NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Ville Platte, LA
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
41 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Ville Platte, Louisiana since 1851, 9 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Delta in 2020. Since 1950, 153 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 8 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 9
- Tropical storms
- 32
- Tornadoes
- 153
- EF3 or stronger
- 8
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
10 deaths in all
What the records show for Ville Platte
The strongest storm to pass near Ville Platte was Laura in 2020, a Category 3 hurricane with 116 mph winds when its centre passed 59 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was Carmen in 1974, whose centre came within 31 miles. The record near Ville Platte begins with an unnamed storm in 1856; the most recent system was Delta in 2020, a tropical storm 14 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1930s, with 5 systems, one of them at hurricane strength. Of the 41 systems, 9 have come since 2000. Of the 245 Louisiana cities on this site, 58% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Ville Platte. The highest rating among the 153 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 8 times; the most recent, on April 10, 2021, came within 21 miles. The deadliest, an EF2 on September 3, 2008, killed 2 people. Of the 153, 10 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 83 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 22. The most recent tornado was on March 31, 2025. Ville Platte has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 83% of the 245 Louisiana cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 39 times since 1963, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Of the 245 Louisiana cities, 53% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Ville Platte.
Compare Ville Platte's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Ville Platte
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | DeltaOct 10 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (71 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2020 | LauraAug 27 | 59 mi | Category 3 (116 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2019 | BarryJul 14 | 36 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2017 | HarveyAug 30 | 48 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2012 | IsaacAug 30 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2011 | LeeSep 4 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2008 | GustavSep 2 | overhead | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2007 | HumbertoSep 13 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2002 | LiliOct 3 | 3 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1992 | AndrewAug 26 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (68 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1985 | JuanOct 29 | 37 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1985 | DannyAug 15 | 10 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1982 | ChrisSep 11 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1974 | CarmenSep 8 | 31 mi | Category 1 (82 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1973 | Unnamed 1973 stormSep 13 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1971 | EdithSep 16 | 39 mi | Category 1 (78 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1965 | BetsySep 10 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (72 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1964 | HildaOct 4 | 69 mi | Category 1 (81 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1959 | ArleneMay 31 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1957 | AudreyJun 27 | 62 mi | Category 1 (83 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1955 | Unnamed 1955 stormAug 27 | 20 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1954 | BarbaraJul 29 | 69 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1947 | Unnamed 1947 stormSep 20 | 9 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1940 | Unnamed 1940 stormSep 24 | 50 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1938 | Unnamed 1938 stormAug 15 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1937 | Unnamed 1937 stormOct 3 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 16 | 54 mi | Category 1 (78 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1932 | Unnamed 1932 stormSep 19 | 42 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1931 | Unnamed 1931 stormJul 16 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1926 | Unnamed 1926 stormAug 26 | 3 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1920 | Unnamed 1920 stormSep 22 | 31 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1909 | Unnamed 1909 stormSep 21 | 44 mi | Category 2 (96 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1908 | Unnamed 1908 stormAug 1 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1905 | Unnamed 1905 stormSep 29 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1898 | Unnamed 1898 stormSep 20 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormJun 15 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1875 | Unnamed 1875 stormSep 18 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1865 | Unnamed 1865 stormSep 14 | 71 mi | Category 1 (75 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1863 | Unnamed 1863 stormSep 30 | 39 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1860 | Unnamed 1860 stormOct 2 | 71 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1856 | Unnamed 1856 stormAug 11 | 31 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Ville Platte: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Ville Platte
