Storm risk in Norfolk (independent city), Virginia

How FEMA rates Norfolk

Expected yearly loss, in dollars

Rank 1 is the highest. Overall, hail and wind losses count buildings; the tornado row counts everything FEMA exposes, so it overstates building damage. Expected annual loss is an average over many years for the whole county, not a forecast for one roof.

What stands out in Norfolk

• FEMA expects hail in Norfolk to cost $10 per $1 million of buildings a year: 0.47 times the U.S. median and 1.94 times the VA county median, ranked 2,044th of 3,126 counties nationally and 34th of 133 in Virginia.
• FEMA expects strong wind in Norfolk to cost $9.46 per $1 million of buildings a year: 0.46 times the U.S. median and 0.64 times the VA county median, ranked 2,253rd of 3,121 counties nationally and 92nd of 133 in Virginia.
• FEMA expects tornado in Norfolk to cost $72 per $1 million of buildings a year: 0.36 times the U.S. median and 1.35 times the VA county median, ranked 2,237th of 3,144 counties nationally and 42nd of 133 in Virginia.
• NOAA has only 11 hail reports for Norfolk in 12 years, too few for a trend; FEMA's 55 counted hail events cover a longer record.
• Applying FEMA's estimate to a $271,900 home, the average yearly loss in Norfolk is about $2.84 for hail and $2.57 for wind before any deductible; at the U.S. median county rates it would be $6.08 and $5.54.
• If the next years look like 2014 to 2025, a roof kept 20 years in Norfolk meets about 8.3 hail days of 1 inch or more; the median county in NOAA's file (1,275 counties) would give 35.0.
• Built in 1964, the median home in Norfolk is 62 years old, so an original roof has outlived a 3-tab shingle (15 to 20 years) and an architectural one (25 to 30 years); 84.6% of its 102,542 homes are at least 26 years old.
• March to June holds 10 of the 11 hail reports in Norfolk (91 percent); the quietest month is January, with 0 reports.

What hail and wind cost a home here in an average year

Enter a home value. The calculator applies Norfolk’s own loss rate: the county’s expected yearly loss divided by the value of its buildings. It starts at the Census median home value for the county.

Read this as a yardstick. The rate is an average over every building in the county, from sheds to office towers, and over many years. Real losses come in rare, large storms; a roof with no damage in 19 years can need full replacement in the 20th. The figure is not a quote and not a prediction for one address.

Norfolk in plain numbers

• Norfolk scores 81.23 in FEMA's overall hazard index (Relatively Moderate): 591st of 3,144 rated counties and 5th of 133 in Virginia.
• Hail scores 68.83 (Relatively Low). FEMA expects $441,005 of hail damage to buildings in Norfolk a year, which is $10 per $1 million of buildings, 0.47 times the U.S. median.
• Strong wind scores 71.44 (Relatively Moderate) with $399,409 of expected yearly building loss in Norfolk: $9.46 per $1 million of buildings, 0.46 times the U.S. median.
• Tornado scores 74.14 (Relatively Moderate) and FEMA's expected yearly tornado loss is $3,059,305, counting everything exposed, or $72 per $1 million of buildings in Norfolk.
• FEMA's own event record for Norfolk averages 1.29 hail events and 0.50 strong-wind events a year.
• NOAA logged 11 hail reports in Norfolk between 2014 and June 2026, on 5 days with stones of 1 inch or more; the largest was 1.25 inches.
• In Norfolk, FEMA counts buildings worth 42.21 billion dollars and 237,884 residents.
• Social vulnerability is Relatively Low in Norfolk.
• Community resilience there is Relatively High, for 237,884 residents.
• 1 city in Norfolk is covered on this site: Norfolk. 14 Census ZIP areas have more than half of their land in the county.
• Our guide range for a 2,000 sq ft asphalt roof in Norfolk is $6,860 to $15,190.
• Norfolk ranks 133 of the 194 counties with a page here for hail loss per $1 million of buildings, 112 for wind and 165 for tornado.
• In Norfolk, June is the busiest month with 6 of the 11 reports (55 percent), against 0 reports in December.
• Norfolk's worst year was 2023, with 2 hail days at 1 inch or more and 6 reports. At the 2014 to 2025 pace that is 0.42 such days a year, one about every 28.8 months.
• The median home in Norfolk was built in 1964; 67.8% of its 102,542 housing units date from before 1980, 84.6% from before 2000 and 8.5% from 2010 on.
• Census puts the median home value in Norfolk at $271,900, and 45.7% of homes are lived in by their owners.
• 3,884 single-family building permits were issued in Norfolk from 2014 to 2025, about 37.9 per 1,000 homes, peaking in 2020.
• NOAA lists 1 tornado track in Norfolk since 2014; the strongest was an EF0 on July 4, 2014 near (Ngu)Nas Norfolk, 0.25 miles long.
• The fastest gust in NOAA's records for Norfolk is 92 mph on July 26, 2022 at Hampton Rds.
• The nearest county with a page here is Chesapeake (independent city), 13 miles from the centre of Norfolk; its hail score is 61.39.
• Across counties the median is one roofing firm for every 5,189 homes; Census counted 18 roofing contractor establishments in Norfolk in 2023, one for every 5,697 homes.

The hail record of Norfolk, year by year

NOAA logged 11 reports in Norfolk; hail of 1 inch or more fell on 5 days. With so few reports the yearly bars below are small numbers, and a single storm moves them.

Biggest hail days in Norfolk

Where large hail was reported

FEMA scores the county as a whole. NOAA’s reports show where inside Norfolk the big stones fell.

Wind and tornado records for Norfolk

How old the roofs are

Census counts homes by the decade they were built. Under each bar is the number of hail days of 1 inch or more that an original roof from that decade has met, at Norfolk’s 2014 to 2025 pace of 0.42 such days a year. Most roofs have been replaced since; the row shows what a roof that never was would have taken.

Roofers and past disasters in Norfolk

Nearby counties

The closest counties that have a risk page, by distance between county centres. Loss is per $1 million of buildings; the columns marked "times here" divide the neighbour's loss by Norfolk's.

All 194 counties, with a filter by state and sorting

Cities and ZIP areas in Norfolk

1 city in this county is on PickARoofer. ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are Census shapes that approximate ZIP codes; where we have a city’s ZIPs, the share is the part of each area’s land that lies in this county. 14 such areas have more than half their land here.

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