SHELDUS

SHELDUS | Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States

SHELDUS is a county-level hazard data set for the U.S. for 18 different natural hazard events types such thunderstorms, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and tornados. For each event the database includes the beginning date, location (county and state), property losses, crop losses, injuries, and fatalities that affected each county. The data set does not include Puerto Rico, Guam, or other U.S. territories.

The data were derived from several existing national data sources such as National Climatic Data Center's monthly Storm Data publications and NGDC's Tsunami Event Database. Originally, SHELDUS contained only those events that generated more than $50,000 in damage or at least one death. However, we are currently in the process of removing these thresholds and are adding every loss causing (monetary and human) event as reported in the data sources used by SHELDUS.

With the release of SHELDUS 7.0, the database includes every loss causing and/or deadly event between 1960 through 1975 and from 1995 onward. Between 1976 and 1995, SHELDUS reflects only events that caused at least one fatality or more than $50,000 in property or crop damages. Future releases of SHELDUS will contain more detailed information for the time period 1976 through 1995.

Data and maps were compiled and geo-referenced by the Hazards & Vulnerability and Research Institute at the University of South Carolina. This database was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 99053252 and 0220712) and the University of South Carolina's Office of the Vice President for Research.

Download SHELDUS 7.0 data here.

The new version of SHELDUS contains more than 600,000 records and spans the years from 1960 through 2008.
New to this version are loss data from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008 as well as events of less than $50,000 in property or crop damages between 1960 and 1975.

Need ready-made maps and graphics for your state?

Here you can find summarized loss information (1960-2005, v 5.1) by State. All losses are adjusted to 2005 dollars.

SHELDUS Terms of use

The Hazards Research Lab provides data free of charge, however, we would like any use of the data to be accompanied by a citation as follows:

"Hazards & Vulnerability Research Institute (2009). The Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States, Version 7.0 [Online Database]. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina. Available from http://www.sheldus.org "

Disclaimer regarding Geographic Changes

If downloading data concerning one or more counties that experienced geographic changes (e.g. absorbtion of a county or the creation of a new county), please be aware that SHELDUS might return more records than expected.

Disclaimer regarding ALASKA

If downloading data on Alaskan counties, please be aware that due to county boundary changes FIPS codes have been reused. This may result in incorrect county names though the FIPS codes are correct. See the FAQ section for more information.

Disclaimer regarding COMPLEX EVENTS (e.g. hurricanes)

If requesting data on complex events, please include related hazard types to arrive at more complete loss estimates. In the case of hurricanes, for example, losses from floods, tornadoes, coastal, and wind events should be considered as well. Please note that storm surge losses from Hurricane Katrina are listed under the hazard event category "Coastal" and not under "Hurricane/Tropical Storm".

SHELDUS cartoon with permission from the Natural Hazards Center in Boulder, CO.