FEMA Records
22
Above median
Oklahoma · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Choctaw County, OK
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1968-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 50
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Choctaw County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 22 declarations, more than 57% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 32% below the Oklahoma county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 50%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 50%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 6
- 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 40023 · Choctaw County 22 declarations · rank 1251/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-MID 64%
- RANK-LOWER #1,251
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-LOW 50
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -32%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Oklahoma state profile
Choctaw County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Choctaw County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Choctaw · this county 22
Choctaw · this county
22 declarations
- Hardy · near 22
Hardy · near
22 declarations
- Prairie · near 22
Prairie · near
22 declarations
- St. Francis · near 22
St. Francis · near
22 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Choctaw County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1251 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Choctaw County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Choctaw County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Choctaw County
22 Top 43% higher than 57% 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
Choctaw County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Choctaw County is led by Tornado (about $2.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very 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 Choctaw County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 49.9/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $9.2M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Very Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. 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 42 modeled event-days per year here, based on 1,330 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 6 claims and $236.5K 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 Oklahoma county averages 32.2 federal declaration records, while Choctaw County has 22. The gap is 32% 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.
56 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Choctaw County, OK · 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
16/30
22 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
22 declarations (0.7x state county average of 32)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
14 of 22 declarations are major disasters (64%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Choctaw County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Choctaw 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
64%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
50
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Choctaw 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 | 42 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 23 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 5 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 432 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 679 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 95 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 5 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.9 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 60 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 10
Severe Ice Storm 6
Biological 2
Flood 2
Fire 1
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Choctaw County's record, 45% 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 - 14 63.6%
of all 22 declarations
Emergency - 8 36.4%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 2 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 3 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1968 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 22 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 22 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4721 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-07-19 |
| 4587 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-24 |
| 3555 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-17 |
| 4530 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3462 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4222 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-05-26 |
| 4164 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-01-30 |
| 3316 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2011-02-02 |
| 3308 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2010-01-30 |
| 1775 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-09 |
| 3280 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-12-10 |
| 1712 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-07-07 |
| 3272 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-01-14 |
| 1623 | EXTREME WILDFIRE THREAT | DR | Fire | 2006-01-10 |
| 3219 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1384 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-06-29 |
| 1355 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2001-01-05 |
| 3158 | SEVERE WINTER AND ICE STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2000-12-28 |
| 866 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-05-18 |
| 392 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, & TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1973-06-13 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 317 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-01-14 |
| 241 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1968-05-29 |
Storm Events in Oklahoma
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Choctaw County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 5,894 | 0 | 1 | $19.8M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,592 | 6 | 36 | $199.5M |
| Drought | 2,935 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 2,134 | 7 | 428 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 1,771 | 2 | 401 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
6
Total Paid
$236.5K
Avg Per Claim
$39.4K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 49.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$9.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Landslide 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 Choctaw 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
Choctaw County's closest FEMA peer: Amelia County, VA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Choctaw County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Choctaw County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Choctaw County: 14 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Choctaw County: NRI composite 49.9 (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 Choctaw County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Choctaw 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: 49.9 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 22. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 22 FEMA declarations, Choctaw 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 Choctaw County?
The most common disaster type in Choctaw County is Severe Storm, with 10 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Ice Storm (6), Biological (2), Flood (2).
How does Choctaw County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Oklahoma average?
The typical Oklahoma county has 32.2 FEMA declaration records; Choctaw County has 22, or 32% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 6% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Choctaw County received?
Choctaw County has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 64% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Choctaw County filed?
Choctaw County has 6 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $236.5K in payments, with an average of $39.4K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Choctaw County?
No. In Choctaw County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Tornado leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Choctaw County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Choctaw County was 2001, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1968 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Choctaw County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Choctaw County, Oklahoma has an overall risk score of 49.9 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $9.2M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Choctaw County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Choctaw County is Drought (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively High) and Heat Wave (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 42 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 1,330 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 Choctaw County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Oklahoma profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events