FEMA Records
19
Below median
Virginia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Charles City County, VA
19 FEMA disaster declarations (1972-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 19
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 9
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Charles City 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 7% below the Virginia county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 9%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 9%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 19
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 9
- 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 51036 · Charles City County 19 declarations · rank 1808/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 19
- MAJOR-MID 63%
- RANK-LOWER #1,808
- PHOTO-FINISH Bartow
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -7%
Nearest declaration peer: Bartow, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Virginia state profile
Charles City County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Charles City County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bartow · near 19
Bartow · near
19 declarations
- Charles City · this county 19
Charles City · 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 Charles City County carries 19 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1808 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Charles City County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Charles City County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Charles City 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
Charles City County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Charles City 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 9.3/100 (Very Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $3.4M in annualized losses). Two modifiers shape how that exposure becomes real-world harm here: social vulnerability (Relatively High) and community resilience (Relatively Moderate). 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 3.8 modeled event-days per year here, based on 133 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 9 claims and $60.9K 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 Virginia county averages 20.4 federal declaration records, while Charles City County has 19. The gap is 7% 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.
62 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Charles City County, VA · 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 (0.9x state county average of 20)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
12 of 19 declarations are major disasters (63%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Charles City County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Charles City 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
63%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
9
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Charles City 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 | 3.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 3.7 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 587 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 5.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 5,054 years |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 4.5 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 18 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 44 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 8
Severe Storm 3
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Winter Storm 1
Drought 1
Freezing 1
Flood 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Charles City County's federal record, 42% 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).
Major Disaster - 12 63.2%
of all 19 declarations
Emergency - 7 36.8%
of all 19 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 2 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1972 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3631 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4512 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-02 |
| 3448 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4401 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | DR | Hurricane | 2018-10-15 |
| 3403 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-11 |
| 3359 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 4024 | HURRICANE IRENE | DR | Hurricane | 2011-09-03 |
| 1661 | TROPICAL DEPRESSION ERNESTO, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-09-22 |
| 3240 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-12 |
| 1544 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND TORNADOES ASSOCIATED W TD GASTON | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-03 |
| 1491 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-18 |
| 1318 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-02-28 |
| 1293 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-18 |
| 1135 | HURRICANE FRAN AND ASSOCIATED SEVERE STORM COND | DR | Hurricane | 1996-09-06 |
| 1086 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3112 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-25 |
| 3046 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-07-23 |
| 525 | ICE CONDITIONS | DR | Freezing | 1977-01-26 |
| 339 | TROPICAL STORM AGNES | DR | Flood | 1972-06-23 |
Storm Events in Virginia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Charles City County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 8,940 | 13 | 31 | $123.1M |
| Flood | 2,300 | 4 | 0 | $85.1M |
| Winter Weather | 2,049 | 6 | 32 | $902.0K |
| Flash Flood | 1,942 | 13 | 4 | $244.2M |
| Heavy Rain | 1,566 | 0 | 0 | $2.5M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
9
Total Paid
$60.9K
Avg Per Claim
$6.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 9.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$3.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively High
Hurricane Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Hail Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Strong Wind 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 Charles City 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 Hurricane. 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
Charles City County's closest FEMA peer: Winnebago County, IL
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Charles City County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Charles City County shows 19 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Charles City County: 12 of 19 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Charles City County: NRI composite 9.3 (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 Charles City County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Charles City 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: 9.3 (Very 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
Most disaster-prone counties
With 19 FEMA declarations, Charles City County sits in the high-volume declaration band - see how that count ranks against other U.S. counties.
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 Charles City County?
The most common disaster type in Charles City County is Hurricane, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (3), Biological (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Charles City County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Virginia average?
The typical Virginia county has 20.4 FEMA declaration records; Charles City County has 19, or 7% 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 Charles City County received?
Charles City County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 63% of all 19 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Charles City County filed?
Charles City County has 9 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $60.9K in payments, with an average of $6.8K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Charles City County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Charles City County was 1977, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1972 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Charles City County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Charles City County, Virginia has an overall risk score of 9.3 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively High and community resilience is Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $3.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Charles City County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Charles City County is Drought (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Hurricane (Relatively Low) and Coastal Flooding (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 3.8 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 133 historical events on record. 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 Charles City County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Virginia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events