Orange County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 26, 2017Flash Flood$1.5 billion
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread 30 to 50 inches of rainfall fell across Orange County during Harvey. This resulted in 27,742 homes being flooded. The hardest hit areas were Orange, Vidor, Orangefield, Pine Forest, West Orange, Rose City, Mauriceville, Rose City, and Lake View. Record crests occurred on the lower Neches and Cow Bayou. The Sabine River was at its highest level since Hurricane Ike in 2008. Water covered and closed portions of Interstate 10 in the county. Only 1 home was reported not flooded in Rose City and the community's drinking water was interrupted for near a month. 10 people perished during the event with 2 of them being from electrocution in a flooded home.

2. Aug 26, 2020Hurricane (Typhoon), Orange$1.1 billion
   National Weather Service narrative

   There was a mandatory evacuation for Orange County, Texas. Storm surge backed up the Sabine and Neches waterways, as well as Adams and Cow Bayous. Numerous trees, power lines, and poles were blown down across the entire county. Homes and businesses were damaged from trees falling on them or directly from the winds. Over 90 percent of the county was without power immediately after the storm. One person died from carbon monoxide poisoning (indirect death). Wind gusts across the county ranged from 60 to 110 mph. Storm surge reached 2.08 feet MHHW at the Rainbow Bridge in Bridge City.

3. Sep 12, 2008Storm Surge/Tide, Orange$500 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A storm surge as high as 10 to 12 feet reached Bridge City and downtown Orange. A 40 year old man died in Bridge City when his truck was washed off Highway 73 near the Rainbow Bridge. Over 8000 homes were flooded.

4. Sep 23, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Orange$500 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Although Hurricane Rita made landfall just east of the Texas - Louisiana border, she moved northwest and moved across southeast Texas in the morning hours of September 24th as a dangerous category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 120 mph. Along the coast of Jefferson County, storm surges near 10 feet occurred near Sabine Pass, where over 90 percent of the homes were severely damaged or destroyed. The storm surge backed up the Sabine River, and flooded a small section of downtown Orange with around 4 to 5 feet of storm surge. Winds blew over 100 mph across the entire region, snapping and uprooting trees, and damaged over 125,000 homes and businesses. Some homes in rural Jasper…

5. Sep 12, 2008Hurricane (Typhoon), Orange$75.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Ike caused category 1 wind damage across Orange County. Many trees and power lines were downed, some landing on homes and businesses.

6. Sep 19, 2019Flash Flood$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain from the slowly moving remnants of Imelda produced flooding across portions of Orange County. The first report in the county was of FM 105 impassable with water entering many homes in Vidor. The highest storm total in Orange County was 31.68 inches near Mauriceville. Close to a thousand homes were flooded.

7. Oct 9, 2020Hurricane (Typhoon), Orange$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The center of Hurricane Delta passed east of Orange County, however hurricane force gusts were common across much of Orange County. Rainfall totals ranged from 5 to 6.5 inches across the county. Tide levels reached 1.25 MHHW at the Rainbow Bridge near Bridge City.

8. Sep 13, 2007Hurricane (Typhoon), Orange$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Humberto moved into Orange County around 3:15 am between Vidor and Bridge City. Hurricane force winds were confined to a 15 mile wide area. Cities that saw the highest winds of 50 to 70 mph include Vidor, Bridge City, and Mauriceville. Damage was primarily trees blown down, roof damage, and power lines downed. One fatality occurred in Bridge City where an 80 year old man went outside to check on his property, and a carport fell on him. Power outages occurred to over 20,000 customers. Most urban locations had power back up within a few days, but some rural locations saw power out for up to a week.

9. Jan 12, 1997Ice Storm, Orange$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A record ice storm paralyzed southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. Around 90,000 electric customers across southeast Texas were without power for up to six days. Emergency shelters were opended for several nights due to the cold weather following the ice storm. More trees and power lines were knocked down in this ice storm than what came down during Hurricane Bonnie in 1986. Hundreds of homes received minor damage due to trees or tree limbs falling on roofs. Several house fires were directly or indirectly related to the ice storm, but fortunately there were only no injuries. Numerous traffic accidents attributed to icy roads led to several minor injuries. One death was…

10. Mar 14, 2016Flood$6.4 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Flood water from heavy rain on the 9th and 10th gradually flowed down the Sabine River to Orange County. The river at Orange crested on the 17th at 7.62 feet. This was 2.24 feet below the record set during Hurricane Ike in 2008 and was the second highest crest recorded. Areas north of Interstate 10 had much higher levels since the freeway and railroads acted as a damn holding back water. Most homes along the river flooded with some taking several feet of water, especially north of I-10. Roughly 1,500 structures were affected during the event with 190 structures flooded which includes 177 residences. This caused an estimated $2 million in damage to public infrastructure and roughly…

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°FAug 27, 2023

All-time low

11°FJan 22, 2025

Warmest night

84°FJun 23, 2019

Coldest day

26°FFeb 1, 1951

Wettest day

26.03 inAug 29, 2017

Snowiest day

4.5 inJan 21, 2025

Hottest year

2023mean 72.7°F

Coldest year

1976mean 66.5°F

Wettest year

2017104.30 in

Driest year

201130.47 in

Station Port Arthur Se Tx Regional Airport (USW00012917), 13 ft elevation, 15.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1947 to October 25, 2026; 99.8% 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 USW00012917.
• 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.