Washington Parish, LA

Population: 45,382 · FIPS code: 22117

Relatively Moderate Overall risk index: 85.5 / 100 (percentile among US counties)

Hazard breakdown

Hazard NRI rating NRI score NOAA events
(2016–2025)
Wildfire Relatively Low 80 0
Inland Flooding Relatively Moderate 79 13
Coastal Flooding Not Applicable 0
Earthquake Very Low 54.7
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate 83.4 0
Tornado Relatively Moderate 71.6 4

NOAA event counts are recorded county-level storm events from the NOAA Storm Events Database for 2016–2025. NOAA does not track earthquakes, and some hazard reports are filed by NWS forecast zone rather than county, so these counts are a partial, not exhaustive, record of recent activity. See the methodology page for details.

Federal disaster declaration history

Washington Parish has been included in 41 federal disaster declarations between 1965 and 2026, most recently for Winter Storm in 2026 (SEVERE WINTER STORM).

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries. Counts reflect county-level declaration records (a single disaster can produce more than one record per county), not modeled risk.

Geomagnetic latitude

Washington Parish sits at approximately 39.7°N geomagnetic latitude. Aurora is rarely visible this far from the geomagnetic poles, even during the most severe (G5) geomagnetic storms — though historic extreme storms have occasionally been seen at unusually low latitudes. See current space weather conditions for live geomagnetic activity and aurora forecasts.

Geomagnetic latitude is an approximate dipole-model calculation based on this county's geographic centroid (US Census Bureau). See the methodology page for details and limitations.

What these ratings mean

Each score reflects how Washington Parish's expected losses from that hazard compare to every other county in the country, based on FEMA's National Risk Index. A "Very High" rating means this county is among the most exposed in the US for that hazard relative to other counties — it does not mean a disaster is likely this year. See the methodology page for how these scores are calculated.