FEMA Records
6
Low volume
Michigan · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Benzie County, MI
6 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Biological.
- 6
- FEMA declarations
- 2
- Major disasters
- 23
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Biological
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Benzie County: 6 FEMA declaration records are 40% below the Michigan county mean, even though the count is higher than 3% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks safer than 23%.
- Safer than 23%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 6
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 11
- 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 26019 · Benzie County 6 declarations · rank 3176/3,266
DECL-LIGHT · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-MODERATE · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-LIGHT 6
- MAJOR-LIGHT 33%
- RANK-LOWER #3,176
- PHOTO-FINISH Summit
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-MODERATE Moderate
- TYPE-LEAD Biological
- VS-ST-BELOW -40%
Nearest declaration peer: Summit, CO (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Michigan state profile
Benzie County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Benzie County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Benzie · this county 6
Benzie · this county
6 declarations
- Lake · near 6
Lake · near
6 declarations
- Lander · near 6
Lander · near
6 declarations
- Summit · near 6
Summit · near
6 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Benzie County carries 6 FEMA declaration records, ranked 3176 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Benzie County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Benzie County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Benzie County
6 3rd percentile higher than 3% 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
Benzie County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Benzie County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $4.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Winter Weather carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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 Benzie County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 22.7/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $7.4M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability score and Very High community-resilience score. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Winter Weather stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 30 times per year here, based on 562 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 11 claims and $86.7K 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 Michigan county averages 10.0 federal declaration records, while Benzie County has 6. The gap is 40% 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.
33 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Benzie County, MI · 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) Low
4/30
6 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
8/25
6 declarations (0.6x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
8/25
2 of 6 declarations are major disasters (33%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Benzie County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Benzie 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
33%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
23
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Benzie 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 30 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 25 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 73 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 12 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 33,001 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 3,030 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 17 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Flood 1
Hurricane 1
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Biological declarations mean here
Biological is the most frequent declaration type on Benzie County's record, 33% of its declarations. In practice this category is dominated by the COVID-19 declarations of 2020, which were issued across every US state and territory rather than in response to any local hazard event.
This has a direct consequence for how Benzie County's number should be read. Because those declarations reached essentially every county in the country, they raise every county's total by a similar amount and tell you nothing about local hazard exposure. A county whose record is led by Biological declarations is, in most cases, a county with a genuinely quiet weather-hazard history, the pandemic records are simply the largest thing in an otherwise short list.
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 - 4 66.7%
of all 6 declarations
Major Disaster - 2 33.3%
of all 6 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 6 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 6 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4925 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4494 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3455 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3225 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 3057 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-27 |
| 3035 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-03-02 |
Storm Events in Michigan
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Benzie County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,010 | 10 | 18 | $173.8M |
| Winter Storm | 1,486 | 3 | 11 | $41.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,254 | 21 | 38 | $892.0K |
| Hail | 962 | 0 | 0 | $77.1M |
| High Wind | 389 | 3 | 2 | $668.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
11
Total Paid
$86.7K
Avg Per Claim
$7.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 22.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$7.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Tornado Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Hail Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Drought 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: Winter Weather
Winter Weather in the model means the accumulation of snow and cold that disrupts rather than destroys: road closures, roof loads, burst pipes and lost heating. Its costs land heavily on transport and on households least able to absorb an interruption.
Worth noting for Benzie County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Biological. 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
Benzie County's closest FEMA peer: Northern Mariana Islands, MP
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Benzie County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Benzie County shows 6 FEMA declarations, led by Biological.
Similar Major-disaster share
Benzie County: 2 of 6 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Benzie County: NRI composite 22.7 (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 Benzie County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Benzie 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: 22.7 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 6. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Winter Weather as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively High); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
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 Benzie County?
The most common disaster type in Benzie County is Biological, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (1), Hurricane (1), Snowstorm (1).
How does Benzie County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Michigan average?
The typical Michigan county has 10.0 FEMA declaration records; Benzie County has 6, or 40% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 71% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Benzie County received?
Benzie County has received 2 major disaster declarations, representing 33% of all 6 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Benzie County filed?
Benzie County has 11 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $86.7K in payments, with an average of $7.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Benzie County?
No. In Benzie County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $4.1M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Benzie County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Benzie County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Benzie County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Benzie County, Michigan has an overall risk score of 22.7 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $7.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Benzie County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Benzie County is Winter Weather (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate) and Landslide (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 30 times per year, drawn from 562 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 Benzie County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Michigan profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events