FEMA Records
19
Below median
Ohio · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Adams County, OH
19 FEMA disaster declarations (1968-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 19
- FEMA declarations
- 15
- Major disasters
- 44
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Adams County. Its 19 FEMA declarations are 30% above the Ohio county mean and exceed the count for 41% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 44%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 44%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 19
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 155
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records; an EM authorizes a narrower set of federal assistance than a DR.
How does Adams County compare?
Adams County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
19 41st percentile higher than 41% 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 · 2026-08-03
Adams County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Ohio county average
What does Adams County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 155 paid claims, totaling $1.4M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $9.2K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Adams County's 19 federal records stand 30% above the Ohio county mean of 14.6. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 43.8/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $12.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively Moderate) and community resilience (Relatively Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Riverine Flooding, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3 times per year here, based on 83 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 19 entries for Adams County, including 15 Major Disaster records, 30% above the Ohio county mean. Across the 52-year span, that works out to 0.4 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 8 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
65 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Adams County, OH · 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) Moderate
14/30
19 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
19 declarations (1.3x state county average of 15)
Major Disaster Share Very High
20/25
15 of 19 declarations are major disasters (79%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Adams County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Ohio Avg
+30%
State avg: 14.6
vs. National Avg
-8%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.4
Over 52 years
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
79%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
44
Relatively 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 3 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 5.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,188 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 623 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 49 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 11 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 82 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 2.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 8
Flood 5
Biological 2
Tornado 2
Hurricane 1
Snowstorm 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Adams County's record, 42% 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 - 15 78.9%
of all 19 declarations
Emergency - 4 21.1%
of all 19 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1968 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 19 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 19 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4507 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-31 |
| 3457 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4424 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2019-04-08 |
| 4360 | SEVERE STORMS, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2018-04-17 |
| 4077 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-08-20 |
| 3346 | SEVERE STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2012-06-30 |
| 4002 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-07-13 |
| 3250 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1580 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-02-15 |
| 1556 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-19 |
| 1484 | TORNADOES, FLOODING, SEVERE STORMS, AND HIGH WINDS | DR | Tornado | 2003-08-01 |
| 1453 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD/NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-03-14 |
| 1321 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-03-07 |
| 1164 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-03-04 |
| 1122 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-06-24 |
| 1097 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-01-27 |
| 3055 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-26 |
| 421 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1974-04-04 |
| 243 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1968-06-05 |
Storm Events in Ohio
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Adams County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,938 | 6 | 39 | $60.4M |
| Winter Weather | 2,101 | 7 | 42 | $3.3M |
| Hail | 1,749 | 0 | 0 | $673.5K |
| Flood | 1,607 | 9 | 0 | $84.5M |
| Flash Flood | 1,089 | 9 | 7 | $112.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
155
Total Paid
$1.4M
Avg Per Claim
$9.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 43.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$12.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Cold Wave 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: Riverine Flooding
Riverine Flooding is the model's measure of a watershed draining more water than its channel can carry. Unlike flash flooding it usually builds over days and is forecast in advance, which makes it the hazard where warning time most reliably converts into reduced harm.
Worth noting for Adams County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Riverine Flooding carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), 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: Hancock County, IL
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 19 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Adams County: 15 of 19 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Adams County: NRI composite 43.8 (Relatively 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.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Adams County's NFIP claims file (155 claims) and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records - this guide separates them from modeled NRI risk.
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).
Related
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 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (5), Biological (2), Tornado (2).
How does Adams County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Ohio average?
FEMA lists 19 declaration records for Adams County. That is 30% above the Ohio county mean of 14.6. Its count is also 8% 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 15 major disaster declarations, representing 79% of all 19 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Adams County filed?
Adams County has 155 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.4M in payments, with an average of $9.2K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Adams County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Adams County was 1996, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1968 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Adams County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Adams County, Ohio has an overall risk score of 43.8 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $12.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Adams County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Adams County is Riverine Flooding (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Heat Wave (Relatively Low) and Wildfire (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts riverine flooding here at an average of 3 times per year, drawn from 83 historical events on record. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, 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.
What this means for Adams County
Adams County, OH has 19 federal declaration records, 30% more than the Ohio county mean of 15; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 15 of 19 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Ohio overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Ohio mean and the totals for 41% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- Use the data guide to separate this mid-volume insurance-claims file from declaration counts and modeled NRI risk. Disaster-data guide
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.