FEMA Records
9
Low volume
Utah · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Box Elder County, UT
9 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 9
- FEMA declarations
- 6
- Major disasters
- 56
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
FEMA records a middle-volume declaration history for Box Elder County: 9 entries, 6% above its Utah county benchmark and ahead of 8% of counties nationally. The National Risk Index answers a different question. Its modeled loss, vulnerability, and resilience inputs place this county in the riskiest 44% of U.S. counties.
- Riskiest 44%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 9
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 18
- 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 Box Elder County compare?
Box Elder County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
9 8th percentile higher than 8% 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
Box Elder County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Utah county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Box Elder County is led by Earthquake (about $15.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Wildfire 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 Box Elder County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 55.9/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $31.3M in annualized losses), and a Very 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, Wildfire carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 65 years here.
Declaration frequency
Box Elder County falls in the middle of the national declaration-count range but above its local benchmark. FEMA lists 9 records, 6% more than the Utah county mean; 6 are classified as Major Disasters. The observed span averages 0.2 entries per year. Flood contributes the largest group at 5. These are response classifications, not a complete list of damage or aid.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 18 claims and $292.3K 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. Box Elder County's 9 federal records stand 6% above the Utah county mean of 8.5. 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.
47 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Box Elder County, UT · 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
7/30
9 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
13/25
9 declarations (1.1x state county average of 8)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
6 of 9 declarations are major disasters (67%)
Hazard Diversity High
10/20
4 different disaster types declared in Box Elder County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
Moderate
vs. Utah Avg
+6%
State avg: 8.5
vs. National Avg
-57%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.2
Over 43 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Box Elder 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
67%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
56
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Box Elder 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 65 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 72 years |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 12 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 31 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 113 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 12 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 5
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Box Elder County's record, 56% 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 - 6 66.7%
of all 9 declarations
Emergency - 3 33.3%
of all 9 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 1984 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 9 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 9 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4525 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3478 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4311 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2017-04-21 |
| 4011 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-08-08 |
| 3223 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-05 |
| 1598 | FLOODING AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2005-08-01 |
| 720 | SEVERE STORMS, MUDSLIDES, LANDSLIDES & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1984-08-17 |
| 680 | SEVERE STORMS, LANDSLIDES & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1983-04-30 |
| 3024 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-01-20 |
Storm Events in Utah
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Box Elder County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,382 | 3 | 7 | $2.2M |
| Flash Flood | 536 | 29 | 17 | $101.2M |
| High Wind | 496 | 4 | 60 | $12.7M |
| Heavy Snow | 488 | 1 | 2 | $2.4M |
| Winter Storm | 344 | 1 | 36 | $435.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
18
Total Paid
$292.3K
Avg Per Claim
$16.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 55.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$31.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Avalanche Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Hail 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: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
Worth noting for Box Elder County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Wildfire 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
Box Elder County's closest FEMA peer: Saline County, IL
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Box Elder County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Box Elder County shows 9 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Box Elder County: 6 of 9 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Box Elder County: NRI composite 55.9 (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 Box Elder County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Wildfire as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively Moderate); 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Box Elder County?
The most common disaster type in Box Elder County is Flood, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Coastal Storm (1), Drought (1).
How does Box Elder County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Utah average?
FEMA lists 9 declaration records for Box Elder County. That is 6% above the Utah county mean of 8.5. Its count is also 57% 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 Box Elder County received?
Box Elder County has received 6 major disaster declarations, representing 67% of all 9 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Box Elder County filed?
Box Elder County has 18 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $292.3K in payments, with an average of $16.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Box Elder County?
No. In Box Elder County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Earthquake leads Expected Annual Loss at about $15.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Box Elder County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Box Elder County was 2005, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Box Elder County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Box Elder County, Utah has an overall risk score of 55.9 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $31.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Box Elder County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Box Elder County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Earthquake (Relatively Moderate) and Avalanche (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 65 years. 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.
What this means for Box Elder County
Box Elder County, UT has 9 federal declaration records, 6% more than the Utah county mean of 8; its history sits in PlainHazard's moderate activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 6 of 9 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Utah overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Utah mean and the totals for 8% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- A short NFIP claims file cannot establish low flood exposure; the data guide explains the limits of each federal measure. 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.