Natural disaster risk in Pawnee County, Kansas

Overall: very low risk

Pawnee County has a composite risk score of 31.6 out of 100 — higher than 31% of US counties. It ranks 41 of 105 in Kansas (1 = highest risk). Its highest-rated hazards are drought, hail, cold wave.

Drought now: Yes: D2 Severe Drought, 9 weeks

Yes. On the U.S. Drought Monitor map valid 13 October 2026, 16.38% of Pawnee County is in D2 Severe Drought. Some of it has been at D2 or worse for 9 weeks in a row. In all, 33.24% of the county is in drought (D1 to D4).

Drought in Pawnee County: the last 52 weeks · droughtmonitor.unl.edu

The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Map courtesy of NDMC.

Yes. Pawnee County has been named in 5 FEMA declarations since 1 Jan 2024. The latest is DR-4940-KS (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding), declared 1 Sep 2026.

How to read these ratings

• Ratings run in five steps: very low, relatively low, relatively moderate, relatively high and very high. They compare a county with every other US county; they are not a measure of danger on their own.
• Scores run from 0 to 100 and are national percentiles. The bar shows the score: a score of 80 means a higher value than 80% of US counties.
• Overall risk combines the expected annual loss with social vulnerability and community resilience.
• Expected annual loss is the average yearly loss to buildings, people and agriculture the model expects from all 18 hazards.
• Social vulnerability describes how hard it may be for people to prepare for and recover from a disaster. Higher is worse.
• Community resilience describes a community's ability to prepare, adapt and recover. Higher is better.
• "Not applicable" means FEMA does not model that hazard there (for example, hurricanes far inland).

About this data

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, version 1.20, released December 2025, published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (US public domain). About the National Risk Index. The index is a model of relative risk built from historical hazard records, what is exposed and community factors. It is not a forecast, it does not describe any single property, and it is not insurance or financial advice. For decisions about a specific address, check FEMA's flood maps and your local emergency management office.