Zapata County, Texas

What hazards hit Zapata County most?

The most frequent records are drought records: 216 since 1996. The rank column places the county among Texas'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 Zapata County had?

NOAA records 5 tornadoes in Zapata County from 1956 to 2005, the strongest rated F2, with 0 deaths and 40 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 5 tornadoes whose track touched Zapata County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 5, the same count); along their whole tracks they killed 0 people.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Texas.

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 Zapata County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the May 23, 2022 flash flood ($303,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

Video on social media shows several feet of fast moving water near Medina Street - a flood-prone area known as Medina Addition - with two SUVs that had been swept off the road and into a ditch. Video later shows the vehicles getting dragged out of the ditch by a tow truck. Based on the during and after videos, it is estimated that 3 to 4 feet of fast flowing water was moving across the road at the height of the flash flooding. Additional video shows people having to abandon homes during the height of the flooding and the water coming up to their waists, which supports the 3 to 4 foot estimates of fast moving water. A report of 8 of rain came in from just northwest of Zapata from this storm. The local newspaper in Zapata County later reported that at least 15 homes were affected with many of them losing their furniture, clothing, and household items.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1017060)

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

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

Federal disaster declarations for Zapata County

FEMA's register lists 15 declarations that include Zapata County: 7 major disasters, 7 emergencies and one fire management assistance declaration. Most were for hurricane (7) and fire (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 Zapata County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 40 flood or flash flood records for Zapata County from 1996 to 2024, on 33 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Zapata County ranks 2477th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $98,000 on 7 claims filed in Zapata County; the most in one year was 2 in 2002. 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 Zapata County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Zapata County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $5.5 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 Zapata County

1. Webb County 635
2. Starr County 575
3. Zapata County 496
4. Jim Hogg County 437

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 TexasEvery Texas tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Drought in TexasThe state's drought records, by county, year and month
• The Texas recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Zapata CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Zapata County's FEMA declarations (CSV)15 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis