FEMA Records
12
Low volume
Colorado · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Crowley County, CO
12 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Biological.
- 12
- FEMA declarations
- 7
- Major disasters
- 4
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Biological
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Crowley County. Its 12 FEMA declarations are 18% above the Colorado county mean and exceed the count for 14% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 4%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 4%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 12
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 1
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
How does Crowley County compare?
Crowley County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
12 14th percentile higher than 14% 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
Crowley County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Colorado county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Crowley County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $758.6K Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Wildfire carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very 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 Crowley County's hazard record show?
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 12 entries for Crowley County, including 7 Major Disaster records, 18% above the Colorado county mean. Across the 55-year span, that works out to 0.2 declarations a year. Biological leads the file with 2 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits at the very bottom of FEMA's National Risk Index nationally, a composite score of 3.9/100 (rated Very Low). Projected losses are minimal, Expected Annual Loss reads Very Low (roughly $2.3M in annualized losses), and the county's exposure is shaped by a Relatively High social-vulnerability profile and Very Low community resilience. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Wildfire, only reaches Very 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 953 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 1 claim and $0 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.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Crowley County's 12 federal records stand 18% above the Colorado county mean of 10.2. 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.
59 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Crowley County, CO · 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) Moderate
9/30
12 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
15/25
12 declarations (1.2x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
7 of 12 declarations are major disasters (58%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Crowley County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Colorado Avg
+18%
State avg: 10.2
vs. National Avg
-42%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.2
Over 55 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Crowley 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
58%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
4
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Crowley 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 953 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.8 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 46 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 6.6 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 104 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,721 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 12 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
Fire 2
Severe Storm 2
Snowstorm 1
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
Tornado 1
What Biological declarations mean here
Biological is the most frequent declaration type on Crowley County's record, 17% of its declarations. In practice this category is dominated by the COVID-19 declarations of 2020, which were issued across every US state and territory rather than in response to any local hazard event.
This has a direct consequence for how Crowley County's number should be read. Because those declarations reached essentially every county in the country, they raise every county's total by a similar amount and tell you nothing about local hazard exposure. A county whose record is led by Biological declarations is, in most cases, a county with a genuinely quiet weather-hazard history, the pandemic records are simply the largest thing in an otherwise short list.
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 58.3%
of all 12 declarations
Emergency - 4 33.3%
of all 12 declarations
Fire Management - 1 8.3%
of all 12 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 12 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 12 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4498 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3436 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4145 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-09-14 |
| 2760 | ORDWAY FIRE | FM | Fire | 2008-04-15 |
| 3271 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-01-07 |
| 3224 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-05 |
| 1421 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2002-06-19 |
| 1374 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-05-17 |
| 1276 | CO-FLOODING 4/30/99 | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-05-17 |
| 1186 | SEVERE STORMS, HEAVY RAIN, FLASH FLOODS, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 1997-08-01 |
| 3025 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-01-29 |
| 200 | TORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1965-06-19 |
Storm Events in Colorado
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Crowley County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 4,913 | 0 | 100 | $2.9B |
| Winter Weather | 2,620 | 3 | 23 | $22.5K |
| High Wind | 1,992 | 5 | 6 | $20.9M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,741 | 2 | 11 | $5.4M |
| Winter Storm | 1,497 | 0 | 0 | $848.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
1
Total Paid
$0
Avg Per Claim
$0
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 3.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$2.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Ice Storm Very 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: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
Worth noting for Crowley County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Wildfire carries the highest modeled rating (Very Low), while the county's declaration history is led by Biological. 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
Crowley County's closest FEMA peer: Sanilac County, MI
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Crowley County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Crowley County shows 12 FEMA declarations, led by Biological.
Similar Major-disaster share
Crowley County: 7 of 12 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Crowley County: NRI composite 3.9 (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 Crowley County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 12 FEMA declarations, Crowley 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Crowley County?
The most common disaster type in Crowley County is Biological, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (2), Fire (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Crowley County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Colorado average?
FEMA lists 12 declaration records for Crowley County. That is 18% above the Colorado county mean of 10.2. Its count is also 42% below 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 Crowley County received?
Crowley County has received 7 major disaster declarations, representing 58% of all 12 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Crowley County filed?
Crowley County has 1 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $0 in payments, with an average of $0 per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Crowley County?
No. In Crowley County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $758.6K. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Crowley County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Crowley County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Crowley County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Crowley County, Colorado has an overall risk score of 3.9 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively High; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $2.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Crowley County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Crowley County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Very Low). Other significant hazards include Hail (Relatively Low) and Lightning (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 953 years. 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.
What this means for Crowley County
Crowley County, CO has 12 federal declaration records, 18% more than the Colorado county mean of 10; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 7 of 12 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Colorado overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Colorado mean and the totals for 14% of 3,266 U.S. counties. 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
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
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.