FEMA Records
28
High volume
Tennessee · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Davidson County, TN
28 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 28
- FEMA declarations
- 23
- Major disasters
- 97
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Davidson County. Its 28 FEMA declarations are 31% above the Tennessee county mean and exceed the count for 81% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 3%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 3%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 28
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 4,775
- 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 47037 · Davidson County 28 declarations · rank 510/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 28
- MAJOR-HEAVY 82%
- RANK-MID #510
- PHOTO-FINISH Loíza
- NRI-HIGH 97
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +31%
Nearest declaration peer: Loíza, PR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Tennessee 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
- Davidson · this county 28
Davidson · this county
28 declarations
- Hertford · near 28
Hertford · near
28 declarations
- Loíza · near 28
Loíza · near
28 declarations
- Maunabo · near 28
Maunabo · near
28 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Davidson County carries 28 FEMA declaration records, ranked 510 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
28 Top 19% higher than 81% 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 $160.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Earthquake carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 4,775 claims and $186.2M 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 $39.0K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Davidson County's 28 federal records stand 31% above the Tennessee county mean of 21.4. 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 97.2/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $262.4M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Relatively Moderate, 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 320 years here.
77 /100
Historical Activity Index
Very High historical activity
Davidson County, TN · 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
20/30
28 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
28 declarations (1.3x state county average of 21)
Major Disaster Share Very High
21/25
23 of 28 declarations are major disasters (82%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 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
82%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
97
Relatively High
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively High | roughly once every 320 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 3.8 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 6 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 4.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.3 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.5 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 53,392 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 59 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 76 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 5.1 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 14
Tornado 5
Winter Storm 3
Biological 2
Other 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
Hurricane 1
Flood 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Davidson County's record, 50% 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 - 23 82.1%
of all 28 declarations
Emergency - 5 17.9%
of all 28 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 | |
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 4 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
Show 6 earlier declaration years
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 28 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 28 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4898 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Winter Storm | 2026-02-06 |
| 3635 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4878 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-06-19 |
| 3625 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-04-02 |
| 4751 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-12-13 |
| 4712 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADO | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-05-17 |
| 4691 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Winter Storm | 2023-03-08 |
| 4637 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2022-01-14 |
| 4601 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2021-05-08 |
| 3552 | EXPLOSION | EM | Other | 2021-01-05 |
| 4550 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2020-07-09 |
| 4514 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-02 |
| 3473 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4476 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2020-03-05 |
| 4211 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2015-04-02 |
| 1978 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-05-09 |
| 1909 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-05-04 |
| 1634 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-04-05 |
| 3217 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1464 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-05-08 |
Show 8 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1331 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-06-12 |
| 1275 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-05-12 |
| 1215 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-04-20 |
| 1167 | HEAVY RAINS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, HAIL, HIGH WINDS | DR | Tornado | 1997-03-07 |
| 1010 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM,FLASH FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-02-28 |
| 585 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1979-05-07 |
| 459 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-03-22 |
| 424 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1974-04-04 |
Storm Events in Tennessee
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Davidson County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,558 | 22 | 58 | $107.0M |
| Hail | 1,690 | 0 | 0 | $545.5K |
| Heat | 1,343 | 9 | 15 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 1,264 | 55 | 3 | $334.4M |
| Winter Weather | 1,088 | 5 | 0 | $261.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
4,775
Total Paid
$186.2M
Avg Per Claim
$39.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 97.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$262.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Tornado Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively High
Hail Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Drought 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 Davidson 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 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
Davidson County's closest FEMA peer: Ward County, ND
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 28 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Davidson County: 23 of 28 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Davidson County: NRI composite 97.2 (Relatively 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 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: 97.2 (Relatively High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 28. 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 (4,775 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 Severe Storm, with 14 declarations. Other disaster types include Tornado (5), Winter Storm (3), Biological (2).
How does Davidson County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Tennessee average?
FEMA lists 28 declaration records for Davidson County. That is 31% above the Tennessee county mean of 21.4. Its count is also 35% 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 23 major disaster declarations, representing 82% of all 28 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Davidson County filed?
Davidson County has 4,775 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $186.2M in payments, with an average of $39.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Davidson County?
No. In Davidson County, Earthquake has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $160.3M. 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 2020, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Davidson County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Davidson County, Tennessee has an overall risk score of 97.2 out of 100 (Relatively High). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $262.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Davidson County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Davidson County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively High) and Tornado (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 320 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 Davidson County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Tennessee profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events