Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Zapata, TX

What the records show for Zapata

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Zapata

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Zapata: 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 Zapata

The strongest 6 of 6, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Weather by month in Zapata

Averages for 1991–2020 at Zapata 1 S, TX (320 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.

Texas weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Zapata

• July 14, 2010: flood 5 miles from the centre of Zapata — $1.0 million damage.

  NWS: “Incredible rainfall estimated to be more than 50 inches in around 10 days' time between June 30th and July 9th across the front range and peaks of the Sierra Madre Oriental in Coahuila Province, Mexico, ultimately flowed through the entire Lower Rio Grande basin for much of the summer of 2010.”

• May 14, 2008: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of Zapata — $750,000 damage.

  NWS: “Damage from the microburst was first surveyed about 2 miles west of the center of town along and near Farm to Market (FM) Highway 496.”

• May 23, 2022: flash flood 3 miles from the centre of Zapata — $300,000 damage.

  NWS: “Video on social media shows several feet of fast moving water near Medina Street - a flood-prone area known as Medina Addition - with two SUVs that had been swept off the road and into a ditch. Video later shows the vehicles getting dragged out of the ditch by a tow truck.”

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

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).

Cities near Zapata