FEMA Records
25
High volume
South Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Allendale County, SC
25 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 25
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 35
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Allendale County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 25 declarations, more than 71% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 2% below the South Carolina county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 35%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 35%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 25
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 6
- 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 Allendale County compare?
Allendale County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
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 · 2026-08-03
Allendale County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the South Carolina county average
What does Allendale County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 35.5/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $7.1M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Very Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Hurricane carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 5 years here, based on 68 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
Nationally, Allendale County's 25 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within South Carolina, however, the count is 2% below the county mean. 10 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Hurricane, appearing 14 times. The full 49-year record averages 0.5 declarations annually. A DR label alone does not say whether Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both followed.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 6 claims and $282.1K 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.
Start with the state benchmark: a South Carolina county averages 25.6 federal declaration records, while Allendale County has 25. The gap is 2% 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.
60 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Allendale County, SC · 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 Moderate
12/25
25 declarations (1.0x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
10/25
10 of 25 declarations are major disasters (40%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Allendale County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. South Carolina Avg
-2%
State avg: 25.6
vs. National Avg
+21%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.5
Over 49 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Allendale 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
40%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
35
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Allendale 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 5 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 307 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 7.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 32 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,025 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2.9 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 3.3 times per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 64 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 11 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 14
Tropical Storm 2
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Winter Storm 1
Flood 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Allendale County's federal record, 56% 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).
Emergency - 15 60.0%
of all 25 declarations
Major Disaster - 10 40.0%
of all 25 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 3 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 3 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1977 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3632 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4829 | HURRICANE HELENE | DR | Hurricane | 2024-09-29 |
| 3619 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3606 | HURRICANE DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-05 |
| 3597 | HURRICANE IDALIA | EM | Hurricane | 2023-08-31 |
| 4677 | HURRICANE IAN | DR | Hurricane | 2022-11-21 |
| 3585 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-09-29 |
| 4492 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3470 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4464 | HURRICANE DORIAN | DR | Hurricane | 2019-09-30 |
| 3421 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-01 |
| 3400 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4346 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-10-16 |
| 3386 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-07 |
| 4286 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | DR | Hurricane | 2016-10-11 |
| 3378 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | EM | Hurricane | 2016-10-06 |
| 4241 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2015-10-05 |
| 3373 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2015-10-03 |
| 4166 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-03-12 |
| 3369 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-02-12 |
Show 5 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3233 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1313 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-01-31 |
| 1299 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-21 |
| 3145 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-15 |
| 3047 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-08-04 |
Storm Events in South Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Allendale County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,845 | 11 | 40 | $11.4M |
| Hail | 1,207 | 0 | 0 | $25.1M |
| Flash Flood | 954 | 20 | 35 | $150.4M |
| Strong Wind | 395 | 4 | 13 | $711.8K |
| Tornado | 320 | 9 | 110 | $127.1M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
6
Total Paid
$282.1K
Avg Per Claim
$47.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 35.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$7.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Hail Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Lightning Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Landslide 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: Hurricane
Hurricane exposure in the model bundles the three ways a tropical system does harm, which arrive on different timescales and are insured differently: wind, storm surge on the coast, and rainfall flooding that can reach far inland well after landfall.
For Allendale County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Moderate), and Hurricane declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Allendale County's closest FEMA peer: Douglas County, NV
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Allendale County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Allendale County shows 25 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Allendale County: 10 of 25 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Allendale County: NRI composite 35.5 (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 Allendale County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 25 FEMA declarations, Allendale 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Allendale County?
The most common disaster type in Allendale County is Hurricane, with 14 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (2), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Allendale County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Carolina average?
The typical South Carolina county has 25.6 FEMA declaration records; Allendale County has 25, or 2% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 21% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Allendale County received?
Allendale County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 40% of all 25 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Allendale County filed?
Allendale County has 6 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $282.1K in payments, with an average of $47.0K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Allendale County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Allendale County was 2017, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Allendale County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Allendale County, South Carolina has an overall risk score of 35.5 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very High; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $7.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Allendale County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Allendale County as of the latest release is Hurricane (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Earthquake (Relatively Low) and Heat Wave (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 5 years, drawn from 68 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 Allendale County
Against a South Carolina county mean of 26 declarations, Allendale County, SC records 25, or 2% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Emergency is the largest group (15 of 25) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. South Carolina overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 71% of recorded county totals, but its own South Carolina benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- A short NFIP claims file cannot establish low flood exposure; the data guide explains the limits of each federal measure. 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.