FEMA Records
21
Above median
California · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Contra Costa County, CA
21 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very High. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 21
- FEMA declarations
- 16
- Major disasters
- 99
- NRI risk · Very High
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Contra Costa County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 21 declarations, more than 52% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 26% below the California county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 1%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 1%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 21
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 1,202
- 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 06013 · Contra Costa County 21 declarations · rank 1411/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 21
- MAJOR-MID 76%
- RANK-LOWER #1,411
- PHOTO-FINISH Montgomery
- NRI-HIGH Very High
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -26%
Nearest declaration peer: Montgomery, IN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · California state profile
Contra Costa County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Contra Costa County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Atascosa · near 21
Atascosa · near
21 declarations
- Contra Costa · this county 21
Contra Costa · this county
21 declarations
- Mason · near 21
Mason · near
21 declarations
- Montgomery · near 21
Montgomery · near
21 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Contra Costa County carries 21 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1411 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Contra Costa County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Contra Costa County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Contra Costa County
21 Top 48% higher than 52% 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
Contra Costa County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Contra Costa County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 1,202 claims and $12.9M 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 $10.7K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
Start with the state benchmark: a California county averages 28.5 federal declaration records, while Contra Costa County has 21. The gap is 26% 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 99.5/100 (Very High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $970.5M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Earthquake stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 8 years here.
61 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Contra Costa County, CA · 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
15/30
21 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
21 declarations (0.7x state county average of 29)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
16 of 21 declarations are major disasters (76%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Contra Costa County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Contra Costa 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
76%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
99
Very High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Contra Costa 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively High | roughly once every 8 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very High | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively High | an average of 20 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively High | 8.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 210 years |
| Drought | Relatively High | 56 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 4.5 times per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 3,333 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 10 years |
| Tsunami | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 25 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 23 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Avalanche | 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
Flood 8
Severe Storm 6
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 2
Hurricane 1
Earthquake 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Contra Costa County's record, 38% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
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 - 16 76.2%
of all 21 declarations
Emergency - 5 23.8%
of all 21 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 3 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 1 | |
| 1982 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 21 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 21 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4683 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2023-01-14 |
| 3591 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2023-01-09 |
| 4482 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-22 |
| 3428 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4308 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2017-04-01 |
| 4305 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2017-03-16 |
| 4301 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-02-14 |
| 1628 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-02-03 |
| 3248 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1203 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-02-09 |
| 1155 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-04 |
| 1046 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING LANDSLIDES, MUD FLOW | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-03-12 |
| 1044 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, MUD FLOWS | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-01-10 |
| 979 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, MUD & LAND SLIDES, & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-02-03 |
| 845 | LOMA PRIETA EARTHQUAKE | DR | Earthquake | 1989-10-18 |
| 758 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-02-21 |
| 677 | COASTAL STORMS, FLOODS, SLIDES & TORNADOES | DR | Coastal Storm | 1983-02-09 |
| 651 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOOD, MUDSLIDES & HIGH TIDE | DR | Flood | 1982-01-07 |
| 3078 | TORRENTIAL RAIN, HIGH TIDE & WINDS | EM | Coastal Storm | 1980-02-01 |
| 3023 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-01-20 |
Show 1 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 253 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-01-26 |
Storm Events in California
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Contra Costa County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 4,070 | 13 | 27 | $228.2M |
| Flood | 3,132 | 26 | 25 | $985.1M |
| Heavy Snow | 1,814 | 6 | 0 | $1.6M |
| Dense Fog | 1,605 | 52 | 148 | $2.8M |
| Drought | 1,421 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
1,202
Total Paid
$12.9M
Avg Per Claim
$10.7K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very High
Score: 99.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$970.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Very High
Landslide Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively High
Lightning Relatively High
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Coastal Flooding Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Tsunami Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Avalanche Very Low
Cold Wave 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: Earthquake
Earthquake is the model's clearest example of a hazard with no season and no warning. Its expected loss is driven less by how often shaking occurs than by how much of the building stock predates modern seismic codes, so exposure can be high in places where nothing has happened for a long time.
Worth noting for Contra Costa County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. 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
Contra Costa County's closest FEMA peer: Meade County, SD
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Contra Costa County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Contra Costa County shows 21 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Contra Costa County: 16 of 21 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Contra Costa County: NRI composite 99.5 (Very 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 Contra Costa County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Contra Costa 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: 99.5 (Very High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 21. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Contra Costa County's NFIP claims file (1,202 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 Contra Costa County?
The most common disaster type in Contra Costa County is Flood, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (6), Biological (2), Coastal Storm (2).
How does Contra Costa County's FEMA declaration record compare with the California average?
The typical California county has 28.5 FEMA declaration records; Contra Costa County has 21, or 26% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 1% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Contra Costa County received?
Contra Costa County has received 16 major disaster declarations, representing 76% of all 21 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Contra Costa County filed?
Contra Costa County has 1,202 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $12.9M in payments, with an average of $10.7K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Contra Costa County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Contra Costa County was 2017, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Contra Costa County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Contra Costa County, California has an overall risk score of 99.5 out of 100 (Very High). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Low and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $970.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Contra Costa County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Contra Costa County is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Very High) and Landslide (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 8 years. 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 Contra Costa County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · California profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events