FEMA Records
17
Below median
Oregon · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Curry County, OR
17 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 17
- FEMA declarations
- 13
- Major disasters
- 87
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Curry County. Its 17 FEMA declarations are 2% above the Oregon county mean and exceed the count for 32% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 13%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 13%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 17
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 88
- 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 41015 · Curry County 17 declarations · rank 2071/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 17
- MAJOR-MID 76%
- RANK-LOWER #2,071
- PHOTO-FINISH Murray
- NRI-MID 87
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +2%
Nearest declaration peer: Murray, MN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Oregon state profile
Curry County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Curry County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Benton · near 17
Benton · near
17 declarations
- Curry · this county 17
Curry · this county
17 declarations
- Murray · near 17
Murray · near
17 declarations
- Washington · near 17
Washington · near
17 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Curry County carries 17 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2071 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Curry County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Curry County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Curry County
17 32nd percentile higher than 32% 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
Curry County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Curry County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 88 paid claims, totaling $1.3M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $15.2K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Curry County's 17 federal records stand 2% above the Oregon county mean of 16.6. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 86.5/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $44.0M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very High and community resilience Relatively Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Earthquake carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 44 years here.
62 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Curry County, OR · 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
12/30
17 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.8x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
13/25
17 declarations (1.0x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
13 of 17 declarations are major disasters (76%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Curry County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Curry 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
87
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Curry 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 Moderate | roughly once every 44 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 255 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.4 times per year |
| Tsunami | Relatively High | roughly once every 7 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 3.6 times per year |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 5.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 20 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 6.2 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 14 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 35 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 49 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 26 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 6
Flood 4
Biological 2
Fire 2
Tsunami 1
Coastal Storm 1
Fishing Losses 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Curry County's record, 35% 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 - 13 76.5%
of all 17 declarations
Emergency - 2 11.8%
of all 17 declarations
Fire Management - 2 11.8%
of all 17 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 17 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 17 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4881 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-07-22 |
| 4499 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3429 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4452 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2019-07-09 |
| 4432 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-05-02 |
| 5198 | CHETCO BAR FIRE | FM | Fire | 2017-08-20 |
| 4258 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-02-17 |
| 4055 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2012-03-02 |
| 1964 | TSUNAMI WAVE SURGE | DR | Tsunami | 2011-03-25 |
| 1733 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-12-08 |
| 1632 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-03-20 |
| 3228 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-07 |
| 2453 | OR - BISCUIT FIRE - 07/28/02 | FM | Fire | 2002-07-28 |
| 1405 | SEVERE WINTER STORM WITH HIGH WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2002-03-12 |
| 1036 | THE EL NINO (THE SALMON INDUSTRY) | DR | Fishing Losses | 1994-08-02 |
| 413 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-01-25 |
| 184 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1964-12-24 |
Storm Events in Oregon
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Curry County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 859 | 13 | 10 | $3.2B |
| Heavy Snow | 654 | 2 | 0 | $139.2M |
| Frost/Freeze | 391 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Wildfire | 311 | 15 | 38 | $15.1M |
| Flood | 244 | 3 | 1 | $68.4M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
88
Total Paid
$1.3M
Avg Per Claim
$15.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 86.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$44.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Tsunami Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Hail 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 Curry County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Curry County's closest FEMA peer: Jim Wells County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Curry County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Curry County: NRI composite 86.5 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar Major-disaster share
Curry County: 13 of 17 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Curry County shows 17 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
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 Curry County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Curry 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: 86.5 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 17. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Curry County's NFIP claims file (88 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 Curry County?
The most common disaster type in Curry County is Severe Storm, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Biological (2), Fire (2).
How does Curry County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Oregon average?
FEMA lists 17 declaration records for Curry County. That is 2% above the Oregon county mean of 16.6. Its count is also 18% 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 Curry County received?
Curry County has received 13 major disaster declarations, representing 76% of all 17 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Curry County filed?
Curry County has 88 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.3M in payments, with an average of $15.2K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Curry County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Curry County was 2002, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Curry County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Curry County, Oregon has an overall risk score of 86.5 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $44.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Curry County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Curry County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Wildfire (Relatively Moderate) and Landslide (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 44 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 Curry County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Oregon profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events