FEMA Records
9
Low volume
Illinois · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Crawford County, IL
9 FEMA disaster declarations (1985-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 9
- FEMA declarations
- 7
- Major disasters
- 37
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Crawford County: 9 FEMA declaration records are 30% below the Illinois county mean, even though the count is higher than 8% 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 safer than 37%.
- Safer than 37%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 9
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 26
- 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.
How does Crawford County compare?
Crawford County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
9 8th percentile higher than 8% 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 · 2026-08-03
Crawford County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Illinois county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Crawford County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $6.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Earthquake carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low). 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 Crawford County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 37.0/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $14.2M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very Low) and community resilience (Relatively High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Earthquake, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 195 years here.
Declaration frequency
The state comparison is the clearest context for Crawford County's moderate federal record. Its 9 declarations sit 30% below the Illinois county mean, with 7 Major Disaster entries among them. 2 records concern Flood, the file's most frequent incident type. Spread across 35 years, the registry rate is 0.3 per year. FEMA reports authorized programs separately from the DR, EM, and FM codes.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 26 claims and $537.7K 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 Illinois county averages 12.9 federal declaration records, while Crawford County has 9. The gap is 30% 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.
50 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Crawford County, IL · 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
7/30
9 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
9 declarations (0.7x state county average of 13)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
7 of 9 declarations are major disasters (78%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Crawford County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
Moderate
vs. Illinois Avg
-30%
State avg: 12.9
vs. National Avg
-57%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.3
Over 35 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Crawford 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
78%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
37
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Crawford 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 Low | roughly once every 195 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 3.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 7.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.9 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 6.7 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.7 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 4.2 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 81 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 50 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 61,448 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 2
Severe Storm 2
Snowstorm 1
Hurricane 1
Tornado 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Crawford County's record, 22% 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 - 7 77.8%
of all 9 declarations
Emergency - 2 22.2%
of all 9 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 9 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 9 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4489 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-26 |
| 3435 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4116 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2013-05-10 |
| 1960 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2011-03-17 |
| 1771 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-24 |
| 3230 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1416 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2002-05-21 |
| 1112 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-05-06 |
| 735 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1985-03-29 |
Storm Events in Illinois
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Crawford County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,218 | 9 | 67 | $46.0M |
| Hail | 3,195 | 0 | 0 | $27.1M |
| Winter Weather | 1,363 | 14 | 49 | $1.8M |
| Flood | 1,221 | 14 | 11 | $84.3M |
| Flash Flood | 1,133 | 11 | 3 | $1.1B |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
26
Total Paid
$537.7K
Avg Per Claim
$20.7K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 37.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$14.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Wildfire 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: 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 Crawford County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), 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
Crawford County's closest FEMA peer: Box Butte County, NE
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Crawford County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Crawford County shows 9 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Crawford County: 7 of 9 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Crawford County: NRI composite 37.0 (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 Crawford County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Earthquake as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively Low); 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Crawford County?
The most common disaster type in Crawford County is Flood, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Severe Storm (2), Snowstorm (1).
How does Crawford County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Illinois average?
The typical Illinois county has 12.9 FEMA declaration records; Crawford County has 9, or 30% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 57% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Crawford County received?
Crawford County has received 7 major disaster declarations, representing 78% of all 9 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Crawford County filed?
Crawford County has 26 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $537.7K in payments, with an average of $20.7K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Crawford County?
No. In Crawford County, Earthquake has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $6.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Crawford County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Crawford County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1985 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Crawford County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Crawford County, Illinois has an overall risk score of 37.0 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very Low and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $14.2M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Crawford County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Crawford County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively Moderate) and Heat Wave (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 195 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.
What this means for Crawford County
Against a Illinois county mean of 13 declarations, Crawford County, IL records 9, or 30% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as moderate activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (7 of 9) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Illinois overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 8% of recorded county totals, but its own Illinois benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- A short NFIP claims file cannot establish low flood exposure; the data guide explains the limits of each federal measure. Disaster-data guide
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.