FEMA Records
23
Above median
Missouri · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Atchison County, MO
23 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 23
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 22
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Atchison County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 23 declarations, more than 62% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 7% below the Missouri county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 22%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 22%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 23
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 146
- 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 Atchison County compare?
Atchison County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
23 Top 38% higher than 62% 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
Atchison County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Missouri county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Atchison County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $2.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Drought 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 Atchison County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 146 paid claims, totaling $5.0M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $34.2K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Missouri county averages 24.6 federal declaration records, while Atchison County has 23. The gap is 7% 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, Atchison County's 23 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within Missouri, however, the count is 7% below the county mean. 17 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Severe Storm, appearing 9 times. The full 55-year record averages 0.4 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 21.7/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $6.9M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability score and Relatively High community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Drought carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 11 modeled event-days per year here, based on 329 historical events on record.
60 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Atchison County, MO · 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
17/30
23 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
23 declarations (0.9x state county average of 25)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
17 of 23 declarations are major disasters (74%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Atchison County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Missouri Avg
-7%
State avg: 24.6
vs. National Avg
+11%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.4
Over 55 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Atchison 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
74%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
22
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Atchison 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 11 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 9.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 6.6 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 4.5 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 867 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 11 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 4.2 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,328 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 48 times per year |
| Hurricane | No Rating | roughly once every 356 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 9
Flood 8
Severe Ice Storm 3
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Atchison County's record, 39% 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 - 17 73.9%
of all 23 declarations
Emergency - 6 26.1%
of all 23 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 3 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 3 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 2 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 23 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 23 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4490 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-26 |
| 3482 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4451 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-07-09 |
| 4435 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-05-20 |
| 4238 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-08-07 |
| 4200 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-10-31 |
| 4012 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-08-12 |
| 3325 | FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2011-06-30 |
| 3317 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2011-02-03 |
| 1934 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-08-17 |
| 3303 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-01-30 |
| 1773 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-25 |
| 1736 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-12-27 |
| 3281 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-12-12 |
| 1708 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-06-11 |
| 3232 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1054 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, HAIL, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-06-02 |
| 995 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-09 |
| 713 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1984-06-21 |
| 439 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-10 |
Show 3 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 407 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-11-01 |
| 372 | HEAVY RAINS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1973-04-19 |
| 203 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-07-27 |
Storm Events in Missouri
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Atchison County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,391 | 30 | 52 | $63.4M |
| Hail | 4,411 | 0 | 1 | $86.1M |
| Flash Flood | 2,399 | 47 | 14 | $406.6M |
| Flood | 1,810 | 25 | 7 | $304.6M |
| Drought | 1,033 | 0 | 350 | $53.6M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
146
Total Paid
$5.0M
Avg Per Claim
$34.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 21.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$6.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Hurricane No Rating
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: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for Atchison County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought 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
Atchison County's closest FEMA peer: Sacramento County, CA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Atchison County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Atchison County shows 23 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Atchison County: 17 of 23 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Atchison County: NRI composite 21.7 (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 Atchison County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Atchison County's NFIP claims file (146 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 Atchison County?
The most common disaster type in Atchison County is Severe Storm, with 9 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (8), Severe Ice Storm (3), Biological (2).
How does Atchison County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Missouri average?
The typical Missouri county has 24.6 FEMA declaration records; Atchison County has 23, or 7% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 11% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Atchison County received?
Atchison County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 74% of all 23 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Atchison County filed?
Atchison County has 146 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $5.0M in payments, with an average of $34.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Atchison County?
No. In Atchison County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Atchison County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Atchison County was 2008, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Atchison County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Atchison County, Missouri has an overall risk score of 21.7 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $6.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Atchison County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Atchison County is Drought (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Low) and Heat Wave (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 11 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 329 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 Atchison County
Against a Missouri county mean of 25 declarations, Atchison County, MO records 23, or 7% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (17 of 23) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Missouri overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 62% of recorded county totals, but its own Missouri 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.