FEMA Records
9
Low volume
Idaho · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Adams County, ID
9 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2022), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 9
- FEMA declarations
- 5
- Major disasters
- 40
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
FEMA records a middle-volume declaration history for Adams County: 9 entries, 8% above its Idaho county benchmark and ahead of 8% of counties nationally. The National Risk Index answers a different question. Its modeled loss, vulnerability, and resilience inputs place this county safer than 40% of U.S. counties.
- Safer than 40%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 9
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 4
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 16003 · Adams County 9 declarations · rank 2978/3,266
DECL-LIGHT · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-MODERATE · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-LIGHT 9
- MAJOR-MID 56%
- RANK-LOWER #2,978
- PHOTO-FINISH Fulton
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-MODERATE Moderate
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +8%
Nearest declaration peer: Fulton, OH (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Idaho state profile
Adams County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Adams County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Adams · this county 9
Adams · this county
9 declarations
- Fulton · near 9
Fulton · near
9 declarations
- Gallatin · near 9
Gallatin · near
9 declarations
- Hillsdale · near 9
Hillsdale · near
9 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Adams County carries 9 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2978 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Adams County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Adams County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Adams County
9 8th percentile higher than 8% of 3,266 counties
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-25
Adams County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Adams County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 39.6/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $10.1M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively High) and community resilience (Very Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Wildfire carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 63 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 4 claims and $9.4K paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Adams County's 9 federal records stand 8% above the Idaho county mean of 8.3. That comparison describes how often federal action was recorded, including any Major Disaster, Emergency, and Fire Management entries shown on this page; it does not convert the count into future probability.
50 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Adams County, ID · PlainHazard-derived composite from federal records
This 0–100 index is an explicit PlainHazard composite from FEMA declaration history only on the county surface (this DB has no county-level NOAA damage row) . It is not FEMA's National Risk Index, not a forecast, and not a safety, insurance, or preparedness rating. Open the calculator · Methodology
FEMA Declarations (1953–present) Low
7/30
9 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
9 declarations (1.1x state county average of 8)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
5 of 9 declarations are major disasters (56%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Adams County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Adams County
How to read this radar
Each axis: NRI risk rating (Very Low-Very High) on a 0-100 scale. Rounder = broad exposure; spiky = one or two hazards dominate.
Major Disaster share
56%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
40
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Adams County?
FEMA's National Risk Index models a historical event count and an annualized frequency for each hazard type. Most hazards are expressed as modeled occurrences per year; FEMA expresses drought and heat-wave frequency as event-days per year. These modeled frequencies are not forecasts.
| Hazard | NRI Risk Rating | Recurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 63 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Avalanche | Relatively High | roughly once every 15 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 20 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 238 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 5,000 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 18 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 22 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 19 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 28 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Flood 2
Severe Storm 2
Fire 1
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Adams County's record, 22% of its declarations. In FEMA's vocabulary this covers convective weather: thunderstorm straight-line winds, large hail, and the multi-day outbreaks that often carry embedded tornadoes. Activity is heaviest in spring and summer, though the season varies by region.
These events behave differently from a hurricane on paper. Damage tends to be distributed along a storm track rather than concentrated on a coastline, and a declaration typically follows an outbreak that crossed several counties over a few days, not a single point of impact. Because the qualifying threshold is the cost of uninsured public and individual losses rather than storm intensity, two similar storms can produce a declaration in one year and none in another.
Declaration counts describe past federal action. They are a record of what was declared, not a forecast of future hazard probability.
Declaration Types
What DR / EM / FM mean
FEMA categorizes declarations as Major Disasters (DR), Emergencies (EM), or Fire Management Assistance (FM).
Major Disaster - 5 55.6%
of all 9 declarations
Emergency - 3 33.3%
of all 9 declarations
Fire Management - 1 11.1%
of all 9 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 9 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 9 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5449 | FOUR CORNERS FIRE | FM | Fire | 2022-08-19 |
| 4534 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-09 |
| 3467 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4443 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2019-06-12 |
| 1927 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-07-27 |
| 3244 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1154 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-04 |
| 3040 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-05-05 |
| 415 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-01-25 |
Storm Events in Idaho
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Adams County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Snow | 1,495 | 1 | 13 | $100.9M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,087 | 9 | 26 | $3.6M |
| Winter Storm | 492 | 4 | 15 | $1.0M |
| High Wind | 396 | 4 | 6 | $10.6M |
| Winter Weather | 297 | 10 | 15 | $1.7M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
4
Total Paid
$9.4K
Avg Per Claim
$2.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 39.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Avalanche Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Drought Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Hail Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
Worth noting for Adams County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Wildfire carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Severe Storm. That is not a contradiction, the two measure genuinely different things. Declarations record federal ACTION, which requires damage costly enough to exceed state and local capacity; the Risk Index models EXPECTED annual loss across all 18 hazards whether or not any declaration ever followed. A hazard can be the county's largest modeled exposure and never once have driven a declaration.
National Risk Index ratings are modeled estimates of expected annual loss, not predictions of what will happen in any given year.
Data-matched county comparisons
Adams County's closest FEMA peer: Clear Creek County, CO
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Adams County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Adams County shows 9 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Adams County: 5 of 9 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Adams County: NRI composite 39.6 (Very Low).
How these peers are chosen
Cohort: Published U.S. county equivalents outside the source state or territory. Each metric keeps six ETL candidates; three unique destinations are shown after de-duplicating across axes. Declaration-volume ranking combines count and Major-disaster share and prefers a different leading incident type; Major-share ranks the Major fraction adjusted for volume; NRI ranks the modeled composite score only.
Retained FEMA snapshot feed for Adams County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Adams County: nearest out-of-state National Risk Index composite and nearest FEMA declaration count (floor ≥5 records). Record similarity only, not a forecast of the next hazard.
Similar NRI composite
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA NRI score. This county: 39.6 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 9. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Wildfire as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively Moderate); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
More PlainHazard guides
- Most disaster-prone counties - U.S. counties ranked by FEMA declaration totals.
- Understanding disaster data - declarations vs storm events vs NRI scores.
- Preparing for natural disasters - household checklist (not county-specific advice).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Adams County?
The most common disaster type in Adams County is Severe Storm, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Flood (2), Fire (1).
How does Adams County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Idaho average?
FEMA lists 9 declaration records for Adams County. That is 8% above the Idaho county mean of 8.3. Its count is also 57% below the national county mean of 20.7. A larger declaration history records more federal actions; it is not a forecast of the county's next hazard.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Adams County received?
Adams County has received 5 major disaster declarations, representing 56% of all 9 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Adams County filed?
Adams County has 4 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $9.4K in payments, with an average of $2.3K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Adams County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Adams County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2022.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Adams County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Adams County, Idaho has an overall risk score of 39.6 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively High and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Adams County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Adams County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Moderate) and Avalanche (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 63 years. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against exposed assets and community vulnerability.
Data Sources & Methodology
Disaster declaration data comes from the FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 API, which includes all federally declared disasters, emergencies, and fire management assistance grants.
Storm event data is sourced from the NOAA Storm Events Database (2015-2025), which tracks significant weather events including thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, and winter storms.
Flood insurance data comes from the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA claims dataset.
This data is provided for informational purposes only. FEMA disaster declarations represent federal response actions and may not capture all local emergencies or weather events.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Adams County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Idaho profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events