FEMA Records
22
Above median
North Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Burleigh County, ND
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 85
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Burleigh County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 22 declarations, more than 57% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 15% below the North Dakota county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 15%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 15%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 698
- 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 38015 · Burleigh County 22 declarations · rank 1287/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-MID 77%
- RANK-LOWER #1,287
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-MID 85
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -15%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · North Dakota state profile
Burleigh County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Burleigh County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Burleigh · this county 22
Burleigh · this county
22 declarations
- Hardy · near 22
Hardy · near
22 declarations
- Prairie · near 22
Prairie · near
22 declarations
- St. Francis · near 22
St. Francis · near
22 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Burleigh County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1287 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Burleigh County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Burleigh County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Burleigh County
22 Top 43% higher than 57% 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
Burleigh County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Burleigh County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $22.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), 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 Burleigh County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 698 claims and $15.3M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $22.0K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
Start with the state benchmark: a North Dakota county averages 25.9 federal declaration records, while Burleigh County has 22. The gap is 15% below that mean. Fewer entries indicate a quieter history of recorded federal actions, not immunity from a hazard and not a prediction about what happens next.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 85.1/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $71.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very Low and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. 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 19 times per year here, based on 369 historical events on record.
59 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Burleigh County, ND · 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
16/30
22 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
22 declarations (0.8x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
17 of 22 declarations are major disasters (77%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Burleigh County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Burleigh 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
77%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
85
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Burleigh 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 19 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively High | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 17 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Very High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,779 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1 time per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 1.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 30 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 15 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 9,346 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 11
Severe Storm 7
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Burleigh County's record, 50% 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 - 17 77.3%
of all 22 declarations
Emergency - 5 22.7%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1970 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 22 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 22 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4888 | SEVERE STORM, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-09-11 |
| 4509 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-01 |
| 3477 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1981 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-10 |
| 3318 | FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2011-04-07 |
| 1901 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-04-21 |
| 3309 | FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2010-03-14 |
| 1829 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-03-24 |
| 3247 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-13 |
| 1376 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, & GROUND SATURATION | DR | Flood | 2001-05-28 |
| 1334 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-06-27 |
| 1279 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, SNOW, ICE, GROUND SATURATION, LANSLIDES, MUDSLIDES, AND TOR | DR | Flood | 1999-06-08 |
| 1174 | SEVERE FLOODING,SEVERE WINTER STORMS, SNOWMELT, SPRING RAINS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1157 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-12 |
| 1118 | SEVERE STORMS,FLOODING, & ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-06-05 |
| 1050 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-05-16 |
| 1001 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-26 |
| 581 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-04-26 |
| 554 | STORMS, ICE JAMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1978-04-17 |
| 3016 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-07-21 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 287 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1970-06-05 |
| 256 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-18 |
Storm Events in North Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Burleigh County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 2,705 | 0 | 2 | $116.1M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 2,459 | 2 | 10 | $67.0M |
| High Wind | 1,184 | 1 | 1 | $2.9M |
| Heavy Snow | 925 | 0 | 3 | $650.0K |
| Blizzard | 905 | 2 | 2 | $60.0M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
698
Total Paid
$15.3M
Avg Per Claim
$22.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 85.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$71.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Very High
Hail Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively High
Ice Storm Very High
Wildfire Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought Very Low
Earthquake 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 Burleigh 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
Burleigh County's closest FEMA peer: Franklin County, IN
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Burleigh County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Burleigh County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Burleigh County: 17 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Burleigh County: NRI composite 85.1 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Burleigh County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Burleigh 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: 85.1 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 22. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Burleigh County's NFIP claims file (698 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 Burleigh County?
The most common disaster type in Burleigh County is Flood, with 11 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (7), Biological (2), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Burleigh County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Dakota average?
The typical North Dakota county has 25.9 FEMA declaration records; Burleigh County has 22, or 15% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 6% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Burleigh County received?
Burleigh County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 77% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Burleigh County filed?
Burleigh County has 698 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $15.3M in payments, with an average of $22.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Burleigh County?
No. In Burleigh County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $22.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Burleigh County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Burleigh County was 1997, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Burleigh County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Burleigh County, North Dakota has an overall risk score of 85.1 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $71.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Burleigh County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Burleigh County as of the latest release is Winter Weather (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Hail (Relatively High) and Cold Wave (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 19 times per year, drawn from 369 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 Burleigh County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · North Dakota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events