FEMA Records
19
Below median
Iowa · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Cass County, IA
19 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2022), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 19
- FEMA declarations
- 16
- Major disasters
- 60
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Cass County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 19 declarations, more than 41% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 2% below the Iowa county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 40%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 40%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 19
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 57
- 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 19029 · Cass County 19 declarations · rank 1883/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 19
- MAJOR-HEAVY 84%
- RANK-LOWER #1,883
- PHOTO-FINISH Bartow
- NRI-LOW 60
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -2%
Nearest declaration peer: Bartow, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Iowa 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
- Bartow · near 19
Bartow · near
19 declarations
- Cass · this county 19
Cass · this county
19 declarations
- Union · near 19
Union · near
19 declarations
- Warren · near 19
Warren · near
19 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Cass County carries 19 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1883 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
19 41st percentile higher than 41% 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
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Cass County is led by Cold Wave (about $4.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Drought carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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 Cass County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 57 paid claims, totaling $337.6K. 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.
Start with the state benchmark: a Iowa county averages 19.3 federal declaration records, while Cass County has 19. The gap is 2% 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 carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 60.1/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $16.6M in annualized losses), and a Relatively High social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Drought stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 8.6 modeled event-days per year here, based on 259 historical events on record.
62 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Cass County, IA · 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) Moderate
14/30
19 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
19 declarations (1.0x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
21/25
16 of 19 declarations are major disasters (84%)
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
84%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
60
Relatively 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively High | 8.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.2 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 6.2 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 7.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.9 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 13 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 847 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 45 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,020 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 6
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Cass County's record, 37% 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 - 16 84.2%
of all 19 declarations
Emergency - 3 15.8%
of all 19 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1992 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 19 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 19 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4642 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2022-02-23 |
| 4483 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-23 |
| 3480 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4421 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-03-23 |
| 1880 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-02 |
| 1877 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-25 |
| 1763 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-05-27 |
| 1705 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-05-25 |
| 3275 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-03-30 |
| 3239 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1518 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-05-25 |
| 1230 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1998-07-02 |
| 1191 | SEVERE SNOWSTORMS | DR | Snowstorm | 1997-11-20 |
| 996 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-09 |
| 928 | ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 1991-12-26 |
| 911 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1991-07-12 |
| 443 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-24 |
| 354 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-09-26 |
| 193 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-04-22 |
Storm Events in Iowa
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Cass County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,928 | 6 | 227 | $40.5M |
| Hail | 3,736 | 0 | 0 | $4.3M |
| Heavy Rain | 2,394 | 0 | 0 | $292.0K |
| Drought | 1,556 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 1,543 | 3 | 4 | $2.8M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
57
Total Paid
$337.6K
Avg Per Claim
$5.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 60.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$16.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Lightning 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: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for Cass County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively 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
Cass County's closest FEMA peer: Summit County, UT
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Cass County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Cass County: NRI composite 60.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Cass County: 16 of 19 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Cass County shows 19 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
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: 60.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 19. 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 (57 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 Flood, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (6), Biological (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Cass County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Iowa average?
The typical Iowa county has 19.3 FEMA declaration records; Cass County has 19, or 2% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 8% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Cass County received?
Cass County has received 16 major disaster declarations, representing 84% of all 19 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Cass County filed?
Cass County has 57 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $337.6K in payments, with an average of $5.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Cass County?
No. In Cass County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $4.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Cass County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Cass County was 1998, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2022.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Cass County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Cass County, Iowa has an overall risk score of 60.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively High and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $16.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Cass County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Cass County is Drought (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate) and Hail (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 8.6 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 259 historical events on record. 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 Cass County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Iowa profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events