FEMA Records
5
Low volume
Idaho · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Caribou County, ID
5 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Biological.
- 5
- FEMA declarations
- 2
- Major disasters
- 7
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Biological
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Caribou County: 5 FEMA declaration records are 40% below the Idaho county mean, even though the count is higher than 2% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks safer than 7%.
- Safer than 7%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 5
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 1
- 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 16029 · Caribou County 5 declarations · rank 3208/3,266
DECL-LIGHT · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-MODERATE · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-LIGHT 5
- MAJOR-LIGHT 40%
- RANK-LOWER #3,208
- PHOTO-FINISH Goshen
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-MODERATE Moderate
- TYPE-LEAD Biological
- VS-ST-BELOW -40%
Nearest declaration peer: Goshen, WY (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Idaho state profile
Caribou County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Caribou County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Carbon · near 5
Carbon · near
5 declarations
- Caribou · this county 5
Caribou · this county
5 declarations
- Goshen · near 5
Goshen · near
5 declarations
- Niobrara · near 5
Niobrara · near
5 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Caribou County carries 5 FEMA declaration records, ranked 3208 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Caribou County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Caribou County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Caribou County
5 2nd percentile higher than 2% 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
Caribou County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Caribou County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $1.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Wildfire 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 Caribou County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's National Risk Index places this county in the low end of the national distribution, composite score 7.2/100 (Very Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $4.9M in annualized losses). Two modifiers shape how that exposure becomes real-world harm here: social vulnerability (Very Low) and community resilience (Very Low). Even the county's top-rated hazard, Wildfire, 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 144 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 1 claim and $8.0K 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.
Start with the state benchmark: a Idaho county averages 8.3 federal declaration records, while Caribou County has 5. The gap is 40% 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.
32 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Caribou County, ID · 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) Low
4/30
5 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
8/25
5 declarations (0.6x state county average of 8)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
10/25
2 of 5 declarations are major disasters (40%)
Hazard Diversity High
10/20
4 different disaster types declared in Caribou County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Caribou 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
40%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
7
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Caribou 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 144 years |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 30 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 34 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 28 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 3.4 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 37 times per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 2,000 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 68 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
Flood 1
What Biological declarations mean here
Biological is the most frequent declaration type on Caribou County's record, 40% of its declarations. In practice this category is dominated by the COVID-19 declarations of 2020, which were issued across every US state and territory rather than in response to any local hazard event.
This has a direct consequence for how Caribou County's number should be read. Because those declarations reached essentially every county in the country, they raise every county's total by a similar amount and tell you nothing about local hazard exposure. A county whose record is led by Biological declarations is, in most cases, a county with a genuinely quiet weather-hazard history, the pandemic records are simply the largest thing in an otherwise short list.
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).
Emergency - 3 60.0%
of all 5 declarations
Major Disaster - 2 40.0%
of all 5 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 5 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 5 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4534 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-09 |
| 3467 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3244 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 3040 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-05-05 |
| 186 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1964-12-31 |
Storm Events in Idaho
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Caribou County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Snow | 1,495 | 1 | 13 | $100.9M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,087 | 9 | 26 | $3.6M |
| Winter Storm | 492 | 4 | 15 | $1.0M |
| High Wind | 396 | 4 | 6 | $10.6M |
| Winter Weather | 297 | 10 | 15 | $1.7M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
1
Total Paid
$8.0K
Avg Per Claim
$8.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 7.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$4.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Low
Avalanche Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Hail Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Tornado 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: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
Worth noting for Caribou County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Wildfire carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), while the county's declaration history is led by Biological. 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
Caribou County's closest FEMA peer: Beaverhead County, MT
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Caribou County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Caribou County shows 5 FEMA declarations, led by Biological.
Similar Major-disaster share
Caribou County: 2 of 5 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Caribou County: NRI composite 7.2 (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 Caribou County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Caribou 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: 7.2 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 5. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Wildfire as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively Low); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
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 Caribou County?
The most common disaster type in Caribou County is Biological, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Hurricane (1), Drought (1), Flood (1).
How does Caribou County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Idaho average?
The typical Idaho county has 8.3 FEMA declaration records; Caribou County has 5, or 40% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 76% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Caribou County received?
Caribou County has received 2 major disaster declarations, representing 40% of all 5 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Caribou County filed?
Caribou County has 1 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $8.0K in payments, with an average of $8.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Caribou County?
No. In Caribou County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $1.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Caribou County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Caribou County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Caribou County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Caribou County, Idaho has an overall risk score of 7.2 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $4.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Caribou County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Caribou County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Avalanche (Relatively Moderate) and Earthquake (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 144 years. 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 Caribou County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Idaho profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events