By decade
- 2020s23(2 EF3+)
- 2010s27
- 2000s33
- 1990s22
- 1980s13(3 EF3+)
- 1970s21(1 EF3+)
- 1960s9
- 1950s5(2 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 1974 | F3 | 24 mi | 31.3 mi | 2 / 52 |
| Apr 10, 2021 | EF3 | 21 mi | 8.71 mi | 1 / 7 |
| May 17, 2020 | EF3 | 18 mi | 3.93 mi | 1 / 9 |
| Jan 31, 1983 | F3 | 17 mi | 5 mi | 1 / 2 |
| Oct 15, 1957 | F3 | 21 mi | 37.9 mi | 1 / 29 |
| Feb 9, 1983 | F3 | 22 mi | 21 mi | 0 / 7 |
| Feb 9, 1983 | F3 | 16 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 4, 1952 | F3 | 24 mi | 36.7 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Sep 3, 2008 | EF2 | 11 mi | 7.06 mi | 2 / 2 |
| Oct 29, 2002 | F2 | 8 mi | 10.5 mi | 2 / 3 |
| Mar 31, 2025 | EF2 | 10 mi | 1.82 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 8, 2023 | EF2 | 10 mi | 3.61 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 153, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Ville Platte
The Storm Prediction Center has 39 hail reports within 10 miles of Ville Platte since 1963, made on 33 separate days. Of these, 20 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on May 26, 2001. The most recent report is from April 4, 2019. March has the most reports, 11.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Ville Platte
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Eunice, LA, 17 miles southwest of Ville Platte at 50 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 93°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 60°F and 40°F. January is the wettest at 6.4 inches of precipitation on average and March the driest at 3.9 inches; the year adds up to 57.8 inches over 72 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 48% of the year's precipitation (27.8 of 57.8 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 41 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (18); a normal September there has highs of 89°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 111 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 19 nights a year. That 57.8 inches is more than at 20 of the 81 Louisiana stations used on this site (25%). Saint Landry, 13 miles north, has its own station (Bunkie, LA): 61.7 inches a year, 3.9 more than here, and the same August average high, 93°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 60 | 40 | 6.4 | 7 |
| Feb | 64 | 44 | 4.6 | 6 |
| Mar | 71 | 51 | 3.9 | 5 |
| Apr | 78 | 57 | 4.6 | 4 |
| May | 85 | 66 | 5.7 | 5 |
| Jun | 90 | 71 | 4.8 | 8 |
| Jul | 92 | 73 | 4.6 | 8 |
| Aug | 93 | 73 | 4.2 | 7 |
| Sep | 89 | 68 | 4.9 | 5 |
| Oct | 81 | 57 | 4.9 | 5 |
| Nov | 70 | 48 | 4.4 | 5 |
| Dec | 63 | 42 | 4.8 | 7 |
| Year | 78 | 57 | 57.8 | 72 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Eunice, LA (50 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Ville Platte
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 79 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Ville Platte: 59 thunderstorm wind reports, 15 flash floods, 4 heavy rain events and 1 flood. They killed 0 people and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $3.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on March 25, 2009. January has had the most flash floods, 4 of 15. Of the 239 Louisiana cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 119 have had fewer than Ville Platte.
February 26, 1998: thunderstorm wind 3 miles from the centre of Ville Platte — 2 injured, $2.0 million damage.
July 22, 2002: thunderstorm wind 3 miles from the centre of Ville Platte — 1 injured, $50,000 damage.
October 26, 2006: flood 10 miles from the centre of Ville Platte — $1.0 million damage.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Ville Platte's ZIP code 70586 have filed 162 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1983, and were paid $3.6 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Mid-summer severe storms in 2016: 61 claims (38% of all) and $2.0 million, then Tropical Storm Barry in 2019 with 13. 58% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 219 Louisiana cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 98 have fewer than Ville Platte.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-summer severe storms2016 | 61 | $2.0 million |
| Tropical Storm Barry2019 | 13 | $189,000 |
Evangeline Parish, which includes Ville Platte, has been named in 35 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1971, 18 of them major disasters (by incident: 21 hurricanes, 3 coastal storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 floods). The latest major disaster declaration was Hurricane Ida, on August 29, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Evangeline Parish a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for lightning; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes and tornadoes; Relatively Low for hail, inland flooding, strong wind and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $22.9 million a year, the 29th highest of 64 Louisiana counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $6.3 million (27%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. 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).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets 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).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.