FEMA Records
25
High volume
Illinois · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Calhoun County, IL
25 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 25
- FEMA declarations
- 22
- Major disasters
- 6
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Calhoun County. Its 25 FEMA declarations are 95% above the Illinois county mean and exceed the count for 71% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 6%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 6%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 25
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 1,690
- 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 17013 · Calhoun County 25 declarations · rank 921/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-HIGH
- DECL-HEAVY 25
- MAJOR-HEAVY 88%
- RANK-LOWER #921
- PHOTO-FINISH Jefferson
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-HIGH +95%
Nearest declaration peer: Jefferson, AR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Illinois state profile
Calhoun County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Calhoun County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Benton · near 25
Benton · near
25 declarations
- Calhoun · this county 25
Calhoun · this county
25 declarations
- Jefferson · near 25
Jefferson · near
25 declarations
- Lafayette · near 25
Lafayette · near
25 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Calhoun County carries 25 FEMA declaration records, ranked 921 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Calhoun County ranks in the national declaration registry
Calhoun County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Calhoun County
25 Top 29% higher than 71% 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
Calhoun County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Calhoun County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $2.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Landslide carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low). 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 Calhoun County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 1,690 claims and $16.8M 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 $9.9K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Calhoun County's 25 federal records stand 95% above the Illinois county mean of 12.9. 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
FEMA's National Risk Index places this county in the low end of the national distribution, composite score 6.1/100 (Very Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $4.1M in annualized losses). Two modifiers shape how that exposure becomes real-world harm here: social vulnerability (Very Low) and community resilience (Relatively High). Even the county's top-rated hazard, Landslide, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 2 years here.
82 /100
Historical Activity Index
Very High historical activity
Calhoun County, IL · 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
18/30
25 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
24/25
25 declarations (1.9x state county average of 13)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
22 of 25 declarations are major disasters (88%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Calhoun County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Calhoun 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
88%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
6
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Calhoun 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 11 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 3.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 256 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | an average of 2.3 times per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | an average of 5.9 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 5 times per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 49 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 132 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 9.1 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 5,946 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
Snowstorm 2
Severe Ice Storm 1
Hurricane 1
Tornado 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Calhoun County's record, 44% 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 - 22 88.0%
of all 25 declarations
Emergency - 3 12.0%
of all 25 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
Show 7 earlier declaration years
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 2 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 2 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 25 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 25 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4728 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-08-15 |
| 4489 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-26 |
| 3435 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4461 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-09-19 |
| 4116 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2013-05-10 |
| 1960 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2011-03-17 |
| 1771 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-24 |
| 1681 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-02-09 |
| 3230 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1416 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2002-05-21 |
| 1368 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2001-05-09 |
| 3134 | IL-WINTER STORM 1/1/99 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-08 |
| 1053 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-05-30 |
| 1025 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-04-26 |
| 997 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-09 |
| 871 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-06-22 |
| 776 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-10-07 |
| 735 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1985-03-29 |
| 684 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1983-06-06 |
| 674 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1982-12-13 |
Show 5 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 583 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-04-30 |
| 438 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-10 |
| 373 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-04-26 |
| 276 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-08-30 |
| 262 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-06-06 |
Storm Events in Illinois
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Calhoun County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,218 | 9 | 67 | $46.0M |
| Hail | 3,195 | 0 | 0 | $27.1M |
| Winter Weather | 1,363 | 14 | 49 | $1.8M |
| Flood | 1,221 | 14 | 11 | $84.3M |
| Flash Flood | 1,133 | 11 | 3 | $1.1B |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
1,690
Total Paid
$16.8M
Avg Per Claim
$9.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 6.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$4.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Landslide Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Hail Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Wildfire 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: Landslide
Landslide risk is a function of slope, soil and water, so it is usually a SECOND-ORDER hazard: it is triggered by the rainfall, snowmelt, wildfire burn scars or seismic shaking that came first. That is why a county can carry high landslide exposure whose realized damage is recorded under a flood or storm declaration instead.
Worth noting for Calhoun County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Landslide carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), 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
Calhoun County's closest FEMA peer: Stafford County, KS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Calhoun County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Calhoun County shows 25 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Calhoun County: 22 of 25 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Calhoun County: NRI composite 6.1 (Very 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 Calhoun County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Calhoun 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: 6.1 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 25. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Calhoun County's NFIP claims file (1,690 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 Calhoun County?
The most common disaster type in Calhoun County is Flood, with 11 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (7), Biological (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Calhoun County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Illinois average?
FEMA lists 25 declaration records for Calhoun County. That is 95% above the Illinois county mean of 12.9. Its count is also 21% 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 Calhoun County received?
Calhoun County has received 22 major disaster declarations, representing 88% of all 25 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Calhoun County filed?
Calhoun County has 1,690 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $16.8M in payments, with an average of $9.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Calhoun County?
No. In Calhoun County, Landslide has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Calhoun County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Calhoun County was 1969, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Calhoun County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Calhoun County, Illinois has an overall risk score of 6.1 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $4.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Calhoun County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Calhoun County is Landslide (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Heat Wave (Relatively Low) and Drought (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts landslide here at roughly once every 2 years. 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 Calhoun County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Illinois profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events