Overton County, TN: Tornado Risk and Shelter Cost
Overton County's tornado history, by the numbers
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has recorded 16 tornado tracks touching Overton County since 1955 - about one every 4.7 years on average. That puts it in our Moderate band nationally. Against the rest of the country, that is the 42nd percentile for frequency. Within Tennessee alone, Overton County ranks 46 of 95 counties for tornado frequency.
Has Overton County ever had a violent tornado?
Yes, 1 time: Overton County has an EF4-5 tornado on record. Wherever that history exists, FEMA's safe-room case applies regardless of how often the county gets touched overall.
Paying for it, if Overton County's history says you should
A storm shelter or in-residence safe room typically runs $2,890-$13,280 nationally, around $7,645 for a common single-family installation. No state-administered rebate program specific to Tennessee was confirmed for this site - FEMA's own Hazard Mitigation Assistance grants fund 75% of an approved safe room nationwide, but only some states currently run a homeowner-facing application on top of that.
The gap a shelter does not cover
A direct hit is not required for Overton County to lose power - outbreak-wide outages across Tennessee regularly reach homes and businesses well outside the actual tracks. A battery bank covers that gap without a generator's fuel and venting needs.
County-level, not address-level
Treat this as a county-wide figure, not a prediction for one address. Overton County covers about 433 square miles, so a single touch here counts the same as a single touch in a county a fraction of that size. And records from before the 1990s, NOAA notes, undercount weaker tornadoes in areas with less storm-spotting coverage at the time. Overton County has about 23,551 residents.