FEMA Records
30
High volume
North Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Carteret County, NC
30 FEMA disaster declarations (1993-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 30
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 93
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Carteret County. Its 30 FEMA declarations are 25% above the North Carolina county mean and exceed the count for 86% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 7%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 7%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 30
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 8,997
- 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 37031 · Carteret County 30 declarations · rank 427/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 30
- MAJOR-LIGHT 47%
- RANK-MID #427
- PHOTO-FINISH Jefferson
- NRI-MID 93
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +25%
Nearest declaration peer: Jefferson, OK (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · North Carolina state profile
Carteret County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Carteret County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Carteret · this county 30
Carteret · this county
30 declarations
- Clallam · near 30
Clallam · near
30 declarations
- Jefferson · near 30
Jefferson · near
30 declarations
- Latimer · near 30
Latimer · near
30 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Carteret County carries 30 FEMA declaration records, ranked 427 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Carteret County ranks in the national declaration registry
Carteret County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Carteret County
30 Top 14% higher than 86% 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
Carteret County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Carteret County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 8,997 claims and $128.8M 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 $14.3K. 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. Carteret County's 30 federal records stand 25% above the North Carolina county mean of 24.0. 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 sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 93.5/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $129.1M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Hurricane stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 2 years here, based on 175 historical events on record.
63 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Carteret County, NC · 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
22/30
30 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
30 declarations (1.2x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
14 of 30 declarations are major disasters (47%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Carteret County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Carteret 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
47%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
93
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Carteret 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Very High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 375 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 3.3 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 52 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 6.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,145 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 18 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 2.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 1.6 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 23
Tropical Storm 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Carteret County's federal record, 77% of its declarations. Atlantic tropical systems run on a defined season, 1 June to 30 November, with most activity concentrated between August and October; Pacific and territorial basins run on their own calendars. A single named storm routinely produces one declaration number covering a long corridor of counties at once, well inland as well as on the coast, which is why an affected county's count can jump by several in one year without several separate events having occurred.
One practical distinction matters when reading these records: a tropical declaration usually bundles wind, storm surge and inland rainfall flooding under a single incident, but the insurance behind them is split. Wind damage falls to property insurers, while flood and surge damage is covered only under a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. That is why a county can show heavy declaration activity and a comparatively small NFIP claims record, or the reverse.
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 - 16 53.3%
of all 30 declarations
Major Disaster - 14 46.7%
of all 30 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 4 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 4 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 30 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 30 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3637 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4837 | POTENTIAL TROPICAL CYCLONE EIGHT | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-10-19 |
| 3617 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3608 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-06 |
| 3586 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-10-01 |
| 4568 | HURRICANE ISAIAS | DR | Hurricane | 2020-10-14 |
| 3534 | HURRICANE ISAIAS | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-02 |
| 4487 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3471 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4465 | HURRICANE DORIAN | DR | Hurricane | 2019-10-04 |
| 3423 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-03 |
| 4393 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | DR | Hurricane | 2018-09-14 |
| 3401 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4285 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | DR | Hurricane | 2016-10-10 |
| 3380 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | EM | Hurricane | 2016-10-07 |
| 4019 | HURRICANE IRENE | DR | Hurricane | 2011-08-31 |
| 3327 | HURRICANE IRENE | EM | Hurricane | 2011-08-25 |
| 3314 | HURRICANE EARL | EM | Hurricane | 2010-09-01 |
| 1608 | HURRICANE OPHELIA | DR | Hurricane | 2005-10-07 |
| 3254 | HURRICANE OPHELIA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-14 |
Show 10 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3222 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1490 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-18 |
| 1292 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-16 |
| 3146 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-15 |
| 1291 | HURRICANE DENNIS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-09 |
| 3141 | HURRICANE DENNIS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-01 |
| 1240 | HURRICANE BONNIE | DR | Hurricane | 1998-08-27 |
| 1134 | HURRICANE FRAN | DR | Hurricane | 1996-09-06 |
| 1127 | HURRICANE BERTHA | DR | Hurricane | 1996-07-18 |
| 3110 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
Storm Events in North Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Carteret County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,123 | 11 | 60 | $62.9M |
| Flash Flood | 1,881 | 105 | 6 | $2.3B |
| Hail | 1,623 | 0 | 0 | $122.5M |
| Winter Weather | 1,272 | 6 | 2 | $425.0K |
| Winter Storm | 743 | 7 | 0 | $10.7M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
8,997
Total Paid
$128.8M
Avg Per Claim
$14.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 93.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$129.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Very High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Relatively High
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought Very Low
Hail 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: Hurricane
Hurricane exposure in the model bundles the three ways a tropical system does harm, which arrive on different timescales and are insured differently: wind, storm surge on the coast, and rainfall flooding that can reach far inland well after landfall.
For Carteret County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Very High), and Hurricane declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Carteret County's closest FEMA peer: Larimer County, CO
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Carteret County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Carteret County shows 30 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Carteret County: 14 of 30 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Carteret County: NRI composite 93.5 (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 Carteret County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Carteret 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: 93.5 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 30. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Carteret County's NFIP claims file (8,997 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 Carteret County?
The most common disaster type in Carteret County is Hurricane, with 23 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (3), Biological (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Carteret County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Carolina average?
FEMA lists 30 declaration records for Carteret County. That is 25% above the North Carolina county mean of 24.0. Its count is also 45% 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 Carteret County received?
Carteret County has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 47% of all 30 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Carteret County filed?
Carteret County has 8,997 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $128.8M in payments, with an average of $14.3K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Carteret County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Carteret County was 1999, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1993 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Carteret County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Carteret County, North Carolina has an overall risk score of 93.5 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $129.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Carteret County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Carteret County as of the latest release is Hurricane (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively High) and Wildfire (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 2 years, drawn from 175 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 Carteret County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · North Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events