FEMA Records
19
Below median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Brown County, SD
19 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 19
- FEMA declarations
- 16
- Major disasters
- 74
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Brown County. Its 19 FEMA declarations are 0% above the South Dakota county mean and exceed the count for 41% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 26%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 26%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 19
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 484
- 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 46013 · Brown County 19 declarations · rank 1759/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 19
- MAJOR-HEAVY 84%
- RANK-LOWER #1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH Bartow
- NRI-LOW 74
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +0%
Nearest declaration peer: Bartow, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Dakota state profile
Brown County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Brown County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bartow · near 19
Bartow · near
19 declarations
- Brown · this county 19
Brown · this county
19 declarations
- Union · near 19
Union · near
19 declarations
- Warren · near 19
Warren · near
19 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Brown County carries 19 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1759 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Brown County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Brown County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Brown County
19 41st percentile higher than 41% 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
Brown County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Brown County is led by Cold Wave (about $16.4M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), 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 Brown County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 484 paid claims, totaling $3.3M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $6.8K 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. Brown County's 19 federal records stand 0% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. 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, 73.5/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $36.6M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. 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 20 times per year here, based on 382 historical events on record.
61 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Brown County, SD · 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
19 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
13/25
19 declarations (1.0x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
21/25
16 of 19 declarations are major disasters (84%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Brown County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Brown 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
84%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
74
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Brown 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 20 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 13 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.9 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.6 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 849 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 5.2 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 3.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 2.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 4,566 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 32 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 9
Severe Storm 6
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Brown County's record, 47% 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 - 16 84.2%
of all 19 declarations
Emergency - 3 15.8%
of all 19 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
Show 2 earlier declaration years
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 19 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 19 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4718 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-07-06 |
| 4527 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3475 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4440 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-07 |
| 1984 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-13 |
| 1915 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2010-05-13 |
| 1844 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-06-16 |
| 1702 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-05-22 |
| 1620 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-12-20 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 1375 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Flood | 2001-05-17 |
| 1218 | FLOODING, SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES | DR | Flood | 1998-06-01 |
| 1173 | SEVERE FLOODING, SEVER WINTER STORMS,HEAVY RAINS HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1156 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-10 |
| 1052 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1995-05-26 |
| 1031 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-06-21 |
| 999 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-07-19 |
| 3015 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
| 257 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-18 |
Storm Events in South Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Brown County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,388 | 7 | 21 | $10.7M |
| Hail | 4,801 | 0 | 3 | $4.5M |
| High Wind | 2,277 | 0 | 1 | $35.0K |
| Winter Weather | 2,125 | 20 | 50 | $133.0K |
| Flood | 1,523 | 5 | 0 | $196.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
484
Total Paid
$3.3M
Avg Per Claim
$6.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 73.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$36.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Very High
Cold Wave Relatively High
Hail Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Lightning 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 Brown 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 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
Brown County's closest FEMA peer: Leflore County, MS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Brown County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Brown County: NRI composite 73.5 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Brown County: 16 of 19 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Brown County shows 19 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
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 Brown County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Brown 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: 73.5 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 19. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Brown County's NFIP claims file (484 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 Brown County?
The most common disaster type in Brown County is Flood, with 9 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (6), Biological (2), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Brown County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
FEMA lists 19 declaration records for Brown County. That is 0% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. Its count is also 8% 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 Brown County received?
Brown County has received 16 major disaster declarations, representing 84% of all 19 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Brown County filed?
Brown County has 484 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $3.3M in payments, with an average of $6.8K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Brown County?
No. In Brown County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $16.4M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Brown County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Brown County was 1997, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Brown County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Brown County, South Dakota has an overall risk score of 73.5 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Low and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $36.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Brown County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Brown County is Winter Weather (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively High) and Hail (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 20 times per year, drawn from 382 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 Brown County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Dakota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events