FEMA Records
23
Above median
Pennsylvania · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Berks County, PA
23 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 23
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 93
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Berks County. Its 23 FEMA declarations are 24% above the Pennsylvania county mean and exceed the count for 62% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 7%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 7%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 23
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 1,313
- 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.
How does Berks County compare?
Berks County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
23 Top 38% higher than 62% 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 · 2026-08-03
Berks County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Pennsylvania county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Berks County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $69.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Winter Weather 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 Berks County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 1,313 claims and $23.7M 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 $18.0K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Berks County's 23 federal records stand 24% above the Pennsylvania county mean of 18.6. That comparison describes how often federal action was recorded, including any Major Disaster, Emergency, and Fire Management entries shown on this page; it does not convert the count into future probability.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 92.7/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $119.5M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Winter Weather stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 13 times per year here, based on 240 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 23 entries for Berks County, including 17 Major Disaster records, 24% above the Pennsylvania county mean. Across the 55-year span, that works out to 0.4 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 7 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
65 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Berks County, PA · 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
23 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
15/25
23 declarations (1.2x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
17 of 23 declarations are major disasters (74%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Berks County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Pennsylvania Avg
+24%
State avg: 18.6
vs. National Avg
+11%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.4
Over 55 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Berks 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
74%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
93
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Berks 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 | Very High | an average of 13 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 6.2 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 35 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 4.8 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 6.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 1 time per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 15 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Relatively High | 2.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 797 years |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.6 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 31,011 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 7
Flood 6
Hurricane 4
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Berks County's record, 30% 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 - 17 73.9%
of all 23 declarations
Emergency - 6 26.1%
of all 23 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 3 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 23 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 23 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4506 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-30 |
| 3441 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4267 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2016-03-23 |
| 3356 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 4030 | TROPICAL STORM LEE | DR | Flood | 2011-09-12 |
| 3340 | REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM LEE | EM | Flood | 2011-09-08 |
| 1649 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-06-30 |
| 3235 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1557 | TROPICAL DEPRESSION IVAN | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-19 |
| 1555 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL DEPRESSION FRANCES | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-19 |
| 1538 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-08-06 |
| 3180 | SNOW | EM | Severe Storm | 2003-03-14 |
| 1383 | TROPICAL STORM ALLISON | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-06-21 |
| 1294 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-18 |
| 1219 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES,AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-06-08 |
| 1093 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-01-21 |
| 1085 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 1015 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-03-10 |
| 3105 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-16 |
| 485 | SEVERE STORMS, HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-09-26 |
Show 3 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-07-17 |
| 340 | TROPICAL STORM AGNES | DR | Flood | 1972-06-23 |
| 206 | WATER SHORTAGE | DR | Drought | 1965-08-18 |
Storm Events in Pennsylvania
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Berks County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 9,976 | 18 | 114 | $115.5M |
| Flash Flood | 2,288 | 23 | 8 | $463.2M |
| Winter Weather | 1,670 | 23 | 268 | $566.0K |
| Hail | 1,400 | 0 | 0 | $2.6M |
| Winter Storm | 881 | 14 | 17 | $2.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
1,313
Total Paid
$23.7M
Avg Per Claim
$18.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 92.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$119.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Very High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Lightning Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively High
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Avalanche 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: 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 Berks County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather 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
Berks County's closest FEMA peer: Sacramento County, CA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Berks County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Berks County shows 23 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Berks County: 17 of 23 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Berks County: NRI composite 92.7 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Berks County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Berks County's NFIP claims file (1,313 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Berks County?
The most common disaster type in Berks County is Severe Storm, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (6), Hurricane (4), Snowstorm (3).
How does Berks County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Pennsylvania average?
FEMA lists 23 declaration records for Berks County. That is 24% above the Pennsylvania county mean of 18.6. Its count is also 11% above the national county mean of 20.7. A larger declaration history records more federal actions; it is not a forecast of the county's next hazard.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Berks County received?
Berks County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 74% of all 23 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Berks County filed?
Berks County has 1,313 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $23.7M in payments, with an average of $18.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Berks County?
No. In Berks County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $69.1M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Berks County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Berks County was 2004, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Berks County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Berks County, Pennsylvania has an overall risk score of 92.7 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $119.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Berks County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Berks County as of the latest release is Winter Weather (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Strong Wind (Relatively High) and Lightning (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 13 times per year, drawn from 240 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.
What this means for Berks County
Berks County, PA has 23 federal declaration records, 24% more than the Pennsylvania county mean of 19; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 17 of 23 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Pennsylvania overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Pennsylvania mean and the totals for 62% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- The large NFIP claims file and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records; the guide explains where they overlap and where they do not. Disaster-data guide
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.