FEMA Records
20
Above median
Georgia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Berrien County, GA
20 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 20
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 39
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Berrien County. Its 20 FEMA declarations are 15% above the Georgia county mean and exceed the count for 46% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 39%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 39%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 20
- 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 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 13019 · Berrien County 20 declarations · rank 1694/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 20
- MAJOR-MID 60%
- RANK-LOWER #1,694
- PHOTO-FINISH Monona
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +15%
Nearest declaration peer: Monona, IA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Georgia state profile
Berrien County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Berrien County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Berrien · this county 20
Berrien · this county
20 declarations
- Cleveland · near 20
Cleveland · near
20 declarations
- Monona · near 20
Monona · near
20 declarations
- Tallapoosa · near 20
Tallapoosa · near
20 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Berrien County carries 20 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1694 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Berrien County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Berrien County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Berrien County
20 46th percentile higher than 46% 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
Berrien County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Berrien County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 39.3/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $8.6M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Very Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Hurricane carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 4 years here, based on 81 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 $155.9K 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.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Berrien County's 20 federal records stand 15% above the Georgia county mean of 17.4. 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.
63 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Berrien 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
14/30
20 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
20 declarations (1.2x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
12 of 20 declarations are major disasters (60%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Berrien County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Berrien 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
60%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
39
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Berrien 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 Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 26 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 71 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,379 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 801 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 4.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 18 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 8
Tropical Storm 3
Biological 2
Tornado 2
Severe Storm 2
Snowstorm 1
Flood 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Berrien County's federal record, 40% 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).
Major Disaster - 12 60.0%
of all 20 declarations
Emergency - 8 40.0%
of all 20 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 3 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 20 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 20 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 |
| 4821 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-24 |
| 3607 | HURRICANE DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-05 |
| 4738 | HURRICANE IDALIA | DR | Hurricane | 2023-09-07 |
| 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 |
| 4297 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2017-01-26 |
| 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 |
| 897 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1991-03-15 |
| 3044 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-07-20 |
| 425 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1974-04-05 |
Storm Events in Georgia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Berrien 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
8
Total Paid
$155.9K
Avg Per Claim
$19.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 39.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$8.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Hail 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 Berrien County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Moderate), 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
Berrien County's closest FEMA peer: Mora County, NM
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Berrien County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Berrien County shows 20 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Berrien County: 12 of 20 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Berrien County: NRI composite 39.3 (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 Berrien County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Berrien 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: 39.3 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 20. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 20 FEMA declarations, Berrien 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 Berrien County?
The most common disaster type in Berrien County is Hurricane, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (3), Biological (2), Tornado (2).
How does Berrien County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Georgia average?
FEMA lists 20 declaration records for Berrien County. That is 15% above the Georgia county mean of 17.4. Its count is also 3% below 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 Berrien County received?
Berrien County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 60% of all 20 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Berrien County filed?
Berrien County has 8 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $155.9K in payments, with an average of $19.5K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Berrien County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Berrien County was 2024, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Berrien County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Berrien County, Georgia has an overall risk score of 39.3 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $8.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Berrien County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Berrien County as of the latest release is Hurricane (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively Low) and Lightning (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 4 years, drawn from 81 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 Berrien County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Georgia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events