FEMA Records
29
High volume
North Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Davidson County, NC
29 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 29
- FEMA declarations
- 15
- Major disasters
- 87
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Davidson County. Its 29 FEMA declarations are 21% above the North Carolina county mean and exceed the count for 85% 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
- 29
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 103
- 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 37057 · Davidson County 29 declarations · rank 460/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 29
- MAJOR-MID 52%
- RANK-MID #460
- PHOTO-FINISH Bath
- NRI-MID 87
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +21%
Nearest declaration peer: Bath, KY (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · North Carolina state profile
Davidson County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Davidson County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bath · near 29
Bath · near
29 declarations
- Davidson · this county 29
Davidson · this county
29 declarations
- Lenoir · near 29
Lenoir · near
29 declarations
- Walthall · near 29
Walthall · near
29 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Davidson County carries 29 FEMA declaration records, ranked 460 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Davidson County ranks in the national declaration registry
Davidson County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Davidson County
29 Top 15% higher than 85% 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
Davidson County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Davidson County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $43.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Ice Storm carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very 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 Davidson County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 103 paid claims, totaling $1.7M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $16.6K 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. Davidson County's 29 federal records stand 21% above the North Carolina county mean of 24.0. 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 87.2/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $64.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Relatively Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Ice Storm stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 2.1 times per year here, based on 143 historical events on record.
69 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Davidson County, NC · 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
21/30
29 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
15/25
29 declarations (1.2x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
15 of 29 declarations are major disasters (52%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
9 different disaster types declared in Davidson County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Davidson 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
52%
Major-heavy
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 Davidson 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Storm | Very High | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.9 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 5 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 11 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.3 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 7.5 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 683 years |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.8 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 49 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 1.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 22 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 8,467 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 14
Snowstorm 4
Tropical Storm 2
Severe Storm 2
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Winter Storm 1
Tornado 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Davidson County's federal record, 48% of its declarations. Atlantic tropical systems run on a defined season, 1 June to 30 November, with most activity concentrated between August and October; Pacific and territorial basins run on their own calendars. A single named storm routinely produces one declaration number covering a long corridor of counties at once, well inland as well as on the coast, which is why an affected county's count can jump by several in one year without several separate events having occurred.
One practical distinction matters when reading these records: a tropical declaration usually bundles wind, storm surge and inland rainfall flooding under a single incident, but the insurance behind them is split. Wind damage falls to property insurers, while flood and surge damage is covered only under a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. That is why a county can show heavy declaration activity and a comparatively small NFIP claims record, or the reverse.
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 - 15 51.7%
of all 29 declarations
Emergency - 14 48.3%
of all 29 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 3 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1989 | 2 | |
| 1977 | 2 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 29 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 29 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3637 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 3617 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3608 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-06 |
| 3586 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-10-01 |
| 4588 | TROPICAL STORM ETA | DR | Severe Storm | 2021-03-03 |
| 3534 | HURRICANE ISAIAS | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-02 |
| 4487 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3471 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3423 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-03 |
| 4412 | TROPICAL STORM MICHAEL | DR | Hurricane | 2019-01-31 |
| 4393 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | DR | Hurricane | 2018-09-14 |
| 3401 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 3380 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | EM | Hurricane | 2016-10-07 |
| 4167 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-03-31 |
| 3222 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1553 | HURRICANE IVAN | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-18 |
| 1490 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-18 |
| 1448 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2002-12-12 |
| 1312 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-01-31 |
| 1292 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-16 |
Show 9 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3146 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-15 |
| 1134 | HURRICANE FRAN | DR | Hurricane | 1996-09-06 |
| 1103 | WINTER STORM | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-02-23 |
| 1087 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3110 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
| 844 | HURRICANE HUGO | DR | Hurricane | 1989-09-25 |
| 827 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1989-05-17 |
| 3049 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-08-11 |
| 3033 | DROUGHT & FREEZING | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-03-02 |
Storm Events in North Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Davidson County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,123 | 11 | 60 | $62.9M |
| Flash Flood | 1,881 | 105 | 6 | $2.3B |
| Hail | 1,623 | 0 | 0 | $122.5M |
| Winter Weather | 1,272 | 6 | 2 | $425.0K |
| Winter Storm | 743 | 7 | 0 | $10.7M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
103
Total Paid
$1.7M
Avg Per Claim
$16.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 87.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$64.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Very High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Relatively Low
Drought Relatively 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: Ice Storm
Ice storms load power lines and tree limbs with accumulating freezing rain until they fail. The characteristic cost is infrastructure and multi-day power loss across a wide area rather than structural damage to buildings, which is why their consequences often outlast the weather that caused them.
Worth noting for Davidson County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Ice Storm carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
Davidson County's closest FEMA peer: Spokane County, WA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Davidson County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Davidson County shows 29 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Davidson County: 15 of 29 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Davidson County: NRI composite 87.2 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Davidson County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Davidson 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: 87.2 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 29. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Davidson County's NFIP claims file (103 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 Davidson County?
The most common disaster type in Davidson County is Hurricane, with 14 declarations. Other disaster types include Snowstorm (4), Tropical Storm (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Davidson County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Carolina average?
FEMA lists 29 declaration records for Davidson County. That is 21% above the North Carolina county mean of 24.0. Its count is also 40% above 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 Davidson County received?
Davidson County has received 15 major disaster declarations, representing 52% of all 29 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Davidson County filed?
Davidson County has 103 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.7M in payments, with an average of $16.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Davidson County?
No. In Davidson County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $43.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Davidson County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Davidson County was 1996, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Davidson County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Davidson County, North Carolina has an overall risk score of 87.2 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $64.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Davidson County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Davidson County is Ice Storm (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at an average of 2.1 times per year, drawn from 143 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 Davidson County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · North Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events