Disaster History

Year	Event	Event
11/10/1884	Earthquake	at Paris, Bear Lake County, Idaho. Intensity of VIII
1894	Flooding	Statewide
11/11/1905	Earthquake	near Shoshone, Lincoln County
10/05/1909	Earthquake	in Hansel Valley
1910	Wildfire	Devastating wildland fires consume 1/6 of northern Idaho's forests and destroy many communities. Eighty-five lives lost;
10/14/1913	Earthquake	North-central Idaho
05/13/1916	Earthquake	Boise
11/25/1924	Earthquake	Near Wardboro, Franklin County
1927	Flooding	Upper Snake River Basin
1933	Flooding	Spokane River Basin
11/1/1942	Earthquake	Sandpoint
1943	Flooding	Boise and Payette basins
07/12/1944	Earthquake	Near Sheep Mountain, southwest Idaho
02/14/1945	Earthquake	Idaho City, Boise County
09/25/1947	Earthquake	Boise, Ada County
11/23/1947	Earthquake	Central Idaho
1948	Flooding	Northern and western Idaho
1955	Flooding	Southwest Idaho
12/19/1957	Earthquake	Northern Idaho
1959	Flooding	Boise River Basin
1959	Flash Flood	August and September flash floods and mud slides in Boise (“Cloudburst Floods”).
10/17/59	Earthquake	Hebgen Lake, MT
1960	Wildfire	July and August wildland fires in Hells Canyon and Idaho City areas.
08/07/1960	Earthquake	Near Soda Springs, Caribou County
1962	Flooding	Southern and eastern Idaho
08/30/1962	Earthquake	Cache Valley, Utah.
01/27/1963	Earthquake	Clayton, Custer County: Intensity VI
1963	Flooding	Portneuf and Clearwater basins
09/11/1963	Earthquake	Central Idaho: Intensity VI
1964	Flooding	State-wide at low elevations
1967	Wildfire	Ten counties in Panhandle affected; 50,000 acres burned in nine hours.
04/26/1969	Earthquake	Ketchum, Blaine County
1974	Flooding	Northern and central Idaho and statewide
03/27/1975	Earthquake	Eastern Idaho
07/30/1975	Earthquake	Yellowstone National Park
1976	Dam Failure	Teton Dam collapses in southeastern Idaho, killing 11 and forcing 300,000 people to flee their homes.
1977	Drought	Severe drought leads to Federal Disaster declaration for many Idaho counties. (Adams, Bear Lake, Blaine, Camas, Caribou, Elmore, Idaho, Lincoln, Washington)
11/27/1977	Earthquake	Cascade, Valley County
10/24/1978	Earthquake	Southeast Idaho
01/1979	Flooding	Counties - (Bingham, Washington)
02/1979	Flooding	Counties - (Canyon, Washington, Nez Perce)
1979	Drought	Counties (Blaine, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka, Oneida, Twin Falls)
03/1980	Flooding	Power, Oneida
02/1982	Flooding	Bonner, Washington
04/1982	Flooding	Blaine
07/1982	Landslide	Boise
10/14/1982	Earthquake	Near Soda Springs, Caribou County
06/1983	Flooding	Jefferson
10/28/1983	Earthquake	Borah Peak earthquake FEMA-694-DR
1984	Flooding	Ice jam flooding on the Lemhi River at Salmon.
05/1984	Flooding	Cassia, Bannock, Twin Falls
06/1984	Flooding	Jefferson, Owyhee
12/1984	Flooding	Lemhi, Butte
01/1985	Flooding	Cassia
1985	Pestilence	Grasshopper infestation leads to pesticide spraying on over six million acres of range.
1985	Wildfire	Two state-wide declarations (July and August).
02/1986	Landslide	Boise
03/1986	Landslide	Counties - (Boise, Elmore, Lewis, Nez Perce, Owyhee)
1986	Wildfire	State-wide declaration
1987	Wildfire	Three counties declared individually: Ada (June), Adams (August), and Bannock (August); state-wide declaration in August.
01/1989	Winter Storm	Counties - (Bonner, Clark)
1989	Wildfire	The worst wildland fires season since 1910; thousands of acres in south central Idaho burn and the town of Lowman is partially destroyed.
04/1991	Landslide	Bonner County
1992	Wildfire	One life lost in the worst fire season in Idaho history to date; one of two state-wide declarations was for an unusual spring event (April). The worst wildland fire season in Idaho's recorded history.
01/1993	Winter Storm	Jerome County
01/1994	Winter Storm	Elmore County
02/03/1994		Earthquake: Draney Peak
1994	Wildfire	One life lost and one home lost; summer wildfires burn a total of over 750,000 acres resulting in a state-wide declaration.
02/1996	Winter Storm	Counties (Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, Shoshone)
1996	Flooding	Flooding throughout Northern Idaho.
11/1996-1/1997	Landslide	Counties - Adams, Benewah, Boise, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Elmore, Gem, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Nez Perce, Owyhee, Payette, Shoshone, Valley, Washington
1996/97	Winter Storm	Heavy snow, landslides, and floods from winter storms.
1997	Flooding	Spring flooding in Southeastern and Northern counties.
03-06/1997	Landslide	Counties -(Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai, Shoshone)
05/1998	Landslide	Counties - (Lemhi, Nez Perce, Washington)
10/1998	Landslide	Boundary County
2/2000	Landslide	Cape Horn Road; Kootenai County
2000	Landslide	Lewiston, Nez Perce County
2000	Wildfire	1,599 wildland fires throughout state burn 1.36 million acres.
2001	Drought

Bureau of Homeland Security
4040 Guard Street
Building 600
Boise, Idaho 83705
(208) 334-3460

Disaster History in Idaho