Floyd County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Floyd County: 13.
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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Dec 15, 2021Tornado$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The third tornado of the night in Floyd County formed just to the southwest of Rudd, moved northeast directly through the town and dissipated along Business U.S. Highway 18 on the north edge of town. Extensive damage occurred in the town with numerous homes sustaining damage with some roofs completely blown off. The roof of the library was removed with damage sustained to almost all the books in the building. A church on the north side of town also sustained heavy damage as did the towns water treatment plant. Water and power were not expected to be restored for several days. Classes for the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock school district were canceled for December 16th but the building…

2. Jun 7, 2008Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding was extensive across the county from 4 to 5 inches of rain. Flooding along the Shell Rock river breeched a levee in Nora Springs on Sunday June 8th and flooding was extensive in Rockford, IA. Perhaps as many as 60 secondary roads were washed out or closed. The Cedar River also began to rise quickly and ended up causing extensive damage through the county.||About 400 homes in Rockford had damage and roughly 20 others across more rural areas of the county.||Highway 18 was also closed east of Charles City due to damage from flood waters.

3. Apr 14, 2026Hail$850,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The public reported three and a quarter inch diameter hail in Charles City.

4. Jun 8, 2008Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Cedar River at Charles City had a record crest at 25.55 ft, which occurred about 7:00 a.m. CDT on June 9. The previous record was 22.8 feet, which occurred on July 21, 1999. Flood stage is 12.0 feet. Of note, no river levels were available for a time from June 8-9 due to the river gage and gage house being completely underwater.||The two main traffic bridges in Charles City were closed, splitting the city in half. The walking suspension bridge in Charles City collapsed as well. Immaculate Conception school took a direct hit as water topped all sand bagging efforts flooding the basement and first floor. Many businesses also suffered damaged when water flowed into basements. The…

5. Jul 19, 1999Flash Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   As much as 8 inches of rain caused flash flooding over portions of northeast Iowa. Hardest hit were Rockford and Nora Springs (Floyd County) where an earthen dike washed away and a dam was breached. Both communities suffered extensive damage to homes and businesses due to what was described as the worst flooding in years. Numerous rural roads throughout the area were washed out, while corn and soybean fields were underwater. A man died when his car was swept away, attempting to cross a flooded bridge near Rudd (Floyd County).

6. May 27, 2019Tornado$625,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down west of Charles City and moved north-northeast before dissipating northwest of Colwell. The tornado did extensive damage to seven buildings at the Floyd County fairgrounds. At a fertilizer plant across the road from the fairgrounds a roof was partially peeled off from one building while the main building was left leaning after having an entire side ripped off. Three homes along the path were damaged severely enough to be declared inhabitable.

7. May 17, 1996Hail$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   As the storms moved through the Charles City area, they became very serious. Hail the size of soft balls pelted the city. One woman was injured as the was closing the window of her house. The hail stones broke the window cutting her. Her wounds required two stitches. There were other reports around town of hail stones breaking through roofs. Considerable damage was reported around town ranging from broken windshields to roof damage.

8. Dec 15, 2021Tornado$490,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado formed just north of Marble Rock and moved rapidly to the northeast before dissipating west of Charles City. An NWS survey team determined this tornado to have an EF1 rating. The tornado caused damage to homes, farm buildings and metal grain bins along with taking down power poles, power lines and trees.

9. Jul 19, 1999Flood, Floyd$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Cedar River experienced record flooding due to excessive rainfall amounts. On the 19th, the river crested at 18.26 feet at Charles City (Floyd County). Two days later on the 21st, the river had an all-time record crest at Charles City of 22.80 feet. Cooperative observer rainfall reports from the 19th through the 21st included 11.81 inches at Charles City, 10.75 inches at Osage (Mitchell County) and 11.85 inches at New Hampton (Chickasaw County).Nearly every creek, stream and river in Chickasaw and Floyd Counties was bankfull or flooding during the National Weather Service storm survey. Many roads were impassable. There was extensive evidence of flash flooding from heavy rains…

10. Apr 14, 2026Hail$415,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The public reported baseball sized hail on the east side of Charles City.

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

108°FJul 21, 1901

All-time low

−34°FJan 16, 2009

Warmest night

87°FJul 3, 1897

Coldest day

−17°F4 times, most recently Jan 30, 2019

Wettest day

6.65 inJul 21, 1999

Snowiest day

13.0 inJan 4, 1971

Hottest year

2012mean 50.6°F

Coldest year

1951mean 42.9°F

Wettest year

201861.37 in

Driest year

198916.57 in

Snowiest season

77.1 in1961-62

Station Charles City (USC00131402), 993 ft elevation, 4.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 26, 2026; 97.7% 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 USC00131402.
• 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.
• 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.