FEMA Records
12
Low volume
Wisconsin · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Bayfield County, WI
12 FEMA disaster declarations (1972-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 12
- FEMA declarations
- 9
- Major disasters
- 35
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Bayfield County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 12 declarations, more than 14% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 3% below the Wisconsin county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 35%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 35%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 12
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 16
- 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 55007 · Bayfield County 12 declarations · rank 2735/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 12
- MAJOR-MID 75%
- RANK-LOWER #2,735
- PHOTO-FINISH Johnson
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -3%
Nearest declaration peer: Johnson, KS (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Wisconsin state profile
Bayfield County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Bayfield County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bayfield · this county 12
Bayfield · this county
12 declarations
- Crane · near 12
Crane · near
12 declarations
- Johnson · near 12
Johnson · near
12 declarations
- Seward · near 12
Seward · near
12 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Bayfield County carries 12 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2735 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Bayfield County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Bayfield County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Bayfield County
12 14th percentile higher than 14% 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
Bayfield County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Bayfield County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 35.1/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $9.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively High) and community resilience (Relatively High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Cold Wave carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 9.5 times per year here, based on 133 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 16 claims and $137.0K paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
Start with the state benchmark: a Wisconsin county averages 12.3 federal declaration records, while Bayfield County has 12. The gap is 3% 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.
53 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Bayfield County, WI · 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) Moderate
9/30
12 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
12 declarations (1.0x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
9 of 12 declarations are major disasters (75%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Bayfield County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Bayfield 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
75%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
35
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Bayfield 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 9.5 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 30 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 27 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 83 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 6 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 12,525 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 13 years |
| Earthquake | No Rating | roughly once every 11,364 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 5
Severe Storm 3
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Bayfield County's record, 42% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
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 - 9 75.0%
of all 12 declarations
Emergency - 3 25.0%
of all 12 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 12 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 12 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4923 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4520 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3454 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4383 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2018-08-10 |
| 4276 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-08-09 |
| 4141 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-08-08 |
| 4076 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-08-02 |
| 3249 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1369 | FLOODING, SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Flood | 2001-05-11 |
| 1284 | WI-FLOOD-07/20/99 | DR | Flood | 1999-08-16 |
| 3014 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
| 352 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-09-10 |
Storm Events in Wisconsin
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Bayfield County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,504 | 5 | 23 | $45.0M |
| Hail | 2,620 | 0 | 0 | $57.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,939 | 43 | 152 | $2.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,338 | 15 | 86 | $2.3M |
| Flood | 740 | 12 | 4 | $115.6M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
16
Total Paid
$137.0K
Avg Per Claim
$8.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 35.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$9.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Hail Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Drought Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Earthquake No Rating
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: Cold Wave
Cold Wave measures exposure to extreme cold rather than to snow. Its harm is concentrated in health effects, burst infrastructure and energy demand spikes, and it falls hardest where the building stock and the grid were not built with sustained cold in mind.
Worth noting for Bayfield County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. 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
Bayfield County's closest FEMA peer: Thomas County, KS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Bayfield County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Bayfield County shows 12 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Bayfield County: 9 of 12 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Bayfield County: NRI composite 35.1 (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 Bayfield County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Bayfield 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: 35.1 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 12. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 12 FEMA declarations, Bayfield County sits in the high-volume declaration band - see how that count ranks against other U.S. counties.
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 Bayfield County?
The most common disaster type in Bayfield County is Flood, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (3), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Bayfield County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Wisconsin average?
The typical Wisconsin county has 12.3 FEMA declaration records; Bayfield County has 12, or 3% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 42% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Bayfield County received?
Bayfield County has received 9 major disaster declarations, representing 75% of all 12 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Bayfield County filed?
Bayfield County has 16 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $137.0K in payments, with an average of $8.6K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Bayfield County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Bayfield County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1972 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Bayfield County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Bayfield County, Wisconsin has an overall risk score of 35.1 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively High; on community resilience, Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $9.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Bayfield County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Bayfield County is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively Moderate) and Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 9.5 times per year, drawn from 133 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 Bayfield County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Wisconsin profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events