Woodruff County, Arkansas

What hazards hit Woodruff County most?

The most frequent records are floods and flash floods: 403 since 1997. 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 Woodruff County had?

NOAA records 36 tornadoes in Woodruff County from 1950 to 2021, the strongest rated F4, with 32 deaths and 222 injuries recorded in the county. That is 14th 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 38 tornadoes whose track touched Woodruff County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 36: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 36 people, 32 of them in Woodruff 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 Woodruff County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the December 10, 2021 tornado (3 injuries and $545,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

This tornado developed just north of Augusta, west of Arkansas Highway 33, moving northeast, severely damaging homes and uprooting or snapping trees in the neighborhood along Sinclair Street and power lines were downed. As the tornado moved northeast it severely damaged farm buildings along Raspberry Lane/Woodruff County Road 260. The tornado continued over rural farm land, eventually crossing Arkansas Hwy. 17 between Tupelo and Overcup, lifting just east of Arkansas Hwy. 17 south of Overcup. The 3 injuries were just north of Augusta. Two farm shops and several grain bins were destroyed. Extensive damage was noted on the north side of Augusta.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 998150)

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

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

Federal disaster declarations for Woodruff County

FEMA's register lists 28 declarations that include Woodruff County: 20 major disasters, 8 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (13) and flood (4).

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 Woodruff County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 403 flood or flash flood records for Woodruff County from 1997 to 2026, on 318 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Woodruff County ranks 1470th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $1.7 million on 72 claims filed in Woodruff County; the most in one year was 17 in 2011. 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 Woodruff County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Woodruff County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $8.5 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 Woodruff County

1. White County 1,047
2. Woodruff County 700
3. Jackson County 614
4. Prairie County 503
5. St. Francis County 472
6. Monroe County 449
7. Cross County 427

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
• Floods in ArkansasThe state's floods and flash floods, 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 Woodruff CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Woodruff County's FEMA declarations (CSV)28 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis