FEMA Records
22
Above median
North Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Avery County, NC
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1978-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 13
- Major disasters
- 47
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Avery County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 22 declarations, more than 57% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 8% below the North Carolina county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 47%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 47%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 288
- 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 37011 · Avery County 22 declarations · rank 1378/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-MID 59%
- RANK-LOWER #1,378
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-LOW 47
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -8%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · North Carolina state profile
Avery County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Avery County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Avery · this county 22
Avery · 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 Avery County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1378 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Avery County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Avery County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Avery 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
Avery County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Avery County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $7.9M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively 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 Avery County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 288 paid claims, totaling $15.2M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $52.7K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a North Carolina county averages 24.0 federal declaration records, while Avery County has 22. The gap is 8% 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 47.5/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $11.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively High) 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.
60 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Avery County, NC · 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 Moderate
11/25
22 declarations (0.9x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
13 of 22 declarations are major disasters (59%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Avery County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Avery 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
59%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
47
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Avery 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 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 53 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 5 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 35 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 633 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.8 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 14 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 825 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 26 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 4 times per year |
| Drought | No Rating | 25 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 9
Flood 4
Tropical Storm 2
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Snowstorm 2
Winter Storm 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Avery County's federal record, 41% 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).
Major Disaster - 13 59.1%
of all 22 declarations
Emergency - 9 40.9%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
Show 2 earlier declaration years
| 1989 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3637 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4827 | TROPICAL STORM HELENE | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-28 |
| 3617 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3586 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-10-01 |
| 4617 | REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM FRED | DR | Hurricane | 2021-09-08 |
| 3534 | HURRICANE ISAIAS | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-02 |
| 4487 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3471 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3423 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-03 |
| 3401 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4153 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-10-29 |
| 4146 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-09-25 |
| 1871 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-02 |
| 3222 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1553 | HURRICANE IVAN | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-18 |
| 1546 | TROPICAL STORM FRANCES | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-10 |
| 1200 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-01-15 |
| 1087 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 1073 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1995-10-23 |
| 3110 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 844 | HURRICANE HUGO | DR | Hurricane | 1989-09-25 |
| 542 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1977-11-09 |
Storm Events in North Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Avery County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,123 | 11 | 60 | $62.9M |
| Flash Flood | 1,881 | 105 | 6 | $2.3B |
| Hail | 1,623 | 0 | 0 | $122.5M |
| Winter Weather | 1,272 | 6 | 2 | $425.0K |
| Winter Storm | 743 | 7 | 0 | $10.7M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
288
Total Paid
$15.2M
Avg Per Claim
$52.7K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 47.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$11.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hurricane Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Drought No Rating
Heat Wave 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: 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 Avery 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 Hurricane. 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
Avery County's closest FEMA peer: Lawrence County, AL
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Avery County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Avery County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Avery County: 13 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Avery County: NRI composite 47.5 (Relatively 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 Avery County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Avery 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: 47.5 (Relatively 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
Understanding disaster data
Avery County's NFIP claims file (288 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).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Avery County?
The most common disaster type in Avery County is Hurricane, with 9 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Tropical Storm (2), Biological (2).
How does Avery County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Carolina average?
The typical North Carolina county has 24.0 FEMA declaration records; Avery County has 22, or 8% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 6% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Avery County received?
Avery County has received 13 major disaster declarations, representing 59% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Avery County filed?
Avery County has 288 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $15.2M in payments, with an average of $52.7K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Avery County?
No. In Avery County, Landslide has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $7.9M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Avery County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Avery County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1978 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Avery County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Avery County, North Carolina has an overall risk score of 47.5 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively High, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $11.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Avery County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Avery County is Landslide (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Lightning (Relatively Moderate) and Ice Storm (Relatively Moderate). 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 Avery County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · North Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events