FEMA Records
26
High volume
Kansas · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Cherokee County, KS
26 FEMA disaster declarations (1973-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 26
- FEMA declarations
- 22
- Major disasters
- 54
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Cherokee County. Its 26 FEMA declarations are 45% above the Kansas county mean and exceed the count for 75% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 46%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 46%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 26
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 86
- 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 20021 · Cherokee County 26 declarations · rank 766/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 26
- MAJOR-HEAVY 85%
- RANK-MID #766
- PHOTO-FINISH Hunterdon
- NRI-LOW 54
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +45%
Nearest declaration peer: Hunterdon, NJ (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Kansas state profile
Cherokee County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Cherokee County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Cherokee · this county 26
Cherokee · this county
26 declarations
- Hunterdon · near 26
Hunterdon · near
26 declarations
- Pierce · near 26
Pierce · near
26 declarations
- San Sebastián · near 26
San Sebastián · near
26 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Cherokee County carries 26 FEMA declaration records, ranked 766 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Cherokee County ranks in the national declaration registry
Cherokee County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Cherokee County
26 Top 25% higher than 75% 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
Cherokee County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Cherokee County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $7.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), 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 Cherokee County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 86 paid claims, totaling $1.6M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $19.1K 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. Cherokee County's 26 federal records stand 45% above the Kansas county mean of 18.0. 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 carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 53.7/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $17.0M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Low 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 20 modeled event-days per year here, based on 602 historical events on record.
73 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Cherokee County, KS · 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
19/30
26 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
18/25
26 declarations (1.4x state county average of 18)
Major Disaster Share Very High
21/25
22 of 26 declarations are major disasters (85%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Cherokee County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Cherokee 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
85%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
54
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Cherokee 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 | 20 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 9.8 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.9 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 16 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 7.3 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 2,102 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 4.2 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 696 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 10 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 55 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 17
Flood 4
Biological 2
Snowstorm 1
Hurricane 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Cherokee County's record, 65% 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 - 22 84.6%
of all 26 declarations
Emergency - 4 15.4%
of all 26 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 3 | |
| 2007 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
Show 5 earlier declaration years
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 26 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 26 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4926 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2026-06-30 |
| 4800 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-07-15 |
| 4504 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-29 |
| 3481 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4449 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING,LANDSLIDES,AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-06-20 |
| 3412 | TORNADOES AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2019-05-28 |
| 4319 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Snowstorm | 2017-06-16 |
| 4230 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-07-20 |
| 4150 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-10-22 |
| 1885 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-09 |
| 1849 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-06-25 |
| 1776 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-09 |
| 1741 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-02-01 |
| 3282 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2007-12-12 |
| 1711 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-07-02 |
| 1699 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-05-06 |
| 3236 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1600 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-08-23 |
| 1535 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-08-03 |
| 1462 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-05-06 |
Show 6 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1402 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2002-02-06 |
| 1254 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-10-14 |
| 1000 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-22 |
| 780 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-10-22 |
| 514 | SEVERE STORMS, HIGH WINDS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1976-07-13 |
| 378 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-05-02 |
Storm Events in Kansas
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Cherokee County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 8,265 | 0 | 9 | $24.2M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,987 | 3 | 34 | $30.6M |
| High Wind | 1,553 | 1 | 7 | $10.2M |
| Drought | 1,272 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 1,037 | 6 | 9 | $35.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
86
Total Paid
$1.6M
Avg Per Claim
$19.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 53.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$17.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Hurricane 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 Cherokee 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 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
Cherokee County's closest FEMA peer: Pierce County, WA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Cherokee County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Cherokee County shows 26 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Cherokee County: 22 of 26 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Cherokee County: NRI composite 53.7 (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 Cherokee County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Cherokee 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: 53.7 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 26. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Cherokee County's NFIP claims file (86 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 Cherokee County?
The most common disaster type in Cherokee County is Severe Storm, with 17 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Biological (2), Snowstorm (1).
How does Cherokee County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Kansas average?
FEMA lists 26 declaration records for Cherokee County. That is 45% above the Kansas county mean of 18.0. Its count is also 25% 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 Cherokee County received?
Cherokee County has received 22 major disaster declarations, representing 85% of all 26 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Cherokee County filed?
Cherokee County has 86 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.6M in payments, with an average of $19.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Cherokee County?
No. In Cherokee County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $7.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Cherokee County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Cherokee County was 2008, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1973 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Cherokee County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Cherokee County, Kansas has an overall risk score of 53.7 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $17.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Cherokee County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Cherokee County is Drought (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively High) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 20 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 602 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 Cherokee County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Kansas profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events