FEMA Records
11
Low volume
Illinois · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
De Witt County, IL
11 FEMA disaster declarations (1968-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Biological.
- 11
- FEMA declarations
- 7
- Major disasters
- 29
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Biological
- Top hazard
The verdict
De Witt County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 11 declarations, more than 12% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 14% below the Illinois county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 29%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 29%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 11
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 59
- 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 17039 · De Witt County 11 declarations · rank 2859/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 11
- MAJOR-MID 64%
- RANK-LOWER #2,859
- PHOTO-FINISH Meeker
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Biological
- VS-ST-BELOW -14%
Nearest declaration peer: Meeker, MN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Illinois state profile
De Witt County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among De Witt County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Davis · near 11
Davis · near
11 declarations
- De Witt · this county 11
De Witt · this county
11 declarations
- Meeker · near 11
Meeker · near
11 declarations
- Wasatch · near 11
Wasatch · near
11 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows De Witt County carries 11 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2859 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
De Witt County versus quieter counties in this dataset
De Witt County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · De Witt County
11 12th percentile higher than 12% 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
De Witt County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for De Witt County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $3.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Drought 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 De Witt County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 59 paid claims, totaling $377.1K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $6.4K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Illinois county averages 12.9 federal declaration records, while De Witt County has 11. The gap is 14% below that mean. Fewer entries indicate a quieter history of recorded federal actions, not immunity from a hazard and not a prediction about what happens next.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 29.3/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $9.5M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability score and Very High community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Drought carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 3.3 modeled event-days per year here, based on 91 historical events on record.
53 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
De Witt County, IL · 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
8/30
11 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
11 declarations (0.9x state county average of 13)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
7 of 11 declarations are major disasters (64%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in De Witt County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - De Witt 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
64%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
29
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike De Witt 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 3.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.2 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 454 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 6.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 12 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 5.1 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.2 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 9.4 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 47 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 20,724 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 2
Biological 2
Tornado 2
Snowstorm 2
Severe Ice Storm 1
Hurricane 1
Flood 1
What Biological declarations mean here
Biological is the most frequent declaration type on De Witt County's record, 18% 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 De Witt 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 63.6%
of all 11 declarations
Emergency - 4 36.4%
of all 11 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1968 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 11 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 11 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4728 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-08-15 |
| 4489 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-26 |
| 3435 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1681 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-02-09 |
| 3230 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1416 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2002-05-21 |
| 3161 | ILLINOIS WINTER SNOW STORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-01-17 |
| 3134 | IL-WINTER STORM 1/1/99 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-08 |
| 1025 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-04-26 |
| 583 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-04-30 |
| 242 | TORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1968-06-05 |
Storm Events in Illinois
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to De Witt County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,218 | 9 | 67 | $46.0M |
| Hail | 3,195 | 0 | 0 | $27.1M |
| Winter Weather | 1,363 | 14 | 49 | $1.8M |
| Flood | 1,221 | 14 | 11 | $84.3M |
| Flash Flood | 1,133 | 11 | 3 | $1.1B |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
59
Total Paid
$377.1K
Avg Per Claim
$6.4K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 29.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$9.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Hurricane Very 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: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for De Witt County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
De Witt County's closest FEMA peer: Jefferson County, MT
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for De Witt County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
De Witt County shows 11 FEMA declarations, led by Biological.
Similar Major-disaster share
De Witt County: 7 of 11 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
De Witt County: NRI composite 29.3 (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 De Witt County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for De Witt 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: 29.3 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 11. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
De Witt County's NFIP claims file (59 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 De Witt County?
The most common disaster type in De Witt County is Biological, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (2), Tornado (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does De Witt County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Illinois average?
The typical Illinois county has 12.9 FEMA declaration records; De Witt County has 11, or 14% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 47% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has De Witt County received?
De Witt County has received 7 major disaster declarations, representing 64% of all 11 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has De Witt County filed?
De Witt County has 59 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $377.1K in payments, with an average of $6.4K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in De Witt County?
No. In De Witt County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $3.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in De Witt County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in De Witt County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1968 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for De Witt County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, De Witt County, Illinois has an overall risk score of 29.3 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $9.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to De Witt County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for De Witt County as of the latest release is Drought (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate) and Earthquake (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 3.3 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 91 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for De Witt County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Illinois profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events