FEMA Records
23
Above median
Texas · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Brooks County, TX
23 FEMA disaster declarations (1967-2021), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 23
- FEMA declarations
- 11
- Major disasters
- 61
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Brooks County. Its 23 FEMA declarations are 10% above the Texas 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 39%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 39%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 23
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 185
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 48047 · Brooks County 23 declarations · rank 1148/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 23
- MAJOR-LIGHT 48%
- RANK-LOWER #1,148
- PHOTO-FINISH Roanoke
- NRI-LOW 61
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +10%
Nearest declaration peer: Roanoke, VA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Texas state profile
Brooks County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Brooks County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Amherst · near 23
Amherst · near
23 declarations
- Brooks · this county 23
Brooks · this county
23 declarations
- Roanoke · near 23
Roanoke · near
23 declarations
- Vance · near 23
Vance · near
23 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Brooks County carries 23 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1148 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Brooks County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Brooks County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Brooks County
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 · 2026-08-25
Brooks County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Brooks County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 185 paid claims, totaling $1.2M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $6.3K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Brooks County's 23 federal records stand 10% above the Texas county mean of 20.9. 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 carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 60.8/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Very Low (roughly $13.5M in annualized losses), and a Very High social-vulnerability profile combined with Very Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Cold Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 2.6 times per year here, based on 49 historical events on record.
58 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Brooks County, TX · 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
14/25
23 declarations (1.1x state county average of 21)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
11 of 23 declarations are major disasters (48%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Brooks County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Brooks 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
48%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
61
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Brooks 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 2.6 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 8 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 222 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 7.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 100 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 41 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 4,902 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 12 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 12
Fire 5
Severe Ice Storm 2
Biological 2
Severe Storm 1
Flood 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Brooks County's federal record, 52% 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 - 11 47.8%
of all 23 declarations
Emergency - 10 43.5%
of all 23 declarations
Fire Management - 2 8.7%
of all 23 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 6 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 1 | |
| 1971 | 1 | |
| 1967 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4586 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-19 |
| 3554 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-14 |
| 3530 | HURRICANE HANNA | EM | Hurricane | 2020-07-26 |
| 4485 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3458 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1999 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2011-07-01 |
| 3313 | TROPICAL STORM ALEX | EM | Hurricane | 2010-06-29 |
| 3294 | HURRICANE IKE | EM | Hurricane | 2008-09-10 |
| 3290 | HURRICANE GUSTAV | EM | Hurricane | 2008-08-29 |
| 1780 | HURRICANE DOLLY | DR | Hurricane | 2008-07-24 |
| 2755 | ENCINO FIRE | FM | Fire | 2008-03-19 |
| 2754 | BURNS RANCH FIRE | FM | Fire | 2008-03-19 |
| 3284 | WILDFIRES | EM | Fire | 2008-03-14 |
| 3277 | HURRICANE DEAN | EM | Hurricane | 2007-08-18 |
| 1624 | EXTREME WILDFIRE THREAT | DR | Fire | 2006-01-11 |
| 1606 | HURRICANE RITA | DR | Hurricane | 2005-09-24 |
| 3261 | HURRICANE RITA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-21 |
| 3216 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-02 |
| 1287 | HURRICANE BRET | DR | Hurricane | 1999-08-22 |
| 1239 | TROPICAL STORM CHARLEY | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-08-26 |
Show 3 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 627 | HURRICANE ALLEN | DR | Hurricane | 1980-08-11 |
| 313 | HEAVY RAINS, HIGH WINDS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1971-09-18 |
| 232 | HURRICANE BEULAH | DR | Hurricane | 1967-09-28 |
Storm Events in Texas
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Brooks County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 14,072 | 0 | 15 | $7.4B |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 10,293 | 41 | 141 | $369.9M |
| Drought | 7,032 | 0 | 0 | $86.0K |
| Flash Flood | 4,728 | 338 | 24 | $47.6B |
| Heat | 4,079 | 119 | 405 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
185
Total Paid
$1.2M
Avg Per Claim
$6.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 60.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$13.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively High
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Strong Wind 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: Cold Wave
Cold Wave measures exposure to extreme cold rather than to snow. Its harm is concentrated in health effects, burst infrastructure and energy demand spikes, and it falls hardest where the building stock and the grid were not built with sustained cold in mind.
Worth noting for Brooks County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
Brooks County's closest FEMA peer: Hampshire County, MA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Brooks County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Brooks County shows 23 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Brooks County: 11 of 23 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Brooks County: NRI composite 60.8 (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 Brooks County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Brooks 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: 60.8 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 23. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Brooks County's NFIP claims file (185 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).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Brooks County?
The most common disaster type in Brooks County is Hurricane, with 12 declarations. Other disaster types include Fire (5), Severe Ice Storm (2), Biological (2).
How does Brooks County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Texas average?
FEMA lists 23 declaration records for Brooks County. That is 10% above the Texas county mean of 20.9. 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 Brooks County received?
Brooks County has received 11 major disaster declarations, representing 48% of all 23 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Brooks County filed?
Brooks County has 185 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.2M in payments, with an average of $6.3K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Brooks County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Brooks County was 2008, with 6 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1967 to 2021.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Brooks County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Brooks County, Texas has an overall risk score of 60.8 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $13.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Brooks County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Brooks County is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Hurricane (Relatively Moderate) and Hail (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 2.6 times per year, drawn from 49 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 Brooks County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Texas profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events