Northern Mariana Islands natural disasters

The territory's storm and disaster record · population 47,286 · 4 counties and county equivalents

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 139 storm events in Northern Mariana Islands since 1950, 139 of them since 1996 when every event type began to be recorded. The most frequent records are hurricane and tropical storm records (62). In NOAA's storm record since 1950, the deadliest event in Northern Mariana Islands is the June 27, 2004 rip current in Saipan Municipality: 3 deaths. FEMA has made 30 declarations for Northern Mariana Islands since 1976, 28 for natural hazards; 21 were major disasters.

The record, 1950 to 2026

Storm events recorded in Northern Mariana Islands each year (2026 to June 30, 2026). Before 1996 NOAA recorded only tornadoes (from 1950), thunderstorm wind and hail (from 1955).

recorded, no damage figure
under $1 million
$1 million or more
$10 million or more
$100 million or more, or 10 deaths
$1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
a year with a death
1955: wind and hail recorded from 1955
1996: all 48 event types from 1996

Storm events recorded: 1391950 to June 30, 2026
Deaths recorded: 17332 injuries
Damage, 2025 dollars: $769Mas filed (scale steps before 1993)
FEMA declarations: 3021 major disasters

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026 (file revision 20260918); tornado count: NOAA Storm Prediction Center, 1950-2025; damage in 2025 dollars (BLS CPI-U). Search the record at NCEI.

What natural disasters happen in Northern Mariana Islands?

By NOAA's records, Northern Mariana Islands' most frequent hazards are hurricane and tropical storm records (62), drought records (29), rip current and surf records (23); the deadliest are rip current and surf records (16 deaths). Each hazard is counted over the years NOAA has recorded it everywhere: tornadoes since 1950, hail and thunderstorm wind since 1955, everything else since 1996. Open a hazard for its years, months, counties and worst events.

Northern Mariana Islands: records by hazard to June 30, 2026
Hazard	Records	Last 10 years	Killed	Injured	Damage	Counties
Hurricanes and tropical storms	62	18	1	315	$768M	4 of 4
Drought	29	26	0	0	$8K	2 of 4
Rip currents and high surf	23	1	16	17	$67K	4 of 4
Fog, smoke and funnel clouds	15	0	0	0	–	4 of 4
Floods	5	1	0	0	$101K	1 of 4
High wind and dust storms	2	1	0	0	$552K	1 of 4
Lightning	2	0	0	0	$19K	2 of 4
Heavy rain	1	0	0	0	$32K	1 of 4

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: every record counted once in the state; "last 10 years" is 2017-2026 (2026 to June 30, 2026).

What were the deadliest disasters in Northern Mariana Islands?

The storms with the most deaths since 1950, from the National Weather Service's own entries. NOAA files one storm as several records when it crosses forecast zones and counties or changes type, and groups them under one episode; each row here is an episode, with its totals and the narrative of its deadliest record. Before 1996 tornado records carry no episode and stand alone. The narrative says what happened: some deaths the National Weather Service files under a weather type had another cause beside the weather.

Northern Mariana Islands: the 10 storm episodes with the most deaths
Date	Record	Killed	Injured	Damage
2004-06-27	Rip CurrentGarapan, Saipan Municipality Three Chinese women, ages unknown, drowned in rough waters and strong currents off Sugar Dock Beach near Garapan, Saipan.	3	0	–
2015-01-02	Rip CurrentSaipan Municipality · forecast zone Saipan A 6 year old girl and a 16 year old boy died after being swept out into the ocean by waves while on a hike. The two people were part of a group of six hikers who encounter rough water and waves. The group hiked along the southeast coast of Saiapn near the Forbidden Island Sanctuary. The group of hikers included four ...	2	1	–
2004-02-10	Rip CurrentCountywide, Saipan Municipality A tourist and his wife drowned at Laulau Beach while snorkeling when strong rip currents and large waves carried them past the reef.	2	0	–
2018-10-24	Typhoon Yutu · Hurricane (Typhoon)Northern Islands Municipality and 3 more · forecast zone Northern Marianas One storm episode: 5 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. Super Typhoon Yutu passed through the Marianas October 24th to 25th. Yutu was classified as the second most powerful storm to hit the U.S.A.	1	242	$2.4B
2004-08-21	Super Typhoon Ch · High SurfSaipan Municipality · forecast zone Saipan A male Chinese tourist, 38, was taking pictures of his friends on the rocks of the Grotto at Marpi, Saipan. A very large wave came in suddenly, and swept him out over the reef. His body was never recovered. One of the friends was injured, requiring hospital care. The high surf was associated with the approach of ...	1	1	–
2008-01-20	High SurfSaipan Municipality · forecast zone Saipan At about 20:30 GST on January 20th, two crab hunters on a cliff-line ledge at Marine Beach on Saipan were swept into the open ocean by a large wave. One of the men sustained minor injuries but was able to get to shore. The other man, who was from Palau, never returned to shore and is presumed dead.	1	1	–
2014-09-26	Rip CurrentNorthern Islands Municipality and 3 more · forecast zone Northern Marianas A 26 year old Marine from the Marine Wing Communication Squadron 18 based in Okinawa, Japan, was taking part in Exercise Valiant Shield and Forager Fury on Tinian. He went into the ocean on the northwest side of Tinian to cool off. It was reported that he was swept over the reef. He may have been caught in a rip ...	1	0	–
2013-02-26	Rip CurrentSaipan Municipality · forecast zone Saipan A 61-year-old male Saipan resident was swept out over the reef while snorkeling at Obyan Beach on southern Saipan about 1645 GST the afternoon of Tuesday, 26 February. He was reported missing at 1930 GST. His body has not been recovered, and he is presumed drowned.	1	0	–
2013-02-18	Rip CurrentSaipan Municipality · forecast zone Saipan In the late afternoon of Monday 18 February, a male Russian tourist, 60 years old, was drowned off of Obyan Beach on southern Saipan after he ventured outside the reef while snorkeling and was carried out in strong rip currents. At about 2140 GST, his body was located by the crew of a Coast guard helicopter, and ...	1	0	–
1998-09-27	Rip CurrentGarapan, Saipan Municipality Active Monsoon trough developed in the region of Guam. The trough and a few weak circulations that developed in the trough brought periods of heavy rains to Guam on the 11th and 12th. On the 11th 0.75 of an inch of rain fell at the Tiyan Weather Service Office from 2000 to 2100 local. An additional 1.33 inches of rain ...	1	0	–

