FEMA Records
24
Above median
South Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Beaufort County, SC
24 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 24
- FEMA declarations
- 9
- Major disasters
- 97
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Beaufort County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 24 declarations, more than 66% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 6% below the South Carolina county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 3%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 3%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 24
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 4,967
- 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 45013 · Beaufort County 24 declarations · rank 954/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 24
- MAJOR-LIGHT 38%
- RANK-LOWER #954
- PHOTO-FINISH Eddy
- NRI-HIGH 97
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -6%
Nearest declaration peer: Eddy, ND (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Carolina state profile
Beaufort County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Beaufort County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Beaufort · this county 24
Beaufort · this county
24 declarations
- Deuel · near 24
Deuel · near
24 declarations
- Eddy · near 24
Eddy · near
24 declarations
- Wichita · near 24
Wichita · near
24 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Beaufort County carries 24 FEMA declaration records, ranked 954 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Beaufort County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Beaufort County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Beaufort County
24 Top 34% higher than 66% 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
Beaufort County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Beaufort County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 4,967 claims and $80.8M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $16.3K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
Start with the state benchmark: a South Carolina county averages 25.6 federal declaration records, while Beaufort County has 24. The gap is 6% 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
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 97.1/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $255.6M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Hurricane stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 3 years here, based on 113 historical events on record.
58 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Beaufort County, SC · 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
24 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
24 declarations (0.9x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
9/25
9 of 24 declarations are major disasters (38%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Beaufort County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Beaufort 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
38%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
97
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Beaufort 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Very High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 63 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 3.7 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 276 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 845 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 10 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 22 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 10 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 14
Tropical Storm 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Flood 1
Severe Storm 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Beaufort County's federal record, 58% 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).
Emergency - 15 62.5%
of all 24 declarations
Major Disaster - 9 37.5%
of all 24 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 4 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 3 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 24 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 24 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3632 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4835 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-29 |
| 4829 | HURRICANE HELENE | DR | Hurricane | 2024-09-29 |
| 3619 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3606 | HURRICANE DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-05 |
| 3597 | HURRICANE IDALIA | EM | Hurricane | 2023-08-31 |
| 4677 | HURRICANE IAN | DR | Hurricane | 2022-11-21 |
| 3585 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-09-29 |
| 4492 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3470 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4464 | HURRICANE DORIAN | DR | Hurricane | 2019-09-30 |
| 3421 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-01 |
| 3400 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4346 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-10-16 |
| 3386 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-07 |
| 4286 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | DR | Hurricane | 2016-10-11 |
| 3378 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | EM | Hurricane | 2016-10-06 |
| 4241 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2015-10-05 |
| 3373 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2015-10-03 |
| 3369 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-02-12 |
Show 4 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3233 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1299 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-21 |
| 3145 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-15 |
| 3047 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-08-04 |
Storm Events in South Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Beaufort County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,845 | 11 | 40 | $11.4M |
| Hail | 1,207 | 0 | 0 | $25.1M |
| Flash Flood | 954 | 20 | 35 | $150.4M |
| Strong Wind | 395 | 4 | 13 | $711.8K |
| Tornado | 320 | 9 | 110 | $127.1M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
4,967
Total Paid
$80.8M
Avg Per Claim
$16.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 97.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$255.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Very High
Lightning Relatively High
Coastal Flooding Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Landslide 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: Hurricane
Hurricane exposure in the model bundles the three ways a tropical system does harm, which arrive on different timescales and are insured differently: wind, storm surge on the coast, and rainfall flooding that can reach far inland well after landfall.
For Beaufort County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Very High), and Hurricane declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Beaufort County's closest FEMA peer: Coconino County, AZ
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Beaufort County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Beaufort County shows 24 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Beaufort County: 9 of 24 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Beaufort County: NRI composite 97.1 (Relatively High).
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 Beaufort County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Beaufort 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: 97.1 (Relatively High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 24. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Beaufort County's NFIP claims file (4,967 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 Beaufort County?
The most common disaster type in Beaufort County is Hurricane, with 14 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (3), Biological (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Beaufort County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Carolina average?
The typical South Carolina county has 25.6 FEMA declaration records; Beaufort County has 24, or 6% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 16% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Beaufort County received?
Beaufort County has received 9 major disaster declarations, representing 38% of all 24 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Beaufort County filed?
Beaufort County has 4,967 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $80.8M in payments, with an average of $16.3K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Beaufort County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Beaufort County was 2024, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Beaufort County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Beaufort County, South Carolina has an overall risk score of 97.1 out of 100 (Relatively High). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $255.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Beaufort County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Beaufort County as of the latest release is Hurricane (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Lightning (Relatively High) and Coastal Flooding (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 3 years, drawn from 113 historical events on record. 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 Beaufort County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events