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Cameron County, Texas severe weather history spans 547 recorded events between 1953 and 2025. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 35.3% of all recorded events. It ranks #736 nationally and #70 in Texas.
547
Recorded events
1
Direct deaths
17
Direct injuries
$291.2M
Property damage
The record
What the Cameron County, Texas severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Cameron County, Texas severe weather history averages 7.6 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2020s, with 148 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 107 events fall before 1990 and 440 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Cameron County, Texas record is tornado, responsible for 1 direct deaths. The costliest is flash flood, with $216.3M in reported property damage. In total, 10 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Cameron County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 193 | 0 | $10.8M | 100 | 1961–2025 |
| Hail | 101 | 0 | $50.1M | 4 | 1956–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 92 | 0 | $216.3M | 0 | 1996–2025 |
| Tornado | 68 | 1 | $6.9M | F3 | 1953–2025 |
| Flood | 42 | 0 | $148K | 0 | 1997–2025 |
| Heavy Rain | 40 | 0 | $50K | 0 | 1996–2016 |
| Lightning | 6 | 0 | $7.0M | 0 | 2011–2024 |
| Funnel Cloud | 3 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2005–2021 |
| Coastal Flood | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1996–1996 |
| Waterspout | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1999–1999 |
Decade by decade
Cameron County, Texas severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
64 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 62 touched down inside it and 2 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969-05-12 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1969-05-12 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1980-08-09 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 4.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 1970-05-24 | EF2 | 0 | 1 | 25.5 mi | Crossed in |
| 2023-05-13 | EF1 | 1 | 11 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1997-04-04 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1988-09-16 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1977-04-16 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1977-04-21 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1970-06-01 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Cameron County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 2023 | Tornado | BAYSIDE | 1 | 11 | $500K |
| Apr 8, 2003 | Hail | BROWNSVILLE | 0 | 5 | $50.0M |
| May 15, 1992 | Thunderstorm Wind | 0 | 1 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
One day after 3 to more than 5 inches fell between Brownsville and Los Fresnos during the afternoon and early evening hours, a repeat event occurred, fed by deep tropical moisture and multiple boundaries left behind from devastating morning flooding across western Cameron and eastern Hidalgo County. A persistent line of torrential rainfall dominated through the early evening commute, with another 3 to 6 inches having fallen for a two-day total of 6 to 11+ inches. The second day rainfall produced more widespread flooding across locations in and east of Brownsville and Los Fresnos, with farm and subdivisions under 2 to 3+ feet of water when all was said and done. ||The additional flooding on saturated soils (pump priming from June 19) likely produced more damage this second go-round, including more erosion to drainage canals/ditches and mainly rural roads. Doubling of the damage left a total of around $20 million.
A band of thunderstorms, moving slowly from west to east, intersected the sea breeze and stalled between Brownsville and Los Fresnos, dumping 3 to 5 or more inches of rainfall in a 2 to 3 hour period, causing significant street flooding and some road closures. Flood prone roads, including Morrison Blvd. in north Brownsville was closed due to 3 feet of water; Dennet road nearby was also covered in 2 to 3 feet of water. Other roads between North Brownsville and Los Fresnos were flooded with an unknown amount of water depth. Several to dozens of vehicles were flooded, with damage unknown as of this writing.
A cluster of potent thunderstorms developed in northeastern Mexico and moved north into Cameron County early Sunday morning. Within this cluster of storms, a strong linear downburst crossed South Padre Island from 1:24 AM CST to 1:40 AM CST. The South Padre Island Police Department reported downed power lines in between the paralleling Padre Blvd and Laguna Blvd on South Padre Island, and at one point all of South Padre Island had lost power due to 31 transmission poles that were taken down by the wind.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively High
FEMA NRI risk rating
426,120
Population (ACS)
$137K
Median home value
34
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2025 | Flood | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR |
| Jul 9, 2024 | Hurricane | HURRICANE BERYL | DR |
| Feb 19, 2021 | Severe Ice Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR |
| Feb 14, 2021 | Severe Ice Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM |
| Aug 24, 2020 | Hurricane | TROPICAL STORMS MARCO AND LAURA | EM |
| Jul 26, 2020 | Hurricane | HURRICANE HANNA | EM |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Cameron County, Texas?
547 events are on record between 1953 and 2025, causing 1 direct deaths and $291.2M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Cameron County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 193 recorded events — 35.3% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Cameron County?
64 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 62 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Cameron County?
34 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Cameron County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Cameron County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Cameron County as relatively high risk, placing it in the 97 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Cameron County, Texas severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Callahan County 453
- Camp County 221
- Calhoun County 163
- Carson County 910
- Caldwell County 287
- Cass County 653
Cite this page
“Cameron County, Texas.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/texas/cameron-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.