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed in this state, summed over the records of each episode (EPISODE_ID); a forecast-zone record counts the zone's deaths once. A tornado's whole-track deaths (SPC), on the state's tornado page, can be higher when the track crossed a state line. Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.

The costliest records in Northern Mariana Islands

Northern Mariana Islands: the 8 records with the most damage since 1993, 2025 dollars
Date	Record	Injured	Damage
2018-10-24	Hurricane (Typhoon)Northern Islands Municipality and 3 more · forecast zone Northern Marianas	0	$589M
2002-12-08	Hurricane (Typhoon)Rota Municipality · forecast zone Rota	10	$82M
2004-08-22	Hurricane (Typhoon)Northern Islands Municipality and 3 more · forecast zone Northern Marianas	13	$28M
2015-08-02	Hurricane (Typhoon)Saipan Municipality · forecast zone Saipan	40	$26M
1997-11-02	Hurricane (Typhoon)Northern Islands Municipality and 3 more · forecast zone Northern Marianas	0	$13M
1997-12-15	Hurricane (Typhoon)Songsong, Rota Municipality	0	$8.1M
2004-06-27	Hurricane (Typhoon)Northern Islands Municipality and 3 more · forecast zone Northern Marianas	0	$8.1M
2005-08-31	Hurricane (Typhoon)Northern Islands Municipality and 3 more · forecast zone Northern Marianas	0	$3.8M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars with the BLS CPI-U. BLS consumer price index.

Which counties in Northern Mariana Islands have the most records?

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950 attributed to each county (forecast-zone records count on every county the zone covers).

Every county in Northern Mariana Islands

Federal disaster declarations in Northern Mariana Islands

FEMA has made 30 declarations for Northern Mariana Islands since 1976: 21 major disasters, 9 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. The most common incident types are typhoon (21), tropical storm (5), biological (2).

1970s 2
1980s 4
1990s 3
2000s 5
2010s 7
2020s 9

The 15 most recent declarations in Northern Mariana Islands
Declared	Number	Type	Title	Areas named
2026-08-03	DR-4931	Typhoon	Super Typhoon Bavi	3
2026-07-03	EM-3647	Tropical Storm	Typhoon Bavi	5
2026-04-23	DR-4910	Hurricane	Super Typhoon Sinlaku	5
2026-04-11	EM-3645	Tropical Storm	Typhoon Sinlaku	5
2023-10-08	EM-3602	Tropical Storm	Tropical Storm Bolaven	5
2023-06-02	DR-4716	Tropical Storm	Typhoon Mawar	3
2023-05-22	EM-3593	Tropical Storm	Typhoon Mawar	5
2020-04-01	DR-4511	Biological	Covid-19 Pandemic	5
2020-03-13	EM-3463	Biological	Covid-19	4
2019-10-20	EM-3425	Typhoon	Typhoon Bualoi	4
2019-10-07	EM-3424	Typhoon	Typhoon Hagibis	4
2018-10-26	DR-4404	Typhoon	Super Typhoon Yutu	4
2018-10-23	EM-3408	Typhoon	Typhoon Yutu	4
2018-09-29	DR-4396	Typhoon	Typhoon Mangkhut	3
2018-09-10	EM-3402	Typhoon	Typhoon Mangkhut	3

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.