FEMA Records
8
Low volume
Michigan · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Cheboygan County, MI
8 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Biological.
- 8
- FEMA declarations
- 4
- Major disasters
- 59
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Biological
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Cheboygan County: 8 FEMA declaration records are 20% below the Michigan county mean, even though the count is higher than 6% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks in the riskiest 41%.
- Riskiest 41%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 8
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 36
- 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 26031 · Cheboygan County 8 declarations · rank 3029/3,266
DECL-LIGHT · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-MODERATE · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-LIGHT 8
- MAJOR-MID 50%
- RANK-LOWER #3,029
- PHOTO-FINISH Marion
- NRI-LOW 59
- ACT-MODERATE Moderate
- TYPE-LEAD Biological
- VS-ST-BELOW -20%
Nearest declaration peer: Marion, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Michigan state profile
Cheboygan County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Cheboygan County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Cheboygan · this county 8
Cheboygan · this county
8 declarations
- Kane · near 8
Kane · near
8 declarations
- Marion · near 8
Marion · near
8 declarations
- Mesa · near 8
Mesa · near
8 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Cheboygan County carries 8 FEMA declaration records, ranked 3029 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Cheboygan County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Cheboygan County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Cheboygan County
8 6th percentile higher than 6% 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
Cheboygan County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Cheboygan County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 59.5/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $15.3M in annualized losses), and a Very High social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Riverine Flooding carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 9 years here, based on 3 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 36 claims and $1.5M 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 Michigan county averages 10.0 federal declaration records, while Cheboygan County has 8. The gap is 20% 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.
47 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Cheboygan County, MI · 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) Low
6/30
8 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
10/25
8 declarations (0.8x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
4 of 8 declarations are major disasters (50%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Cheboygan County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Cheboygan 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
50%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
59
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Cheboygan 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 9 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 23 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 80 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 11 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 22,540 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 28 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 4,831 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 22 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Flood 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
Hurricane 1
Freezing 1
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Biological declarations mean here
Biological is the most frequent declaration type on Cheboygan County's record, 25% of its declarations. In practice this category is dominated by the COVID-19 declarations of 2020, which were issued across every US state and territory rather than in response to any local hazard event.
This has a direct consequence for how Cheboygan County's number should be read. Because those declarations reached essentially every county in the country, they raise every county's total by a similar amount and tell you nothing about local hazard exposure. A county whose record is led by Biological declarations is, in most cases, a county with a genuinely quiet weather-hazard history, the pandemic records are simply the largest thing in an otherwise short list.
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 - 4 50.0%
of all 8 declarations
Emergency - 4 50.0%
of all 8 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 8 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 8 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4925 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4880 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2025-07-22 |
| 4494 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3455 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3225 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1028 | SEVERE DEEP FREEZE | DR | Freezing | 1994-05-10 |
| 3057 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-27 |
| 3035 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-03-02 |
Storm Events in Michigan
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Cheboygan County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,010 | 10 | 18 | $173.8M |
| Winter Storm | 1,486 | 3 | 11 | $41.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,254 | 21 | 38 | $892.0K |
| Hail | 962 | 0 | 0 | $77.1M |
| High Wind | 389 | 3 | 2 | $668.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
36
Total Paid
$1.5M
Avg Per Claim
$41.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 59.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$15.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Tornado Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Drought No Rating
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: Riverine Flooding
Riverine Flooding is the model's measure of a watershed draining more water than its channel can carry. Unlike flash flooding it usually builds over days and is forecast in advance, which makes it the hazard where warning time most reliably converts into reduced harm.
Worth noting for Cheboygan County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Riverine Flooding carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Biological. 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
Cheboygan County's closest FEMA peer: Montezuma County, CO
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Cheboygan County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Cheboygan County shows 8 FEMA declarations, led by Biological.
Similar Major-disaster share
Cheboygan County: 4 of 8 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Cheboygan County: NRI composite 59.5 (Relatively 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 Cheboygan County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Cheboygan 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: 59.5 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 8. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Riverine Flooding as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively Moderate); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
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 Cheboygan County?
The most common disaster type in Cheboygan County is Biological, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (1), Severe Ice Storm (1), Hurricane (1).
How does Cheboygan County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Michigan average?
The typical Michigan county has 10.0 FEMA declaration records; Cheboygan County has 8, or 20% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 61% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Cheboygan County received?
Cheboygan County has received 4 major disaster declarations, representing 50% of all 8 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Cheboygan County filed?
Cheboygan County has 36 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.5M in payments, with an average of $41.3K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Cheboygan County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Cheboygan County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Cheboygan County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Cheboygan County, Michigan has an overall risk score of 59.5 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $15.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Cheboygan County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Cheboygan County as of the latest release is Riverine Flooding (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate) and Landslide (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts riverine flooding here at roughly once every 9 years, drawn from 3 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 Cheboygan County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Michigan profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events