FEMA Records
24
Above median
Arkansas · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Clark County, AR
24 FEMA disaster declarations (1973-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 24
- FEMA declarations
- 18
- Major disasters
- 41
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Clark County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 24 declarations, more than 66% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 1% below the Arkansas county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 41%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 41%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 24
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 32
- 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 05019 · Clark County 24 declarations · rank 951/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 24
- MAJOR-MID 75%
- RANK-LOWER #951
- PHOTO-FINISH Eddy
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -1%
Nearest declaration peer: Eddy, ND (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Arkansas state profile
Clark County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Clark County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Clark · this county 24
Clark · this county
24 declarations
- Deuel · near 24
Deuel · near
24 declarations
- Eddy · near 24
Eddy · near
24 declarations
- Wichita · near 24
Wichita · near
24 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Clark County carries 24 FEMA declaration records, ranked 951 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Clark County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Clark County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Clark County
24 Top 34% higher than 66% 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
Clark County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Clark County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $3.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Lightning 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 Clark County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 41.1/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $10.2M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively High) and community resilience (Relatively Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Lightning stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 65 times per year here, based on 112,774 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 32 claims and $891.0K 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 Arkansas county averages 24.2 federal declaration records, while Clark County has 24. The gap is 1% 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.
66 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Clark County, AR · 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
17/30
24 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
24 declarations (1.0x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
18 of 24 declarations are major disasters (75%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Clark County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Clark 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
75%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
41
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Clark 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 65 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 360 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.8 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 18 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.5 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 31 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 19 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 3.9 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 3.4 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,358 years |
| Cold Wave | 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
Severe Storm 11
Flood 3
Hurricane 3
Severe Ice Storm 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Tornado 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Clark County's record, 46% 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 - 18 75.0%
of all 24 declarations
Emergency - 6 25.0%
of all 24 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 3 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1992 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
Show 2 earlier declaration years
| 1989 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 24 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 24 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3636 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4873 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2025-05-21 |
| 3627 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-04-05 |
| 3541 | HURRICANE LAURA | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-27 |
| 4518 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-03 |
| 3461 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4226 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-06-26 |
| 4100 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2013-01-29 |
| 1975 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND ASSOCIATED FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-05-02 |
| 1872 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-04 |
| 1845 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-06-16 |
| 1804 | TROPICAL STORM IKE | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-10-22 |
| 1793 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING ASSOCIATED WITH HURRICANE GUSTAV | DR | Hurricane | 2008-09-18 |
| 1751 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-03-26 |
| 3215 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-02 |
| 1528 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-06-30 |
| 1363 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-03-13 |
| 1354 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2000-12-29 |
| 3159 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2000-12-28 |
| 1162 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-03-02 |
Show 4 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 950 | SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1992-07-24 |
| 865 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1990-05-15 |
| 817 | SEVERE STORMS & TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1988-11-23 |
| 375 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-04-27 |
Storm Events in Arkansas
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Clark County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,657 | 10 | 23 | $60.9M |
| Hail | 2,230 | 0 | 0 | $7.7M |
| Flash Flood | 1,517 | 12 | 3 | $15.9M |
| Heat | 1,222 | 2 | 325 | $0 |
| Flood | 1,152 | 9 | 0 | $40.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
32
Total Paid
$891.0K
Avg Per Claim
$27.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 41.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Lightning Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Drought Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Cold Wave 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: Lightning
Lightning is modeled as a high-frequency, low-per-event hazard: strike counts are large, but each strike affects a very small area. Its aggregate cost accumulates through structure fires, electrical and electronic damage, and it is one of the few hazards whose risk is essentially continuous through the season rather than episodic.
For Clark County the two measures on this page point the same way: Lightning is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively High), and Severe Storm 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
Clark County's closest FEMA peer: Windham County, VT
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Clark County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Clark County shows 24 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Clark County: 18 of 24 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Clark County: NRI composite 41.1 (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 Clark County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Clark 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: 41.1 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 24. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 24 FEMA declarations, Clark 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 Clark County?
The most common disaster type in Clark County is Severe Storm, with 11 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (3), Hurricane (3), Severe Ice Storm (3).
How does Clark County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Arkansas average?
The typical Arkansas county has 24.2 FEMA declaration records; Clark County has 24, or 1% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 16% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Clark County received?
Clark County has received 18 major disaster declarations, representing 75% of all 24 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Clark County filed?
Clark County has 32 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $891.0K in payments, with an average of $27.8K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Clark County?
No. In Clark County, Lightning has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $3.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Clark County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Clark County was 2001, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1973 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Clark County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Clark County, Arkansas has an overall risk score of 41.1 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively High and community resilience is Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.2M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Clark County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Clark County is Lightning (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively High) and Earthquake (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts lightning here at an average of 65 times per year, drawn from 112,774 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 Clark County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Arkansas profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events