FEMA Records
27
High volume
South Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Charleston County, SC
27 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 27
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 99
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Charleston County. Its 27 FEMA declarations are 5% above the South Carolina county mean and exceed the count for 78% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 1%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 1%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 27
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 19,286
- 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.
How does Charleston County compare?
Charleston County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
27 Top 22% higher than 78% 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 · 2026-08-03
Charleston County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the South Carolina county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Charleston County is led by Hurricane (about $281.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Coastal Flooding carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very 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 Charleston County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 19,286 claims and $312.2M 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 $16.2K. 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. Charleston County's 27 federal records stand 5% above the South Carolina county mean of 25.6. 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 98.6/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $499.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Coastal Flooding stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3.6 times per year here.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 27 entries for Charleston County, including 12 Major Disaster records, 5% above the South Carolina county mean. Across the 49-year span, that works out to 0.6 declarations a year. Hurricane leads the file with 16 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
64 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Charleston County, SC · 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
20/30
27 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
13/25
27 declarations (1.1x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
11/25
12 of 27 declarations are major disasters (44%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Charleston County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. South Carolina Avg
+5%
State avg: 25.6
vs. National Avg
+30%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.6
Over 49 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Charleston 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
44%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
99
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Charleston 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Coastal Flooding | Very High | an average of 3.6 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively High | roughly once every 159 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 442 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 63 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.5 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 9.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 15 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 16
Severe Storm 3
Tropical Storm 2
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Flood 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Charleston County's federal record, 59% 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 - 15 55.6%
of all 27 declarations
Major Disaster - 12 44.4%
of all 27 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 3 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1989 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 27 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 27 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3632 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 3619 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3606 | HURRICANE DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-05 |
| 3597 | HURRICANE IDALIA | EM | Hurricane | 2023-08-31 |
| 4677 | HURRICANE IAN | DR | Hurricane | 2022-11-21 |
| 3585 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-09-29 |
| 4492 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3470 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4464 | HURRICANE DORIAN | DR | Hurricane | 2019-09-30 |
| 3421 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-01 |
| 4394 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | DR | Hurricane | 2018-09-16 |
| 3400 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4346 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-10-16 |
| 3386 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-07 |
| 4286 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | DR | Hurricane | 2016-10-11 |
| 3378 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | EM | Hurricane | 2016-10-06 |
| 4241 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2015-10-05 |
| 3373 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2015-10-03 |
| 3369 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-02-12 |
| 3233 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
Show 7 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1566 | TROPICAL STORM FRANCES | DR | Hurricane | 2004-10-07 |
| 1547 | TROPICAL STORM GASTON | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-15 |
| 1313 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-01-31 |
| 1299 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-21 |
| 3145 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-15 |
| 843 | HURRICANE HUGO | DR | Hurricane | 1989-09-22 |
| 3047 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-08-04 |
Storm Events in South Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Charleston County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,845 | 11 | 40 | $11.4M |
| Hail | 1,207 | 0 | 0 | $25.1M |
| Flash Flood | 954 | 20 | 35 | $150.4M |
| Strong Wind | 395 | 4 | 13 | $711.8K |
| Tornado | 320 | 9 | 110 | $127.1M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
19,286
Total Paid
$312.2M
Avg Per Claim
$16.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 98.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$499.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Coastal Flooding Very High
Hurricane Very High
Earthquake Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought Relatively 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: Coastal Flooding
Coastal Flooding is modeled separately from riverine flooding because its driver is different: surge, tide and wave action rather than a watershed draining. It is also the hazard whose baseline is moving, since the same storm rides on a higher starting sea level than it used to.
For Charleston County the two measures on this page point the same way: Coastal Flooding 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
Charleston County's closest FEMA peer: Comal County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Charleston County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Charleston County shows 27 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Charleston County: 12 of 27 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Charleston County: NRI composite 98.6 (Relatively High).
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 Charleston County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Charleston County's NFIP claims file (19,286 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Charleston County?
The most common disaster type in Charleston County is Hurricane, with 16 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (3), Tropical Storm (2), Biological (2).
How does Charleston County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Carolina average?
FEMA lists 27 declaration records for Charleston County. That is 5% above the South Carolina county mean of 25.6. Its count is also 30% 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 Charleston County received?
Charleston County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 44% of all 27 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Charleston County filed?
Charleston County has 19,286 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $312.2M in payments, with an average of $16.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Charleston County?
No. In Charleston County, Coastal Flooding has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Hurricane leads Expected Annual Loss at about $281.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Charleston County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Charleston County was 2017, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Charleston County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Charleston County, South Carolina has an overall risk score of 98.6 out of 100 (Relatively High). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $499.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Charleston County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Charleston County is Coastal Flooding (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Hurricane (Very High) and Earthquake (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts coastal flooding here at an average of 3.6 times per year. 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.
What this means for Charleston County
Charleston County, SC has 27 federal declaration records, 5% more than the South Carolina county mean of 26; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, emergency leads with 15 of 27 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. South Carolina overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the South Carolina mean and the totals for 78% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- The large NFIP claims file and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records; the guide explains where they overlap and where they do not. Disaster-data guide
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.