Wayne County, Mississippi

What hazards hit Wayne County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 132 since 1979. The rank column places the county among Mississippi'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 Wayne County had?

NOAA records 44 tornadoes in Wayne County from 1957 to 2026, the strongest rated F4, with 2 deaths and 6 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 40 tornadoes whose track touched Wayne County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 44: 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, 2 of them in Wayne County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Mississippi.

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 Wayne County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the March 4, 2025 tornado (4 injuries).

The tornado began in the forested area near Earl Pitts Rd before rapidly strengthening as it crossed highway 84. A single vehicle was rolled in a parking lot near highway 84 prior to the tornado destroying several newer chicken farm buildings. The tornado then continued north northeast across G&P farm rd where the tornado reached peaked intensity. At this location a single wide manufactured home was tossed roughly 50 to 100 yards and completely destroyed. The occupants were thrown from home resulting in two injuries at that location. A single-family wood frame home lost roughly 50 percent of its roof. The failure point of the roof was likely due to an open carport. Further up the road, a second manufactured home was rolled where two other injuries occurred. A few snapped tree trunks were noted along Riley Jordan Rd as the tornado continued northeast. …
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1245293)

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

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

Federal disaster declarations for Wayne County

FEMA's register lists 32 declarations that include Wayne County: 22 major disasters, 10 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for hurricane (16) and severe storm (8).

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 Wayne County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 31 flood or flash flood records for Wayne County from 1997 to 2022, on 20 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Wayne County ranks 1637th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $850,000 on 53 claims filed in Wayne County; the most in one year was 7 in 1983. 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 Wayne County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Wayne County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $12.9 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 Wayne County

1. Jones County 1,080
2. Jasper County 649
3. Clarke County 612
4. Choctaw County, AL 356
5. Washington County, AL 343
6. Wayne County 338
7. Perry County 231
8. Greene County 230

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 MississippiEvery Mississippi tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in MississippiThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Mississippi recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Wayne CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Wayne County's FEMA declarations (CSV)32 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis