North Carolina storm damage and disaster statistics
From 2016 to 2025 the National Weather Service logged 14,983 storm event reports in North Carolina, with property damage estimates totalling $5.9 billion. That is the 5th highest of the 50 states and D.C.
Damaging wind was reported most often (7,233 reports). Flood accounted for the most reported damage ($3.2 billion). FEMA has issued 29 major disaster declarations for North Carolina since 2000.
storm event reports, 2016–2025
property damage estimated in those reports
major disaster declarations since 2000
hail reports, 63 of two inches or larger
tornado reports, 26 rated EF2 or stronger
home damage verified by FEMA inspectors since 2002
Reported storm damage in North Carolina, year by year
Largest single damage estimate
$1.0 billion
Hurricane (Typhoon), Inland New Hanover, 2018. Large events are recorded county by county, so one disaster can appear as several entries.
A quiet year on this chart can mean few damaging storms, or storms whose reports carried no damage estimate.
What hits North Carolina: reports and damage by type
- Damaging wind 7,233
- Flood 2,294
- Winter weather 2,274
- Hail 1,466
- Hurricane and tropical storm 410
- Tornado 330
- Lightning 109
- Wildfire 6
- Flood $3.2B
- Hurricane and tropical storm $2.0B
- Tornado $445M
- Damaging wind $143M
- Hail $113M
- Lightning $3.2M
- Winter weather $1.6M
- Wildfire $367K
Federal disasters in North Carolina
FEMA has recorded 29 major disaster declarations, 13 emergency declarations and 9 fire management declarations for North Carolina since 2000.
The most recent major disaster declaration in this data is Tropical Depression Chantal (tropical depression), declared September 11, 2025.
Some states change their rules on public adjuster fees and contracts after a declared disaster. See what a declaration changes.
- Hurricane 11
- Severe Storm 8
- Severe Ice Storm 3
- Tropical Storm 2
- Flood 2
- Tropical Depression 1
- Biological 1
Home damage FEMA has verified in North Carolina
After a declared disaster, homeowners can register with FEMA and have their home inspected. These are the totals for North Carolina since 2003.
homeowners registered, across 15 disasters
damage verified by FEMA inspectors
individual assistance FEMA approved for those owners
homes inspected
inspections that found more than $30,000 of damage
average verified damage per inspected home
FEMA assistance is not insurance and is capped. It measures damage against its own habitability standard, and it counts only owners who registered and were inspected.
Official insurance claim figures for North Carolina
What insurers and regulators have reported for North Carolina. Unlike the storm estimates above, these are insurance figures.
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125,658
Insurance claims reported from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, all lines (residential property: 93,060). · Claims as of September 12, 2025
Read with care: Insurer-reported data call. Private insurance only; most Helene flood damage in western North Carolina was not covered by these policies.
North Carolina Department of Insurance, Statewide Summary table, Totals row (show the source wording)
The source says“Totals 11,461,137 125,658 2,920 1,544 88,222 32,808 96.3% $3,487,391,280 $2,213,094,316”
Read it at the source (opens in a new tab) -
32,808 of 125,658
Hurricane Helene claims in North Carolina closed without payment, all lines (residential property: 25,533 of 93,060). · Claims as of September 12, 2025
Read with care: Closed without payment includes flood damage not covered by a homeowners policy and losses below the deductible, as well as denials.
North Carolina Department of Insurance, Statewide Summary table, Totals and Residential Property rows (show the source wording)
The source says“Residential Property 4,092,946 93,060 1,925 516 64,988 25,533 97.3%”
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$2,213,094,316 paid; $3,487,391,280 incurred
Losses paid and total incurred losses reported by insurers for Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, all lines. · Claims as of September 12, 2025
Read with care: Paid loss includes adjustment expense paid; incurred adds reserves. Private insurance only.
North Carolina Department of Insurance, Statewide Summary table, Totals row (show the source wording)
The source says“Totals 11,461,137 125,658 2,920 1,544 88,222 32,808 96.3% $3,487,391,280 $2,213,094,316”
Read it at the source (opens in a new tab) -
30.03%
Share of homeowners claims closed during the year that were closed without any payment. Statewide industry ratio for NC. · Data year 2025
Read with care: Ratios are built from insurer filings to state regulators. The Florida figure does not include Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. The workbook has no national average row. Not every insurer files: small writers are exempt. Closed without payment includes losses below the deductible. The quote is the ratio's definition in the workbook; the number is the cell value for the state.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Sheet 'HO', block 'Ratio 1', row NC, column 'State Ratio' (show the source wording)
The source says“Ratio 1: Claims closed without payment to the total claims closed.”
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25.54%
Share of paid homeowners claims that were paid more than 60 days after the claim was reported. Statewide industry ratio for NC. · Data year 2025
Read with care: Ratios are built from insurer filings to state regulators. The Florida figure does not include Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. The workbook has no national average row. Not every insurer files: small writers are exempt. The quote is the ratio's definition in the workbook; the number is the cell value for the state.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Sheet 'HO', block 'Ratio 3', row NC, column 'State Ratio' (show the source wording)
The source says“Ratio 3: Percentage of claims paid beyond 60 days.”
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0.69%
Lawsuits opened against homeowners insurers during the year, as a proportion of claims closed without payment. A rough gauge of how litigated a state's homeowners claims are. Statewide industry ratio for NC. · Data year 2025
Read with care: Ratios are built from insurer filings to state regulators. The Florida figure does not include Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. The workbook has no national average row. Not every insurer files: small writers are exempt. The quote is the ratio's definition in the workbook; the number is the cell value for the state.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Sheet 'HO', block 'Ratio 7', row NC, column 'State Ratio' (show the source wording)
The source says“Ratio 7: Suits opened during the period to claims closed without payment.”
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109,593
National Flood Insurance Program claim records for NC in FEMA's public claims dataset. · Losses 1978 to 2026; dataset as served November 10, 2026
Read with care: Counted this session through the OpenFEMA API; the quote is the API's record count for our query. One record per NFIP claim transaction in the redacted dataset, all years since 1978. Federal flood insurance only; not homeowners insurance.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (OpenFEMA), API metadata 'count' for $filter=state eq 'NC' (show the source wording)
How North Carolina ranks
| Measure | North Carolina | Rank of 51 | In context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storm event reports | 14,983 | 18th | 136 per 100,000 residents |
| Reported property damage | $5.9 billion | 5th | $533 per resident |
| Hail reports | 1,466 | 18th | 63 of two inches or larger |
| Tornado reports | 330 | 20th | 26 rated EF2 or stronger |
| Major disaster declarations since 2000 | 29 | 27th | 13 emergency declarations |
| FEMA-verified home damage since 2002 | $781 million | 10th | 392,412 homeowners registered |
If you have a claim in North Carolina
North Carolina questions
What causes the most storm damage in North Carolina?
How often does it hail in North Carolina?
How many tornadoes does North Carolina get?
How many federal disasters has North Carolina had?
How much home damage has FEMA verified in North Carolina?
Use this data
You are welcome to quote these figures and reuse the charts in news stories, research and blog posts. Please credit the page with a link.
PublicAdjuster.cc, "North Carolina storm damage and disaster statistics," https://publicadjuster.cc/data/north-carolina/. Compiled from the NOAA Storm Events Database and FEMA OpenFEMA data, November 10, 2026.
Download all states (CSV) How the figures are built
The underlying records are published by NOAA, FEMA and the U.S. Census Bureau. This product uses the FEMA OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).