FEMA Records
25
High volume
Kentucky · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Anderson County, KY
25 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 25
- FEMA declarations
- 19
- Major disasters
- 26
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Anderson 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 11% below the Kentucky county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 26%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 26%
- 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
- 59
- 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 Anderson County compare?
Anderson 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
Anderson County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Kentucky county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Anderson County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $4.9M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Ice Storm 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 Anderson County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 59 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 $23.3K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Kentucky county averages 28.1 federal declaration records, while Anderson County has 25. The gap is 11% 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.
Declaration frequency
Nationally, Anderson County's 25 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within Kentucky, however, the count is 11% below the county mean. 19 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Severe Storm, appearing 10 times. The full 52-year record averages 0.5 declarations annually. A DR label alone does not say whether Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both followed.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 26.3/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $10.7M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Very Low social-vulnerability score and Relatively High community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Ice Storm 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, based on 56 historical events on record.
68 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Anderson County, KY · 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
11/25
25 declarations (0.9x state county average of 28)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
19 of 25 declarations are major disasters (76%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
9 different disaster types declared in Anderson County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Kentucky Avg
-11%
State avg: 28.1
vs. National Avg
+21%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.5
Over 52 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Anderson 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
76%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
26
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Anderson 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 6.9 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 8 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 11 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 503 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 52 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.5 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 3.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 87 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 2.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 27,260 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 10
Flood 4
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Winter Storm 1
Tropical Storm 1
Hurricane 1
Tornado 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Anderson County's record, 40% 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 - 19 76.0%
of all 25 declarations
Emergency - 6 24.0%
of all 25 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 4 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1989 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3633 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4864 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-04-24 |
| 3626 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-04-03 |
| 3624 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-02-16 |
| 4848 | REMNANTS OF HURRICANE HELENE | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-11-26 |
| 4702 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-04-10 |
| 4595 | SEVERE, STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2021-04-23 |
| 4497 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3469 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4218 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2015-05-12 |
| 4216 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, SNOWSTORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Snowstorm | 2015-04-30 |
| 1976 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-05-04 |
| 1912 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-05-11 |
| 1818 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-02-05 |
| 3302 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-01-28 |
| 1757 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-05-19 |
| 3231 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1471 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND ROCK SLIDES, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-06-03 |
| 1454 | SEVERE WINTER ICE AND SNOW STORMS, HEAVY RAIN, FLOODING, TORNADOES, AND MUD AND | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-03-14 |
| 1163 | SEVERE STORM, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-03-04 |
Show 5 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1089 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 1018 | SEVERE WEATHER, FREEZING RAIN, SLEET, SNW | DR | Snowstorm | 1994-03-16 |
| 821 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1989-02-24 |
| 568 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1978-12-12 |
| 420 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1974-04-04 |
Storm Events in Kentucky
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Anderson County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,702 | 9 | 56 | $55.2M |
| Flash Flood | 1,757 | 65 | 16 | $42.6M |
| Flood | 1,646 | 31 | 6 | $37.1M |
| Hail | 1,534 | 1 | 0 | $4.7M |
| Winter Weather | 1,079 | 14 | 54 | $655.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
59
Total Paid
$1.4M
Avg Per Claim
$23.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 26.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Drought Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Ice Storm
Ice storms load power lines and tree limbs with accumulating freezing rain until they fail. The characteristic cost is infrastructure and multi-day power loss across a wide area rather than structural damage to buildings, which is why their consequences often outlast the weather that caused them.
Worth noting for Anderson County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Ice Storm carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Anderson County's closest FEMA peer: San Joaquin County, CA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Anderson County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Anderson County shows 25 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Anderson County: 19 of 25 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Anderson County: NRI composite 26.3 (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 Anderson County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Anderson County's NFIP claims file (59 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 Anderson County?
The most common disaster type in Anderson County is Severe Storm, with 10 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Snowstorm (3), Biological (2).
How does Anderson County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Kentucky average?
The typical Kentucky county has 28.1 FEMA declaration records; Anderson County has 25, or 11% 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 Anderson County received?
Anderson County has received 19 major disaster declarations, representing 76% of all 25 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Anderson County filed?
Anderson County has 59 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.4M in payments, with an average of $23.3K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Anderson County?
No. In Anderson County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $4.9M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Anderson County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Anderson County was 2025, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Anderson County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Anderson County, Kentucky has an overall risk score of 26.3 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very Low and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Anderson County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Anderson County is Ice Storm (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate) and Tornado (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at roughly once every 1 years, drawn from 56 historical events on record. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against 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 Anderson County
Against a Kentucky county mean of 28 declarations, Anderson County, KY records 25, or 11% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (19 of 25) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Kentucky overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 71% of recorded county totals, but its own Kentucky 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.