FEMA Records
22
Above median
Iowa · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Allamakee County, IA
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 20
- Major disasters
- 38
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Allamakee County. Its 22 FEMA declarations are 14% above the Iowa county mean and exceed the count for 57% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 38%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 38%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 17
- 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 19005 · Allamakee County 22 declarations · rank 1376/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-HEAVY 91%
- RANK-LOWER #1,376
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +14%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Iowa state profile
Allamakee County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Allamakee County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Allamakee · this county 22
Allamakee · this county
22 declarations
- Hardy · near 22
Hardy · near
22 declarations
- Prairie · near 22
Prairie · near
22 declarations
- St. Francis · near 22
St. Francis · near
22 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Allamakee County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1376 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Allamakee County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Allamakee County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Allamakee County
22 Top 43% higher than 57% 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
Allamakee County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Allamakee County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $5.9M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Landslide carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate). 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 Allamakee County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 38.2/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $10.4M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively Moderate) and community resilience (Relatively Moderate) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Landslide carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 1 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 17 claims and $101.4K 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. Allamakee County's 22 federal records stand 14% above the Iowa county mean of 19.3. 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.
63 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Allamakee County, IA · 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
16/30
22 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
22 declarations (1.1x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
23/25
20 of 22 declarations are major disasters (91%)
Hazard Diversity High
10/20
4 different disaster types declared in Allamakee County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Allamakee 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
91%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
38
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Allamakee 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.1 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 7.4 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 6.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 4.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 3.7 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 17 times per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 38 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 6,924 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,445 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 104 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 12
Severe Storm 7
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Allamakee County's record, 55% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
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 - 20 90.9%
of all 22 declarations
Emergency - 2 9.1%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
Show 4 earlier declaration years
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 2 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 22 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 22 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4732 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-08-25 |
| 4483 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-23 |
| 3480 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4421 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-03-23 |
| 4334 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-08-27 |
| 4289 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-10-31 |
| 4281 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-09-29 |
| 4234 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-07-31 |
| 4184 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2014-07-24 |
| 4135 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-07-31 |
| 1763 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-05-27 |
| 1727 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-09-14 |
| 3239 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1518 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-05-25 |
| 1420 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2002-06-19 |
| 1367 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-05-02 |
| 1230 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1998-07-02 |
| 996 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-09 |
| 443 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-24 |
| 269 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-08-14 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 259 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-25 |
| 193 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-04-22 |
Storm Events in Iowa
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Allamakee County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,928 | 6 | 227 | $40.5M |
| Hail | 3,736 | 0 | 0 | $4.3M |
| Heavy Rain | 2,394 | 0 | 0 | $292.0K |
| Drought | 1,556 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 1,543 | 3 | 4 | $2.8M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
17
Total Paid
$101.4K
Avg Per Claim
$6.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 38.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane 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: Landslide
Landslide risk is a function of slope, soil and water, so it is usually a SECOND-ORDER hazard: it is triggered by the rainfall, snowmelt, wildfire burn scars or seismic shaking that came first. That is why a county can carry high landslide exposure whose realized damage is recorded under a flood or storm declaration instead.
Worth noting for Allamakee County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Landslide carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. 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
Allamakee County's closest FEMA peer: Johnson County, NE
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Allamakee County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Allamakee County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Allamakee County: 20 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Allamakee County: NRI composite 38.2 (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 Allamakee County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Allamakee 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: 38.2 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 22. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 22 FEMA declarations, Allamakee County sits in the high-volume declaration band - see how that count ranks against other U.S. counties.
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 Allamakee County?
The most common disaster type in Allamakee County is Flood, with 12 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (7), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Allamakee County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Iowa average?
FEMA lists 22 declaration records for Allamakee County. That is 14% above the Iowa county mean of 19.3. Its count is also 6% 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 Allamakee County received?
Allamakee County has received 20 major disaster declarations, representing 91% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Allamakee County filed?
Allamakee County has 17 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $101.4K in payments, with an average of $6.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Allamakee County?
No. In Allamakee County, Landslide has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $5.9M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Allamakee County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Allamakee County was 1969, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Allamakee County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Allamakee County, Iowa has an overall risk score of 38.2 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Allamakee County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Allamakee County is Landslide (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Hail (Relatively Moderate) and Cold Wave (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts landslide here at roughly once every 1 years. 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 Allamakee County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Iowa profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events