FEMA Records
13
Low volume
Minnesota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Benton County, MN
13 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 13
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 51
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Benton County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 13 declarations, more than 17% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 27% below the Minnesota county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 49%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 49%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 13
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 46
- 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 27009 · Benton County 13 declarations · rank 2686/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 13
- MAJOR-MID 77%
- RANK-LOWER #2,686
- PHOTO-FINISH Clarke
- NRI-LOW 51
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -27%
Nearest declaration peer: Clarke, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Minnesota state profile
Benton County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Benton County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Benton · this county 13
Benton · this county
13 declarations
- Bristol (city) · near 13
Bristol (city) · near
13 declarations
- Clarke · near 13
Clarke · near
13 declarations
- Douglas · near 13
Douglas · near
13 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Benton County carries 13 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2686 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Benton County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Benton County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Benton County
13 17th percentile higher than 17% 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
Benton County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Benton County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $10.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Hail carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate). 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 Benton County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 51.3/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $18.1M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Hail carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 5.5 times per year here, based on 208 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 46 claims and $180.0K 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 Minnesota county averages 17.7 federal declaration records, while Benton County has 13. The gap is 27% 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.
50 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Benton County, MN · 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
13 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
13 declarations (0.7x state county average of 18)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
10 of 13 declarations are major disasters (77%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Benton County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Benton 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
77%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
51
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Benton 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.5 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.6 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 5 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,020 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 12 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 5.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 33 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 17 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 22 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 9,174 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 6
Severe Storm 3
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Benton County's record, 46% 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 - 10 76.9%
of all 13 declarations
Emergency - 3 23.1%
of all 13 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
| 1966 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 13 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 13 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4531 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-07 |
| 3453 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4131 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-07-25 |
| 3242 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1370 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Flood | 2001-05-16 |
| 1175 | SEVERE FLOODING, HIGH WINDS,SEVERE STORMS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-08 |
| 1158 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-16 |
| 560 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, HAIL & TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1978-07-08 |
| 3013 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
| 347 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-08-01 |
| 255 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-18 |
| 215 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1966-03-22 |
| 188 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-04-11 |
Storm Events in Minnesota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Benton County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,420 | 13 | 25 | $68.2M |
| Hail | 4,203 | 0 | 0 | $34.5M |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 1,789 | 7 | 4 | $55.0K |
| Winter Storm | 1,695 | 2 | 17 | $10.0M |
| Heavy Snow | 1,190 | 9 | 14 | $1.0M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
46
Total Paid
$180.0K
Avg Per Claim
$3.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 51.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$18.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Winter Weather 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: Hail
Hail is among the most expensive hazards in the model relative to how little it threatens life. It concentrates on roofs, vehicles and crops, and a single severe storm can generate an insurance loss across a metropolitan area without a single injury.
Worth noting for Benton County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Hail 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
Benton County's closest FEMA peer: Mitchell County, KS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Benton County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Benton County shows 13 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Benton County: 10 of 13 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Benton County: NRI composite 51.3 (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 Benton County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Benton 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: 51.3 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 13. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 13 FEMA declarations, Benton 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 Benton County?
The most common disaster type in Benton County is Flood, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (3), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Benton County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Minnesota average?
The typical Minnesota county has 17.7 FEMA declaration records; Benton County has 13, or 27% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 37% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Benton County received?
Benton County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 77% of all 13 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Benton County filed?
Benton County has 46 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $180.0K in payments, with an average of $3.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Benton County?
No. In Benton County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $10.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Benton County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Benton County was 1997, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Benton County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Benton County, Minnesota has an overall risk score of 51.3 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $18.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Benton County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Benton County as of the latest release is Hail (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 5.5 times per year, drawn from 208 historical events on record. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against 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 Benton County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Minnesota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events