FEMA Records
21
Above median
Illinois · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Cass County, IL
21 FEMA disaster declarations (1973-2022), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 21
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 39
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Cass County. Its 21 FEMA declarations are 63% above the Illinois county mean and exceed the count for 52% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 39%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 39%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 21
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 167
- 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 17017 · Cass County 21 declarations · rank 1486/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-HIGH
- DECL-HEAVY 21
- MAJOR-HEAVY 81%
- RANK-LOWER #1,486
- PHOTO-FINISH Montgomery
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-HIGH +63%
Nearest declaration peer: Montgomery, IN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Illinois state profile
Cass County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Cass County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Atascosa · near 21
Atascosa · near
21 declarations
- Cass · this county 21
Cass · 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 Cass County carries 21 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1486 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Cass County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Cass County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Cass 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
Cass County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Cass County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 167 paid claims, totaling $979.6K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $5.9K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Cass County's 21 federal records stand 63% 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 data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 38.6/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $12.2M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively Low) and community resilience (Relatively High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Cold Wave carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3.6 times per year here, based on 68 historical events on record.
70 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Cass 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
15/30
21 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
20/25
21 declarations (1.6x state county average of 13)
Major Disaster Share Very High
20/25
17 of 21 declarations are major disasters (81%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Cass County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Cass 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
81%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
39
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Cass 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 Moderate | an average of 3.6 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 4.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 8.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 444 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.7 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 9.3 times per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 46 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 37,303 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 7
Severe Storm 7
Tornado 2
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Cass County's record, 33% 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 - 17 81.0%
of all 21 declarations
Emergency - 4 19.0%
of all 21 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
Show 4 earlier declaration years
| 1983 | 2 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3577 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | EM | Tornado | 2021-12-13 |
| 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 |
| 1800 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-10-03 |
| 3230 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1416 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2002-05-21 |
| 3134 | IL-WINTER STORM 1/1/99 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-08 |
| 1112 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-05-06 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 583 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-04-30 |
| 438 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-10 |
Show 1 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 373 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-04-26 |
Storm Events in Illinois
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Cass 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
167
Total Paid
$979.6K
Avg Per Claim
$5.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 38.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$12.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Hurricane 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: 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 Cass County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Cass County's closest FEMA peer: Redwood County, MN
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Cass County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Cass County shows 21 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Cass County: 17 of 21 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Cass County: NRI composite 38.6 (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 Cass County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Cass 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: 38.6 (Very 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
Understanding disaster data
Cass County's NFIP claims file (167 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 Cass County?
The most common disaster type in Cass County is Severe Storm, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (7), Tornado (2), Biological (2).
How does Cass County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Illinois average?
FEMA lists 21 declaration records for Cass County. That is 63% above the Illinois county mean of 12.9. 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 Cass County received?
Cass County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 81% of all 21 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Cass County filed?
Cass County has 167 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $979.6K in payments, with an average of $5.9K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Cass County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Cass County was 1983, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1973 to 2022.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Cass County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Cass County, Illinois has an overall risk score of 38.6 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $12.2M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Cass County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Cass County as of the latest release is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively Moderate) and Heat Wave (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 3.6 times per year, drawn from 68 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 Cass County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Illinois profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events