FEMA Records
31
High volume
Maine · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
31 FEMA disaster declarations (1970-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Androscoggin County. Its 31 FEMA declarations are 5% above the Maine county mean and exceed the count for 88% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 41%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
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.
Androscoggin County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
31 Top 12% higher than 88% 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
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Androscoggin County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $10.4M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Winter Weather 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.
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 147 paid claims, totaling $1.1M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $7.8K 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. Androscoggin County's 31 federal records stand 5% above the Maine county mean of 29.4. 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.
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 59.1/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $22.7M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Winter Weather stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 21 times per year here, based on 401 historical events on record.
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 31 entries for Androscoggin County, including 22 Major Disaster records, 5% above the Maine county mean. Across the 54-year span, that works out to 0.6 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 11 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Androscoggin County, ME · 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
31 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.5x national county average)
31 declarations (1.1x state county average of 29)
22 of 31 declarations are major disasters (71%)
6 different disaster types declared in Androscoggin County
Activity Band
High
vs. Maine Avg
+5%
State avg: 29.4
vs. National Avg
+50%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.6
Over 54 years
Each axis: NRI risk rating (Very Low-Very High) on a 0-100 scale. Rounder = broad exposure; spiky = one or two hazards dominate.
FEMA Records
31
High volume
Major Disaster share
71%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
59
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Very High | an average of 21 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 8 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 4.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 619 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 18 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.9 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 90,920 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 26 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
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Androscoggin County's record, 35% 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.
FEMA categorizes declarations as Major Disasters (DR), Emergencies (EM), or Fire Management Assistance (FM).
of all 31 declarations
of all 31 declarations
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 5 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 2 | |
| 1992 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1989 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1970 | 1 | |
How the 31 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 31 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4754 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-01-30 |
| 3598 | HURRICANE LEE | EM | Hurricane | 2023-09-14 |
| 4522 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3444 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4208 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Snowstorm | 2015-03-12 |
| 4108 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-03-25 |
| 1815 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-01-09 |
| 1788 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-09-09 |
| 1693 | SEVERE STORMS AND INLAND AND COASTAL FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-04-25 |
| 3256 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-19 |
| 1591 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, SNOW MELT, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-06-29 |
| 3210 | RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-04-21 |
| 3209 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-04-01 |
| 3206 | RECORD AND/OR NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-03-14 |
| 3190 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2004-01-15 |
| 1468 | SEVERE WINTER COLD AND FROST | DR | Freezing | 2003-05-14 |
| 3164 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-03-20 |
| 1326 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-04-28 |
| 1308 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-11-18 |
| 1232 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-07-02 |
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1198 | SEVERE ICE STORMS, RAINS AND HIGH WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-01-13 |
| 1114 | SEVERE STORMS, MUDSLIDES, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-05-20 |
| 1106 | SEVERE STORMS, ICE JAMS, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-03-13 |
| 988 | HEAVY RAIN, SNOWMELT, ICE JAMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-05-11 |
| 3099 | BLIZZARDS, SEVERE WINDS & SNOWFALL, COASTAL STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-15 |
| 940 | HEAVY RAINS, ICE JAMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1992-03-27 |
| 915 | HURRICANE BOB & FLOODING | DR | Hurricane | 1991-08-28 |
| 830 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1989-06-07 |
| 788 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1987-04-09 |
| 410 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-01-18 |
| 284 | SEVERE STORMS, ICE JAMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1970-02-27 |
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Androscoggin County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 972 | 3 | 0 | $821.0K |
| Heavy Snow | 817 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 672 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Weather | 540 | 0 | 52 | $0 |
| High Wind | 261 | 3 | 0 | $40.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
Total Claims
147
Total Paid
$1.1M
Avg Per Claim
$7.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 59.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$22.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
Winter Weather in the model means the accumulation of snow and cold that disrupts rather than destroys: road closures, roof loads, burst pipes and lost heating. Its costs land heavily on transport and on households least able to absorb an interruption.
Worth noting for Androscoggin County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), 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
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Androscoggin County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Androscoggin County shows 31 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Androscoggin County: 22 of 31 of its declarations are Major.
Androscoggin County: NRI composite 59.1 (Relatively Low).
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 Androscoggin County - capture-dated entries only.
Understanding disaster data
Androscoggin County's NFIP claims file (147 claims) and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records - this guide separates them from modeled NRI risk.
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 Androscoggin County
Androscoggin County, ME has 31 federal declaration records, 5% more than the Maine county mean of 29; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
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.
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.