FEMA Records
35
Very high volume
Florida · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Alachua County, FL
35 FEMA disaster declarations (1993-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 35
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 90
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Alachua County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 35 declarations, more than 93% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 13% below the Florida county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 10%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 10%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 35
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 308
- 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.
How does Alachua County compare?
Alachua County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
35 Top 7% higher than 93% 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
Alachua County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Florida county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Alachua County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $35.0M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Lightning carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High). EAL and risk score use different inputs; they need not agree.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025 release) - Expected Annual Loss vs composite risk rating by hazard.
What does Alachua County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 308 paid claims, totaling $8.8M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $28.5K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Florida county averages 40.4 federal declaration records, while Alachua County has 35. The gap is 13% below that mean. Fewer entries indicate a quieter history of recorded federal actions, not immunity from a hazard and not a prediction about what happens next.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 90.3/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $89.6M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Lightning stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 84 times per year here, based on 496,933 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
Nationally, Alachua County's 35 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within Florida, however, the count is 13% below the county mean. 17 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Hurricane, appearing 17 times. The full 32-year record averages 1.1 declarations annually. A DR label alone does not say whether Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both followed.
66 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Alachua County, FL · 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) Very High
25/30
35 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
35 declarations (0.9x state county average of 40)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
17 of 35 declarations are major disasters (49%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Alachua County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Florida Avg
-13%
State avg: 40.4
vs. National Avg
+69%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
1.1
Over 32 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Alachua 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
49%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
90
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Alachua 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Very High | an average of 84 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively High | roughly once every 4 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 267 years |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 3.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,250 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 20 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | roughly once every 19 years |
| Coastal Flooding | No Rating | roughly once every 100 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 17
Tropical Storm 5
Fire 5
Severe Storm 4
Biological 2
Freezing 1
Tornado 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Alachua County's federal record, 49% of its declarations. Atlantic tropical systems run on a defined season, 1 June to 30 November, with most activity concentrated between August and October; Pacific and territorial basins run on their own calendars. A single named storm routinely produces one declaration number covering a long corridor of counties at once, well inland as well as on the coast, which is why an affected county's count can jump by several in one year without several separate events having occurred.
One practical distinction matters when reading these records: a tropical declaration usually bundles wind, storm surge and inland rainfall flooding under a single incident, but the insurance behind them is split. Wind damage falls to property insurers, while flood and surge damage is covered only under a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. That is why a county can show heavy declaration activity and a comparatively small NFIP claims record, or the reverse.
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 - 17 48.6%
of all 35 declarations
Emergency - 15 42.9%
of all 35 declarations
Fire Management - 3 8.6%
of all 35 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2024 | 4 | |
| 2023 | 4 | |
| 2022 | 2 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 3 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 35 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 35 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4834 | HURRICANE MILTON | DR | Hurricane | 2024-10-11 |
| 3622 | HURRICANE MILTON | EM | Hurricane | 2024-10-07 |
| 4828 | HURRICANE HELENE | DR | Hurricane | 2024-09-28 |
| 3615 | TROPICAL STORM HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-24 |
| 4806 | HURRICANE DEBBY | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-10 |
| 3605 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-03 |
| 4734 | HURRICANE IDALIA | DR | Hurricane | 2023-08-31 |
| 3596 | TROPICAL STORM IDALIA | EM | Tropical Storm | 2023-08-28 |
| 4680 | HURRICANE NICOLE | DR | Hurricane | 2022-12-13 |
| 3587 | TROPICAL STORM NICOLE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2022-11-08 |
| 4673 | HURRICANE IAN | DR | Hurricane | 2022-09-29 |
| 3584 | TROPICAL STORM IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-09-24 |
| 3561 | TROPICAL STORM ELSA | EM | Severe Storm | 2021-07-04 |
| 3551 | HURRICANE ETA | EM | Hurricane | 2020-11-11 |
| 4486 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3432 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3419 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-08-30 |
| 3405 | HURRICANE MICHAEL | EM | Hurricane | 2018-10-09 |
| 4337 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-09-10 |
| 3385 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-05 |
Show 15 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4280 | HURRICANE HERMINE | DR | Hurricane | 2016-09-28 |
| 1785 | TROPICAL STORM FAY | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-08-24 |
| 3288 | TROPICAL STORM FAY | EM | Severe Storm | 2008-08-21 |
| 2689 | SUWANNEE FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2007-05-07 |
| 3220 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1561 | HURRICANE JEANNE | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-26 |
| 1545 | HURRICANE FRANCES | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-04 |
| 1539 | TROPICAL STORM BONNIE AND HURRICANE CHARLEY | DR | Hurricane | 2004-08-13 |
| 1359 | SEVERE FREEZE | DR | Freezing | 2001-02-05 |
| 2303 | FL, WACCASASSA FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2000-05-29 |
| 3139 | FL-FIRES 04/15/99 | EM | Fire | 1999-04-27 |
| 2252 | FL-FIRES 04/13/99 | FM | Fire | 1999-04-15 |
| 1223 | EXTREME FIRE HAZARD | DR | Fire | 1998-06-18 |
| 1195 | SEVERE STORMS, HIGH WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-01-06 |
| 982 | TORNADOES, FLOODING, HIGH WINDS & TIDES, FREEZING | DR | Tornado | 1993-03-13 |
Storm Events in Florida
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Alachua County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,243 | 17 | 45 | $24.8M |
| Hail | 1,012 | 0 | 0 | $564.6K |
| Heavy Rain | 865 | 2 | 3 | $200.0K |
| Flood | 826 | 9 | 0 | $2.0B |
| Tropical Storm | 767 | 92 | 6 | $4.9B |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
308
Total Paid
$8.8M
Avg Per Claim
$28.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 90.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$89.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Lightning Very High
Hurricane Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Hail Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Coastal Flooding No Rating
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: Lightning
Lightning is modeled as a high-frequency, low-per-event hazard: strike counts are large, but each strike affects a very small area. Its aggregate cost accumulates through structure fires, electrical and electronic damage, and it is one of the few hazards whose risk is essentially continuous through the season rather than episodic.
Worth noting for Alachua County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Lightning carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
Alachua County's closest FEMA peer: Lincoln County, NM
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Alachua County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Alachua County shows 35 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Alachua County: 17 of 35 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Alachua County: NRI composite 90.3 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Alachua County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Alachua County's NFIP claims file (308 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 Alachua County?
The most common disaster type in Alachua County is Hurricane, with 17 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (5), Fire (5), Severe Storm (4).
How does Alachua County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Florida average?
The typical Florida county has 40.4 FEMA declaration records; Alachua County has 35, or 13% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 69% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Alachua County received?
Alachua County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 49% of all 35 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Alachua County filed?
Alachua County has 308 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $8.8M in payments, with an average of $28.5K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Alachua County?
No. In Alachua County, Lightning has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $35.0M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Alachua County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Alachua County was 2023, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1993 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Alachua County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Alachua County, Florida has an overall risk score of 90.3 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $89.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Alachua County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Alachua County as of the latest release is Lightning (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Hurricane (Relatively High) and Wildfire (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts lightning here at an average of 84 times per year, drawn from 496,933 historical events on record. FEMA derives these ratings from historical event frequency, the assets exposed, and the community's vulnerability profile.
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 Alachua County
Against a Florida county mean of 40 declarations, Alachua County, FL records 35, or 13% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (17 of 35) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Florida overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 93% of recorded county totals, but its own Florida benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. 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
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
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.