, 19 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for hurricane (29) and flood (6).

The 40 most recent of 48 are listed; the CSV has every one.

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 Tangipahoa Parish had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 42 flood or flash flood records for Tangipahoa Parish from 1996 to 2026, on 28 days, with 4 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Tangipahoa Parish ranks 108th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $178 million on 4,296 claims filed in Tangipahoa Parish; the most in one year was 1,696 in 2016. 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 Tangipahoa Parish

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Tangipahoa Parish Relatively Moderate overall, with an expected annual loss of $107 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 Tangipahoa Parish

1. St. Tammany Parish 932
2. Tangipahoa Parish 664
3. Livingston Parish 510
4. Pike County, MS 401
5. Washington Parish 366
6. Amite County, MS 265
7. St. John the Baptist Parish 194
8. St. Helena Parish 173

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 Tangipahoa ParishThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Tangipahoa Parish's FEMA declarations (CSV)48 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis