FEMA Records
15
Below median
Georgia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Ben Hill County, GA
15 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 15
- FEMA declarations
- 7
- Major disasters
- 25
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Ben Hill County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 15 declarations, more than 23% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 14% below the Georgia county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 25%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 25%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 15
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 22
- 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 13017 · Ben Hill County 15 declarations · rank 2421/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 15
- MAJOR-LIGHT 47%
- RANK-LOWER #2,421
- PHOTO-FINISH Polk
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -14%
Nearest declaration peer: Polk, OR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Georgia state profile
Ben Hill County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Ben Hill County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Ben Hill · this county 15
Ben Hill · this county
15 declarations
- Flathead · near 15
Flathead · near
15 declarations
- Murray · near 15
Murray · near
15 declarations
- Polk · near 15
Polk · near
15 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Ben Hill County carries 15 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2421 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Ben Hill County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Ben Hill County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Ben Hill County
15 23rd percentile higher than 23% 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
Ben Hill County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Ben Hill County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $1.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Hurricane carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low). 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 Ben Hill County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 25.4/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $5.2M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Very High social-vulnerability score and Very Low community-resilience score. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Hurricane, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 5 years here, based on 59 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 22 claims and $179.4K 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 Georgia county averages 17.4 federal declaration records, while Ben Hill County has 15. The gap is 14% 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.
49 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Ben Hill County, GA · 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
11/30
15 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
15 declarations (0.9x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
7 of 15 declarations are major disasters (47%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Ben Hill County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Ben Hill 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
47%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
25
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Ben Hill 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 | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 25 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 718 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 68 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,614 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 4.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 29 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 7
Tropical Storm 2
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Ben Hill County's federal record, 47% 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 - 8 53.3%
of all 15 declarations
Major Disaster - 7 46.7%
of all 15 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 15 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 15 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4830 | HURRICANE HELENE | DR | Hurricane | 2024-09-30 |
| 3616 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3607 | HURRICANE DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-05 |
| 4501 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-29 |
| 3464 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4400 | HURRICANE MICHAEL | DR | Hurricane | 2018-10-14 |
| 3406 | HURRICANE MICHAEL | EM | Hurricane | 2018-10-10 |
| 4338 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-09-15 |
| 3387 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-08 |
| 1833 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-04-23 |
| 3218 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1560 | TROPICAL STORM FRANCES | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-24 |
| 1209 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-03-11 |
| 3097 | SEVERE SNOWFALL, WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-15 |
| 3044 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-07-20 |
Storm Events in Georgia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Ben Hill County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 9,617 | 15 | 75 | $65.4M |
| Drought | 1,363 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Hail | 1,257 | 0 | 0 | $61.8M |
| Flash Flood | 1,154 | 0 | 3 | $29.3M |
| Tropical Storm | 655 | 28 | 19 | $855.3M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
22
Total Paid
$179.4K
Avg Per Claim
$8.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 25.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$5.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Ice Storm Very 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 Ben Hill County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Low), 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
Ben Hill County's closest FEMA peer: Crockett County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Ben Hill County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Ben Hill County shows 15 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Ben Hill County: 7 of 15 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Ben Hill County: NRI composite 25.4 (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 Ben Hill County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Ben Hill 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: 25.4 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 15. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 15 FEMA declarations, Ben Hill 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 Ben Hill County?
The most common disaster type in Ben Hill County is Hurricane, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (2), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Ben Hill County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Georgia average?
The typical Georgia county has 17.4 FEMA declaration records; Ben Hill County has 15, or 14% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 28% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Ben Hill County received?
Ben Hill County has received 7 major disaster declarations, representing 47% of all 15 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Ben Hill County filed?
Ben Hill County has 22 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $179.4K in payments, with an average of $8.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Ben Hill County?
No. In Ben Hill County, Hurricane has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $1.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Ben Hill County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Ben Hill County was 2024, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Ben Hill County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Ben Hill County, Georgia has an overall risk score of 25.4 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very High; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $5.2M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Ben Hill County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Ben Hill County is Hurricane (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively Low) and Drought (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 5 years, drawn from 59 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 Ben Hill County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Georgia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events