FEMA Records
25
High volume
Virginia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Albemarle County, VA
25 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 25
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 78
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Albemarle County. Its 25 FEMA declarations are 23% above the Virginia county mean and exceed the count for 71% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 22%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 22%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 25
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 123
- 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 51003 · Albemarle County 25 declarations · rank 866/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 25
- MAJOR-MID 68%
- RANK-LOWER #866
- PHOTO-FINISH Jefferson
- NRI-LOW 78
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +23%
Nearest declaration peer: Jefferson, AR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Virginia state profile
Albemarle County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Albemarle County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Albemarle · this county 25
Albemarle · this county
25 declarations
- Benton · near 25
Benton · near
25 declarations
- Jefferson · near 25
Jefferson · near
25 declarations
- Lafayette · near 25
Lafayette · near
25 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Albemarle County carries 25 FEMA declaration records, ranked 866 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Albemarle County ranks in the national declaration registry
Albemarle County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Albemarle County
25 Top 29% higher than 71% 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
Albemarle County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Albemarle County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $27.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Strong Wind carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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 Albemarle County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 123 paid claims, totaling $1.3M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $10.7K 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. Albemarle County's 25 federal records stand 23% above the Virginia county mean of 20.4. 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
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 78.1/100 (Relatively Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $40.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Strong Wind stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3.3 times per year here, based on 124 historical events on record.
70 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Albemarle County, VA · 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) High
18/30
25 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
15/25
25 declarations (1.2x state county average of 20)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
17 of 25 declarations are major disasters (68%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
10 different disaster types declared in Albemarle County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Albemarle 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
68%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
78
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Albemarle 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 3.3 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 380 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.4 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 14 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 4.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 41 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 9.4 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 3.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,365 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | an average of 1.7 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 6
Severe Storm 5
Snowstorm 5
Biological 2
Flood 2
Winter Storm 1
Tropical Storm 1
Earthquake 1
Fire 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Albemarle County's federal record, 24% 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 68.0%
of all 25 declarations
Emergency - 7 28.0%
of all 25 declarations
Fire Management - 1 4.0%
of all 25 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
Show 6 earlier declaration years
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 25 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 25 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3631 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4831 | TROPICAL STORM HELENE | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-10-01 |
| 4644 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2022-03-11 |
| 4512 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-02 |
| 3448 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3403 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-11 |
| 4262 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2016-03-07 |
| 3359 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 4072 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-07-27 |
| 4042 | EARTHQUAKE | DR | Earthquake | 2011-11-04 |
| 1905 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | DR | Snowstorm | 2010-04-27 |
| 1874 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2010-02-16 |
| 3240 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-12 |
| 1491 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-18 |
| 2394 | VA - HEARD MOUNTAIN FIRE COMPLEX - 11/20/2001 | FM | Fire | 2001-11-20 |
| 1318 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-02-28 |
| 1135 | HURRICANE FRAN AND ASSOCIATED SEVERE STORM COND | DR | Hurricane | 1996-09-06 |
| 1086 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 1059 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-07-01 |
| 1021 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-04-11 |
Show 5 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3112 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-25 |
| 3046 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-07-23 |
| 359 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-10-10 |
| 339 | TROPICAL STORM AGNES | DR | Flood | 1972-06-23 |
| 274 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Hurricane | 1969-08-23 |
Storm Events in Virginia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Albemarle County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 8,940 | 13 | 31 | $123.1M |
| Flood | 2,300 | 4 | 0 | $85.1M |
| Winter Weather | 2,049 | 6 | 32 | $902.0K |
| Flash Flood | 1,942 | 13 | 4 | $244.2M |
| Heavy Rain | 1,566 | 0 | 0 | $2.5M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
123
Total Paid
$1.3M
Avg Per Claim
$10.7K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 78.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$40.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Strong Wind Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Hail Relatively 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: Strong Wind
Strong Wind covers damaging non-thunderstorm, non-tornadic wind, the kind produced by steep pressure gradients and downslope events. It is a broad, frequent, low-drama hazard: roofs, signage, power lines and high-profile vehicles, spread across a wide area rather than concentrated on a path.
Worth noting for Albemarle County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Strong Wind carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively 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
Albemarle County's closest FEMA peer: Humphreys County, MS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Albemarle County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Albemarle County shows 25 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Albemarle County: 17 of 25 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Albemarle County: NRI composite 78.1 (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 Albemarle County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Albemarle 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: 78.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 25. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Albemarle County's NFIP claims file (123 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).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Albemarle County?
The most common disaster type in Albemarle County is Hurricane, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (5), Snowstorm (5), Biological (2).
How does Albemarle County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Virginia average?
FEMA lists 25 declaration records for Albemarle County. That is 23% above the Virginia county mean of 20.4. Its count is also 21% above 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 Albemarle County received?
Albemarle County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 68% of all 25 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Albemarle County filed?
Albemarle County has 123 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.3M in payments, with an average of $10.7K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Albemarle County?
No. In Albemarle County, Strong Wind has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $27.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Albemarle County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Albemarle County was 1996, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Albemarle County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Albemarle County, Virginia has an overall risk score of 78.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $40.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Albemarle County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Albemarle County as of the latest release is Strong Wind (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Earthquake (Relatively Low) and Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts strong wind here at an average of 3.3 times per year, drawn from 124 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Albemarle County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Virginia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events