FEMA Records
24
Above median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Day County, SD
24 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 24
- FEMA declarations
- 21
- Major disasters
- 28
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Day County. Its 24 FEMA declarations are 26% above the South Dakota county mean and exceed the count for 66% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 28%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 28%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 24
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 256
- 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 Day County compare?
Day County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
24 Top 34% higher than 66% 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
Day County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the South Dakota county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Day County is led by Cold Wave (about $2.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Winter Weather carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate). 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 Day County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 256 paid claims, totaling $4.1M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $16.2K 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. Day County's 24 federal records stand 26% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. 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.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 24 entries for Day County, including 21 Major Disaster records, 26% above the South Dakota county mean. Across the 47-year span, that works out to 0.5 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 10 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 27.6/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $7.2M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively High social-vulnerability score and Very High community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Winter Weather carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 23 times per year here, based on 429 historical events on record.
70 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Day County, SD · 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
17/30
24 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
24 declarations (1.3x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
21 of 24 declarations are major disasters (88%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Day County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. South Dakota Avg
+26%
State avg: 19.0
vs. National Avg
+16%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.5
Over 47 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Day 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
88%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
28
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Day 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 23 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.9 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 904 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 14 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 2.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 4,717 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 0.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 33 times 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 10
Flood 9
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Day County's record, 42% 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 - 21 87.5%
of all 24 declarations
Emergency - 3 12.5%
of all 24 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
Show 4 earlier declaration years
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 24 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 24 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4718 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-07-06 |
| 4689 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Winter Storm | 2023-02-27 |
| 4656 | SEVERE STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2022-06-29 |
| 4527 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3475 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4469 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-11-18 |
| 4440 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-07 |
| 4298 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-02-01 |
| 1984 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-13 |
| 1915 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2010-05-13 |
| 1887 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-10 |
| 1844 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-06-16 |
| 1702 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-05-22 |
| 1620 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-12-20 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 1375 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Flood | 2001-05-17 |
| 1218 | FLOODING, SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES | DR | Flood | 1998-06-01 |
| 1173 | SEVERE FLOODING, SEVER WINTER STORMS,HEAVY RAINS HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1156 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-10 |
| 1052 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1995-05-26 |
Show 4 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1031 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-06-21 |
| 999 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-07-19 |
| 764 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-05-03 |
| 3015 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
Storm Events in South Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Day County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,388 | 7 | 21 | $10.7M |
| Hail | 4,801 | 0 | 3 | $4.5M |
| High Wind | 2,277 | 0 | 1 | $35.0K |
| Winter Weather | 2,125 | 20 | 50 | $133.0K |
| Flood | 1,523 | 5 | 0 | $196.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
256
Total Paid
$4.1M
Avg Per Claim
$16.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 27.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$7.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Drought Very Low
Lightning 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: Winter Weather
Winter Weather in the model means the accumulation of snow and cold that disrupts rather than destroys: road closures, roof loads, burst pipes and lost heating. Its costs land heavily on transport and on households least able to absorb an interruption.
Worth noting for Day County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather 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
Day County's closest FEMA peer: Eddy County, ND
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Day County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Day County shows 24 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Day County: 21 of 24 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Day County: NRI composite 27.6 (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 Day County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Day County's NFIP claims file (256 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Day County?
The most common disaster type in Day County is Severe Storm, with 10 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (9), Biological (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Day County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
FEMA lists 24 declaration records for Day County. That is 26% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. Its count is also 16% 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 Day County received?
Day County has received 21 major disaster declarations, representing 88% of all 24 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Day County filed?
Day County has 256 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.1M in payments, with an average of $16.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Day County?
No. In Day County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Day County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Day County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Day County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Day County, South Dakota has an overall risk score of 27.6 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively High, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $7.2M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Day County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Day County as of the latest release is Winter Weather (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate) and Wildfire (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 23 times per year, drawn from 429 historical events on record. 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 Day County
Day County, SD has 24 federal declaration records, 26% more than the South Dakota county mean of 19; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 21 of 24 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. South Dakota overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the South Dakota mean and the totals for 66% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- Use the data guide to separate this mid-volume insurance-claims file from declaration counts and modeled NRI risk. 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.