Avoyelles Parish

Every recorded tornado

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

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

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. Oct 9, 2020Tropical Storm, Avoyelles$40.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts to around 65 mph and heavy rainfall lead to numerous downed trees and power lines across the parish. Flooding in numerous locations was caused by 6 to 12 inches of rainfall.

2. Sep 1, 2008Hurricane (Typhoon), Avoyelles$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Gustav moved across Avoyelles Parish, causing wind damage between Bunkie and Marksville.

3. Aug 26, 2020Tropical Storm, Avoyelles$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across the parish. Homes and businesses were damaged from fallen trees or winds. Over 60 percent of the parish was without power immediately after the storm.

4. Jan 10, 2013Flood$19.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flood waters from rainfall that fell mainly during the 9th and 10th slowly drained across Avoyeles Parish. During the flood event 114 homes were damaged.

5. Jun 18, 2026Flash Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain trained across Avoyelles Parish for several hours while the remnant circulation of Arthur passed to the north. Widespread flooding occurred with numerous structures inundated. Numerous rescues were also conducted. Cottonport received a storm total 37.58 inches of rain with 29.06 inches falling in under 24 hours. The heavy rain flooded around 200 homes in Avoyelles parish and took days to drain.

6. Aug 13, 2016Flash Flood$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Streets began to flood during the morning of the 13th and then structures a couple of hours later as heavy rain kept falling. An estimated 363 structures were flooded during the event.

7. Oct 3, 2002Hurricane (Typhoon), Avoyelles$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Lili made landfall the morning of October 3rd near Intracoastal City in Vermilion Parish as a category one hurricane. Over 48,000 claims were filed with FEMA by homeowners who received damage. along the path of Lili, from southwest Louisiana into central Louisiana. Only 3 injuries were reported. One injury in Evangeline Parish at Ville Platte occurred when a policeman on patrol had a tree fall on his vehicle, trapping him inside. He received minor injuries and was treated and released from a local hospital. The other two injuries occurred in Acadia Parish. Two Rayne city employees were moving vehicles to a safer location when a brick facade at the water plant fell on…

8. Jan 2, 2017Tornado$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down near the airport where one hangar and two|planes were damaged. A Wal-Mart store had some skylights shattered|and parts of the roof was damaged. Neighboring strip mall stores|also received minor facade damage and a portable fireworks shop|was destroyed. Across the street, several large trees fell on homes|and several other buildings were damaged as well. The estimated peak wind was 110 MPH.

9. Apr 30, 2017Flash Flood$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large swath of 5 to 10 inches of rain fell across Southwest and Central Louisiana during the morning of the 30th. In Bunkie water entered at least 35 homes and 5 businesses with up to 1 foot of water. The co-op station in Bunkie received 10.88 inches of rain. 8 homes flooded in Marksville and 3 homes flooded in Cottonport. Numerous reports of rescues from flooded vehicles also occurred.

10. Apr 5, 2012Hail$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Public and law enforcement reported hail up to baseball size around Bunkie with a NWS storm survey confirming the damage caused by the massive hail. Numerous homes, businesses, and vehicles received damage across the city with windows broken, roofs damaged, and various other damages sustained. The storm then moved toward the east with the last report of dime and golfball sized hail southeast of the Cottonport area. Saint Anthony School was still closed 5 days after the storm due to broken windows and other damage.

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

107°F2 times, most recently Aug 14, 2007

All-time low

8°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

81°FJul 23, 2018

Coldest day

19°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

13.15 inApr 11, 1995

Snowiest day

8.0 inFeb 13, 1960

Hottest year

1998mean 69.6°F

Coldest year

1983mean 64.7°F

Wettest year

197381.71 in

Driest year

200038.22 in

Snowiest season

8.0 in1959-60

Station Bunkie (USC00161287), 80 ft elevation, 9.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1956 to October 26, 2026; 97.5% 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 USC00161287.
• 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.