FEMA Records
31
High volume
Texas · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Bastrop County, TX
31 FEMA disaster declarations (1992-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 31
- FEMA declarations
- 16
- Major disasters
- 81
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Bastrop County. Its 31 FEMA declarations are 48% above the Texas 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 19%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 19%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 31
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 331
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 48021 · Bastrop County 31 declarations · rank 389/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 31
- MAJOR-MID 52%
- RANK-MID #389
- PHOTO-FINISH Galveston
- NRI-MID 81
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-ABOVE +48%
Nearest declaration peer: Galveston, TX (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Texas state profile
Bastrop County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Bastrop County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bastrop · this county 31
Bastrop · this county
31 declarations
- Galveston · near 31
Galveston · near
31 declarations
- Orange · near 31
Orange · near
31 declarations
- Woodward · near 31
Woodward · near
31 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Bastrop County carries 31 FEMA declaration records, ranked 389 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Bastrop County ranks in the national declaration registry
Bastrop County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Bastrop County
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 · 2026-08-25
Bastrop County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Bastrop County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $26.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Tornado carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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.
What does Bastrop County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 331 paid claims, totaling $9.9M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $30.0K 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. Bastrop County's 31 federal records stand 48% above the Texas county mean of 20.9. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 81.2/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $42.5M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Relatively Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Tornado stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 2 years here, based on 29 historical events on record.
74 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Bastrop County, TX · 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
22/30
31 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
19/25
31 declarations (1.5x state county average of 21)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
16 of 31 declarations are major disasters (52%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Bastrop County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Bastrop 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
52%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
81
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Bastrop 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 11 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 54 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 888 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 52 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 19 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,252 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 13
Flood 5
Hurricane 4
Severe Storm 3
Severe Ice Storm 2
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Drought 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Bastrop County's record, 42% of its declarations. Wildfire is the one hazard here with its own dedicated federal instrument: the Fire Management Assistance Grant, which appears in this data as an FM record. An FMAG can be authorised while a fire is still burning, on a timescale of hours, because its purpose is to reimburse the cost of fighting a fire that threatens to become a major disaster.
That distinction matters when comparing counties. An FM declaration is not a presidential major disaster declaration and does not carry the same assistance programmes, so a fire-heavy county's total is not directly comparable with a hurricane-heavy county's total unless the declaration types are separated, which is why they are listed separately on this page.
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 - 16 51.6%
of all 31 declarations
Emergency - 8 25.8%
of all 31 declarations
Fire Management - 7 22.6%
of all 31 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 4 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 3 | |
| 2009 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 3 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1992 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4705 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Winter Storm | 2023-04-21 |
| 4586 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-19 |
| 3554 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-14 |
| 4485 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3458 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4332 | HURRICANE HARVEY | DR | Hurricane | 2017-08-25 |
| 4272 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-06-11 |
| 4269 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-04-25 |
| 4245 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-11-25 |
| 5116 | HIDDEN PINES FIRE | FM | Fire | 2015-10-14 |
| 4223 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-05-29 |
| 4029 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2011-09-09 |
| 2958 | BASTROP COUNTY FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2011-09-04 |
| 1999 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2011-07-01 |
| 2806 | MONTAGUE FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2009-04-10 |
| 2796 | WILDERNESS RIDGE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2009-02-28 |
| 3284 | WILDFIRES | EM | Fire | 2008-03-14 |
| 2622 | ORCHARD FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-01-19 |
| 1624 | EXTREME WILDFIRE THREAT | DR | Fire | 2006-01-11 |
| 2612 | CEDAR CREEK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-01-07 |
Show 11 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1606 | HURRICANE RITA | DR | Hurricane | 2005-09-24 |
| 3261 | HURRICANE RITA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-21 |
| 3216 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-02 |
| 2291 | BOB'S TRAIL FIRE | FM | Fire | 2000-01-05 |
| 3142 | EXTREME FIRE HAZARDS | EM | Fire | 1999-09-01 |
| 1257 | TX-FLOODING 10/18/98 | DR | Flood | 1998-10-21 |
| 1239 | TROPICAL STORM CHARLEY | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-08-26 |
| 3117 | EXTREME FIRE HAZARD | EM | Fire | 1996-02-23 |
| 1041 | SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1994-10-18 |
| 3113 | EXTREME FIRE HAZARD | EM | Drought | 1993-09-10 |
| 930 | SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS | DR | Flood | 1991-12-26 |
Storm Events in Texas
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Bastrop County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 14,072 | 0 | 15 | $7.4B |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 10,293 | 41 | 141 | $369.9M |
| Drought | 7,032 | 0 | 0 | $86.0K |
| Flash Flood | 4,728 | 338 | 24 | $47.6B |
| Heat | 4,079 | 119 | 405 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
331
Total Paid
$9.9M
Avg Per Claim
$30.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 81.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$42.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Tornado Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Earthquake 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: Tornado
Tornado exposure is the most spatially concentrated in the model: total destruction along a narrow corridor with intact property either side. County-level averages therefore understate severity badly for anyone actually in the path, and overstate it for everyone else.
Worth noting for Bastrop County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Tornado carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Fire. 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
Bastrop County's closest FEMA peer: West Carroll Parish, LA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Bastrop County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Bastrop County shows 31 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Bastrop County: 16 of 31 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Bastrop County: NRI composite 81.2 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Bastrop County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Bastrop 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: 81.2 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 31. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Bastrop County's NFIP claims file (331 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 Bastrop County?
The most common disaster type in Bastrop County is Fire, with 13 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (5), Hurricane (4), Severe Storm (3).
How does Bastrop County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Texas average?
FEMA lists 31 declaration records for Bastrop County. That is 48% above the Texas county mean of 20.9. Its count is also 50% above the national county mean of 20.7. A larger declaration history records more federal actions; it is not a forecast of the county's next hazard.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Bastrop County received?
Bastrop County has received 16 major disaster declarations, representing 52% of all 31 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Bastrop County filed?
Bastrop County has 331 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $9.9M in payments, with an average of $30.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Bastrop County?
No. In Bastrop County, Tornado has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $26.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Bastrop County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Bastrop County was 2016, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1992 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Bastrop County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Bastrop County, Texas has an overall risk score of 81.2 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $42.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Bastrop County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Bastrop County is Tornado (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate) and Hail (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts tornado here at roughly once every 2 years, drawn from 29 historical events on record. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Bastrop County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Texas profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events