Live
Active alerts for this county
Heat Advisory
Dade; Walker; Catoosa; Whitfield; Murray; Chattooga; Gordon; Floyd; Bartow; Polk
Polk County, Georgia severe weather history spans 328 recorded events between 1959 and 2026. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 54.6% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,619 nationally and #39 in Georgia.
328
Recorded events
2
Direct deaths
49
Direct injuries
$27.4M
Property damage
The record
What the Polk County, Georgia severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Polk County, Georgia severe weather history averages 4.9 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 112 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 27 events fall before 1990 and 301 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Polk County, Georgia record is tornado, responsible for 2 direct deaths. The costliest is tornado, with $17.6M in reported property damage. In total, 8 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Polk County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 179 | 0 | $1.5M | 91 | 1959–2026 |
| Hail | 91 | 0 | $2.4M | 2.75 | 1962–2026 |
| Flash Flood | 25 | 0 | $5.3M | 0 | 1996–2023 |
| Lightning | 12 | 0 | $666K | 0 | 2001–2023 |
| Tornado | 11 | 2 | $17.6M | F3 | 1961–2013 |
| Flood | 5 | 0 | $28K | 0 | 1999–2009 |
| Funnel Cloud | 3 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2003–2009 |
| Heavy Rain | 2 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2003–2003 |
Decade by decade
Polk County, Georgia severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
16 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 11 touched down inside it and 5 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-04-27 | EF4 | 22 | 85 | 97.3 mi | Crossed in |
| 2008-03-15 | EF3 | 2 | 2 | 16.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 1993-02-21 | EF3 | 1 | 35 | 9.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1994-03-27 | EF3 | 0 | 30 | 21.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 2006-04-08 | EF2 | 0 | 1 | 3.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2000-04-03 | EF2 | 0 | 6 | 6.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1978-04-18 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 4.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1954-12-05 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 7.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2005-08-29 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 2.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 1994-03-27 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 9.3 mi | Crossed in |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Polk County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 1993 | Tornado | Esom Hill to | 1 | 35 | $5.0M |
| Mar 15, 2008 | Tornado | SENEY | 1 | 1 | $3.5M |
| Apr 3, 2000 | Tornado | ESOM HILL | 0 | 6 | $1.0M |
| Aug 30, 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | ROCKMART | 0 | 1 | $10K |
| Apr 8, 2006 | Tornado | ROCKMART | 0 | 1 | $450K |
| Apr 8, 2006 | Tornado | CEDARTOWN | 0 | 1 | $350K |
| Jul 19, 2005 | Lightning | ROCKMART | 0 | 1 | $0 |
| Jun 20, 2005 | Lightning | CEDARTOWN | 0 | 1 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A tornado touched down near Esom Hill in extreme southwest Polk County near the Alabama/Georgia border. The tornado traveled 9 miles and destroyed 500 homes, 40 businesses, and 14 churches, mobile homes, and downed trees. Damage path was approximately 0.5 mile wide. Nearly the entire town of Cedartown was without power due to downed power lines which included 15,000 homes and businesses. Most industries in the Cedartown Industrial Park were damaged by the tornado including HON Industries which had the back half of its office furniture manufacturing plant blown off by the storm. The tornado also damaged the Star Manufacturing building, Zartic Inc. frozen food processing plant, Rome Plow County plant, Coca Cola distribution warehouse, Arrow Shirt Factory, and Cedar Valley Container Corp. A fatality occurred when the tornado lifted and destroyed a mobile home, killing its occupant. (M31M)
Polk County Police Department posted video footage to social media of flash flooding over a roadway at the entrance to Cedartown High School. The flooding resulted from two to three inches of rain that quickly fell over the area, overwhelming a small creek and drainage systems in the area. Water also inundated some ball fields on the campus.
A survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, GA, concluded that an F0 tornado had touched down four miles south of Cedartown and tracked southeast to a point five miles southeast of Cedartown. About a dozen homes were damaged along the path of the tornado, mostly from downed trees. A female at a doublewide mobile home south of Cedartown suffered a broken hand when a tree fell through the home. Several power lines were also down in the area. In addition, several outbuildings were damaged, including a greenhouse, and porches were blown off two homes five miles southeast of Cedartown. Much of the damage occurred in the vicinity of Young Farms Road, Aragon Road, and between Georgia Highway 100 and Antioch Road. This tornado was rated an F0 with an approximate path length of 5.0 miles and a path width of 50 to 100 yards.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
43,785
Population (ACS)
$188K
Median home value
17
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 2026 | Winter Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Tropical Storm | HURRICANE HELENE | EM |
| Mar 29, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Sep 15, 2017 | Hurricane | HURRICANE IRMA | DR |
| Sep 8, 2017 | Hurricane | HURRICANE IRMA | EM |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Cedartown 149
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Polk County, Georgia?
328 events are on record between 1959 and 2026, causing 2 direct deaths and $27.4M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Polk County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 179 recorded events — 54.6% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Polk County?
16 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 11 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Polk County?
17 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Polk County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Polk County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Polk County as relatively low risk, placing it in the 64 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Polk County, Georgia 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
- Pike County 188
- Pulaski County 142
- Pierce County 191
- Putnam County 183
- Pickens County 204
- Quitman County 66
Cite this page
“Polk County, Georgia.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/georgia/polk-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.