Clayton County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Clayton County: 2.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 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).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (2).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 7, 2008Flood$4.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Most secondary roads were either damaged or under water. Rainfall totals of 3 to 7 inches were reported during the weekend of June 7-8. About 4000 acres of farm land were impacted. Combined with flooding along the Turkey River, a total of 20 homes were destroyed, 9 with major damage, 15 with minor damage, and recovery costs easily into the millions.

2. Jun 8, 2008Flood$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Turkey River at Elkader established a new record crest at about 6 a.m. CDT on June 10 of 30.9 feet. The previous record crest was 27.3 feet on June 15, 1991. Flood stage is 12.0 feet. The river rose again above flood stage from June 12 through June 14th cresting at 16.63 feet.

3. May 1, 2001Flood, Clayton$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   During April 2001, the Mississippi River crested at levels second only to the all-time flood of record, which occurred in April 1965. Flooding continued until the middle of May, at which time water levels dropped below flood stage for the first time in several weeks. Considerable damage was done to homes and businesses, especially in the communities of McGregor and Guttenberg (Clayton County). Both Allamakee and Clayton County received federal disaster relief funds.

4. May 17, 1999Flood, Clayton$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Serious flooding took place along the Turkey and Volga River, causing considerable damage to homes, businesses and crops. In fact, Clayton and Fayette County were both declared federal disaster areas. Many county roads and bridges were washed away, keeping main highways closed for two days. River levels rose nearly a foot an hour, inundating the towns of Volga, Littleport and Garber with as much as 8 feet of water. LP tanks and cars were seen floating away. Even a dozen pigs were stranded on the roof of a barn due to rising flood waters. The Turkey River at Garber (Clayton County) crested at 30.6 feet, breaking the previous flood of record, which was 30.1 feet on May 15, 1991.

5. Apr 13, 2001Flood, Clayton$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The combination of snow melt runoff and heavy rains caused the Mississippi River to rise to levels second only to the all-time record flood of April 1965. At Lansing (Allamakee County), the river crested at 19.9 feet on April 21. Further downstream, McGregor and Guttenberg (Clayton County) crested at 23.8 feet on April 20 and 21.6 feet on April 22 respectively. Considerable damage was done to homes and businesses by the high water, especially in the small towns of Marquette and Guttenberg (Clayton County). Overall damage costs due to the high water were estimated between 4 and 5 million dollars. This resulted in Allamakee and Clayton County being eligible for federal disaster…

6. Mar 13, 2019Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding occurred across parts of Clayton County from the combination of rainfall and melting snow. An ice jam on the Turkey River caused flooding to occur near Millville with water going over U.S. Highway 52 and a restaurant sustained major damage. Near the mouth of the Turkey River, the ice jam took out a railroad bridge. Flooding along the Turkey River also occurred in the Osterdock.

7. Jun 8, 2008Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Turkey River at Garber had a major flood and crested at 29.1 feet around 11:30 a.m. CDT on June 10. The all-time record crest of 32.8 feet occurred on May 23, 2004. Flood stage is 17.0 feet.

8. May 16, 1999Flash Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall amounts of 4 to 8 inches caused major flash flooding. Hardest hit were areas along the Turkey and Volga River where many roads and bridges were washed out. A cooperative weather observer in Fayette (Fayette County) had their reporting equipment washed away, while a 4 foot deep mudslide was reported by the Clayton County sheriff near Volga. The towns of Volga and Garber (Clayton County) had to be evacuated with many residents being rescued by boat.

9. Jul 17, 2007Flash Flood$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Mud slides caused trees to fall down off Mississippi River bluffs onto roads and cars were floating in the town of McGregor. Numerous locations across northeast Clayton County, Iowa had wash outs, high water, and damage.

10. Jul 21, 2017Flash Flood$950,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    After heavy rains of 4 to 8 inches, flash flooding occurred across the southern half of Clayton County. Flooding along Roberts and Dry Mill Creeks washed out County Road C1X east of Elkader. Numerous other roads were closed across the county due to inundation, rock slides and mud slides with the hardest hit part of the county between Garber and Guttenberg. Near Guttenberg, the residents of three homes had to be rescued from flood waters on Miners Creek. The flooding heavily damaged a bridge over Miners Creek, took out a 30 foot retaining wall, damaged the inventory of two business and undercut railroad tracks.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

111°FJul 24, 1901

All-time low

−47°FFeb 3, 1996

Warmest night

80°F2 times, most recently Aug 12, 1995

Coldest day

−18°FFeb 8, 1899

Wettest day

6.67 inJul 26, 1940

Snowiest day

20.0 inMar 8, 1961

Hottest year

1998mean 51.6°F

Coldest year

2014mean 41.5°F

Wettest year

190250.01 in

Driest year

195820.51 in

Snowiest season

87.6 in1950-51

Station Elkader 6 Ssw (USC00132603), 788 ft elevation, 8.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 93.2% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 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).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00132603.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.