FEMA Records
21
Above median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Brule County, SD
21 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 21
- FEMA declarations
- 18
- Major disasters
- 59
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Brule County. Its 21 FEMA declarations are 11% above the South Dakota county mean and exceed the count for 52% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 41%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 41%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 21
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 7
- 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 46015 · Brule County 21 declarations · rank 1553/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 21
- MAJOR-HEAVY 86%
- RANK-LOWER #1,553
- PHOTO-FINISH Montgomery
- NRI-LOW 59
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +11%
Nearest declaration peer: Montgomery, IN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Dakota state profile
Brule County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Brule County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Atascosa · near 21
Atascosa · near
21 declarations
- Brule · this county 21
Brule · this county
21 declarations
- Mason · near 21
Mason · near
21 declarations
- Montgomery · near 21
Montgomery · near
21 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Brule County carries 21 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1553 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Brule County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Brule County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Brule County
21 Top 48% higher than 52% 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
Brule County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Brule County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 58.7/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $19.2M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate 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, Cold Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 6.5 times per year here, based on 123 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 7 claims and $252.9K 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. Brule County's 21 federal records stand 11% 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.
65 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Brule 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) High
15/30
21 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
21 declarations (1.1x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
21/25
18 of 21 declarations are major disasters (86%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Brule County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Brule 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
86%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
59
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Brule 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 6.5 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 999 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 26 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 16 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.3 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.7 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,342 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 5.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 36 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 8
Flood 7
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Brule County's record, 38% 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 - 18 85.7%
of all 21 declarations
Emergency - 3 14.3%
of all 21 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 4 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 2 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 21 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 21 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4807 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2024-08-15 |
| 4527 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3475 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4469 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-11-18 |
| 4463 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-09-23 |
| 4440 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-07 |
| 4233 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-07-30 |
| 1984 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-13 |
| 1938 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-09-23 |
| 1915 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2010-05-13 |
| 1887 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-10 |
| 1886 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-09 |
| 1774 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-09 |
| 1702 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-05-22 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 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 |
| 1075 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-05 |
| 1052 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1995-05-26 |
| 1045 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Snowstorm | 1995-03-14 |
Show 1 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3015 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
Storm Events in South Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Brule 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
7
Total Paid
$252.9K
Avg Per Claim
$36.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 58.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$19.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Landslide 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: 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 Brule 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 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
Brule County's closest FEMA peer: Houston County, MN
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Brule County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Brule County shows 21 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Brule County: 18 of 21 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Brule County: NRI composite 58.7 (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 Brule County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Brule 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: 58.7 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 21. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 21 FEMA declarations, Brule 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 Brule County?
The most common disaster type in Brule County is Severe Storm, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (7), Biological (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Brule County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
FEMA lists 21 declaration records for Brule County. That is 11% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. Its count is also 1% 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 Brule County received?
Brule County has received 18 major disaster declarations, representing 86% of all 21 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Brule County filed?
Brule County has 7 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $252.9K in payments, with an average of $36.1K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Brule County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Brule County was 2010, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Brule County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Brule County, South Dakota has an overall risk score of 58.7 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $19.2M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Brule County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Brule County as of the latest release is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Wildfire (Relatively Low) and Drought (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 6.5 times per year, drawn from 123 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Brule County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Dakota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events