FEMA Records
28
High volume
Oklahoma · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Beckham County, OK
28 FEMA disaster declarations (1987-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 28
- FEMA declarations
- 20
- Major disasters
- 58
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Beckham County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 28 declarations, more than 81% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 13% below the Oklahoma county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 42%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 42%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 28
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 8
- 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 40009 · Beckham County 28 declarations · rank 600/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 28
- MAJOR-MID 71%
- RANK-MID #600
- PHOTO-FINISH Loíza
- NRI-LOW 58
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -13%
Nearest declaration peer: Loíza, PR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Oklahoma state profile
Beckham County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Beckham County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Beckham · this county 28
Beckham · this county
28 declarations
- Hertford · near 28
Hertford · near
28 declarations
- Loíza · near 28
Loíza · near
28 declarations
- Maunabo · near 28
Maunabo · near
28 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Beckham County carries 28 FEMA declaration records, ranked 600 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Beckham County ranks in the national declaration registry
Beckham County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Beckham County
28 Top 19% higher than 81% 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
Beckham County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Beckham County is led by Tornado (about $3.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Ice Storm carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very 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 Beckham County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 57.8/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Very Low (roughly $13.0M in annualized losses), and a Very High social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Ice Storm stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 1 years here, based on 55 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 8 claims and $53.7K 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 Oklahoma county averages 32.2 federal declaration records, while Beckham County has 28. The gap is 13% 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.
67 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Beckham County, OK · 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
20/30
28 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
28 declarations (0.9x state county average of 32)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
20 of 28 declarations are major disasters (71%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Beckham County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Beckham 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
71%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
58
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Beckham 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Storm | Very High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Relatively High | 104 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 149 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 8.7 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.7 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 8.2 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 7.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,002 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 50 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 170 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 11
Severe Ice Storm 9
Fire 2
Biological 2
Tornado 2
Hurricane 1
Flood 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Beckham 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 - 20 71.4%
of all 28 declarations
Emergency - 7 25.0%
of all 28 declarations
Fire Management - 1 3.6%
of all 28 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 3 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 2 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
Show 4 earlier declaration years
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 2 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 28 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 28 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5624 | 1170 ROAD FIRE | FM | Fire | 2026-03-15 |
| 4587 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-24 |
| 3555 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-17 |
| 4530 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3462 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4438 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-06-01 |
| 4324 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2017-07-25 |
| 4299 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-02-10 |
| 4256 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-02-10 |
| 4247 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2015-12-29 |
| 4222 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-05-26 |
| 4109 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-04-08 |
| 3316 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2011-02-02 |
| 1883 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2010-03-05 |
| 1876 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-25 |
| 3308 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2010-01-30 |
| 1775 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-09 |
| 3280 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-12-10 |
| 1707 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-06-07 |
| 3272 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-01-14 |
Show 8 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1623 | EXTREME WILDFIRE THREAT | DR | Fire | 2006-01-10 |
| 3219 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1452 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2003-02-04 |
| 1401 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2002-02-01 |
| 1384 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-06-29 |
| 1355 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2001-01-05 |
| 1058 | TORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1995-06-26 |
| 778 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-10-14 |
Storm Events in Oklahoma
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Beckham County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 5,894 | 0 | 1 | $19.8M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,592 | 6 | 36 | $199.5M |
| Drought | 2,935 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 2,134 | 7 | 428 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 1,771 | 2 | 401 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
8
Total Paid
$53.7K
Avg Per Claim
$6.7K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 57.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$13.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Very High
Drought Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Hurricane 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: Ice Storm
Ice storms load power lines and tree limbs with accumulating freezing rain until they fail. The characteristic cost is infrastructure and multi-day power loss across a wide area rather than structural damage to buildings, which is why their consequences often outlast the weather that caused them.
Worth noting for Beckham County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Ice Storm carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), 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
Beckham County's closest FEMA peer: Copiah County, MS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Beckham County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Beckham County shows 28 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Beckham County: 20 of 28 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Beckham County: NRI composite 57.8 (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 Beckham County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Beckham 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: 57.8 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 28. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 28 FEMA declarations, Beckham 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 Beckham County?
The most common disaster type in Beckham County is Severe Storm, with 11 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Ice Storm (9), Fire (2), Biological (2).
How does Beckham County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Oklahoma average?
The typical Oklahoma county has 32.2 FEMA declaration records; Beckham County has 28, or 13% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 35% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Beckham County received?
Beckham County has received 20 major disaster declarations, representing 71% of all 28 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Beckham County filed?
Beckham County has 8 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $53.7K in payments, with an average of $6.7K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Beckham County?
No. In Beckham County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Tornado leads Expected Annual Loss at about $3.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Beckham County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Beckham County was 2010, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1987 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Beckham County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Beckham County, Oklahoma has an overall risk score of 57.8 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $13.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Beckham County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Beckham County as of the latest release is Ice Storm (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively High) and Wildfire (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at roughly once every 1 years, drawn from 55 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 Beckham County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Oklahoma profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events