Sharkey County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Sharkey County: 37.
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.

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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Mar 24, 2023Tornado$83.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This long track, violent tornado began over northern |Issaquena County near Grant Rd, downing multiple trees and damaging |two older outbuildings. It tracked northeastward, producing tree |damage as it crossed the Steele Bayou Canal before crossing into |Sharkey County. At this point, the tornado began to substantially |increase in size and intensity. A very high percentage of trees were |snapped along the path through a wooded area south of Bear Lake Rd. |It was in this wooded area where the first indications of EF3 to EF4 |damage were noted, with at least one tree and root ball and several |more large tree pieces fully displaced into the downstream field. |From this point along…

2. Dec 13, 2022Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down north of Rolling Fork Road where a few trees had limbs damaged. The tornado intensified quickly as it traveled northeast across Garfield Rd. and destroyed numerous outbuildings. The tornado reached its maximum intensity as it crossed Rolling Fork Rd. and destroyed a well-constructed outbuilding after pulling out concrete anchors weighing several hundred pounds. The concrete was lofted and carried about 50 yards before landing on the pavement. The tornado continued northeastward, with some fluctuation in strength as it damaged numerous trees and caused primarily roof damage to homes. As the tornado crossed US Highway 61, several mobile homes were rolled and…

3. Feb 24, 2011Tornado$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado started at Grace, where it downed a few large trees and caused minor roof damage to several homes. The tornado continued into Sharkey County, and just after crossing Dry Bend Road it destroyed a metal outbuilding, scattering tin and other debris a mile downstream. Part of the roof of another larger metal building was taken off at the same location, along with a couple of trees snapped. From here the tornado mainly passed through open fields for a couple of miles, although trees could be seen down along some tree lines. As the tornado approached US Highway 61, it turned more east-northeastward and downed more trees and rolled some equipment at a farm shop. As it crossed…

4. May 4, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   South Delta Middle School, in Anguilla, had a portion of its roof blown off along with many trees blown down and numerous large limbs broken and laid in area lawns and streets. Additionally, the damaging winds extended southward into Rolling Fork where several homes and businesses sustained damage.

5. May 15, 2008Flash Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall, between 5 and 8 inches, fell across a large portion of central and northern Sharkey County. Several homes were flooded around Rolling Fork along with numerous county roads under water. Many farm fields were partially under water which caused damage to the young crops.

6. Sep 3, 2008Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall fell across most of Sharkey County as Hurricane Gustav continued to weaken. Persistent heavy rain areas impacted the county and produced 7 to 10 inches of rainfall. Many roads were flooded.||Agriculture was hard hit as nearly all of the farm land was flooded to some extent. Crops that were near harvest were left in the fields and were damaged. Yields on crops were extremely poor with some crops in some areas a total loss.

7. Aug 29, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Sharkey$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Katrina will likely go down as the worst and costliest natural disaster in United States history. The amount of destruction, the cost of damaged property/agriculture and the large loss of life across the affected region has been overwhelming. Catastrophic damage was widespread across a large portion of the Gulf Coast region. The devastation was not only confined to the coastal region, widespread and significant damage occurred well inland up to the Hattiesburg area and northward past Interstate 20. This hurricane has changed life as we know it across the Gulf Coast region which will take many years to return to normal.Hurricane Katrina was a very large and powerful storm…

8. Dec 13, 2022Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down near Lake Albemarle. Initially it produced intermittent tree damage, moved northeast across the levee at Mississippi Highway 465, and then moved across mostly forested and lowland areas of river bottom. The tornado remained near EF-0 intensity until it crossed into Sharkey County near US Highway 61 where it intensified and downed several trees near the roadway. After it crossed the highway, the tornado intensified further, and destroyed numerous farm outbuildings, uprooted and snapped trees, tossed a grain bin, and rolled semi trailers. The tornado here reached a peak intensity of EF-2 with estimated maximum winds of 120 mph. The tornado moved northeast to…

9. Sep 24, 2005Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down on the west side of Nitta Yuma and caused damage to homes and downed a few trees. Nearly 20 homes had shingles blown off the roof, one tree was down on a house and 3 power poles were blown down. The tornado continued to the north-northwest for 3 miles were it torn tops off trees in the Panther Burn Community.

10. Oct 16, 2006Flash Flood$300,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rain between six and ten inches fell across all of Sharkey County during the late afternoon and evening hours of October 16th. This heavy rain caused many roads and farm fields to become flooded by several feet of water. High water marks were noted by debris across the landscape.

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.

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.
• 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.