FEMA Records
14
Low volume
Indiana · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Decatur County, IN
14 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 14
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 23
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Decatur County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 14 declarations, more than 20% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 18% below the Indiana county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 23%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 23%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 14
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 29
- 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 18031 · Decatur County 14 declarations · rank 2505/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 14
- MAJOR-MID 71%
- RANK-LOWER #2,505
- PHOTO-FINISH Pulaski
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -18%
Nearest declaration peer: Pulaski, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Indiana state profile
Decatur County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Decatur County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Decatur · this county 14
Decatur · this county
14 declarations
- Franklin (city) · near 14
Franklin (city) · near
14 declarations
- Harris · near 14
Harris · near
14 declarations
- Pulaski · near 14
Pulaski · near
14 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Decatur County carries 14 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2505 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Decatur County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Decatur County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Decatur County
14 20th percentile higher than 20% 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
Decatur County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Decatur County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $6.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Lightning 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 Decatur County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 23.1/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $12.2M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Very Low social-vulnerability score and Relatively High community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Lightning carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 49 times per year here, based on 70,697 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 29 claims and $830.7K paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
Start with the state benchmark: a Indiana county averages 17.1 federal declaration records, while Decatur County has 14. The gap is 18% 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.
56 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Decatur County, IN · 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
10/30
14 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
10/25
14 declarations (0.8x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
10 of 14 declarations are major disasters (71%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Decatur County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Decatur 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
71%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
23
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Decatur 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 49 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 459 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 8 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 4.5 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 1.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.4 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 4.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 131 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 8.6 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 12,522 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 5
Flood 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Hurricane 1
Snowstorm 1
Tornado 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Decatur County's record, 36% 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 - 10 71.4%
of all 14 declarations
Emergency - 4 28.6%
of all 14 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 14 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 14 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3641 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4882 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2025-07-22 |
| 4515 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-03 |
| 3456 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1795 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-09-23 |
| 1766 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-08 |
| 3238 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1573 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-01-21 |
| 3197 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-01-11 |
| 1520 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-06-03 |
| 1433 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2002-09-25 |
| 1109 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Flood | 1996-04-02 |
| 891 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1991-01-05 |
| 423 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1974-04-04 |
Storm Events in Indiana
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Decatur County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,886 | 16 | 73 | $57.6M |
| Hail | 1,643 | 0 | 0 | $1.7M |
| Winter Weather | 1,166 | 32 | 80 | $2.5M |
| Flood | 850 | 13 | 3 | $16.0M |
| Flash Flood | 648 | 14 | 5 | $97.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
29
Total Paid
$830.7K
Avg Per Claim
$28.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 23.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$12.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Winter Weather 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: Lightning
Lightning is modeled as a high-frequency, low-per-event hazard: strike counts are large, but each strike affects a very small area. Its aggregate cost accumulates through structure fires, electrical and electronic damage, and it is one of the few hazards whose risk is essentially continuous through the season rather than episodic.
For Decatur County the two measures on this page point the same way: Lightning is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Moderate), and Severe Storm declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Decatur County's closest FEMA peer: Washington County, WI
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Decatur County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Decatur County shows 14 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Decatur County: 10 of 14 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Decatur County: NRI composite 23.1 (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 Decatur County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Decatur 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: 23.1 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 14. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 14 FEMA declarations, Decatur County sits in the high-volume declaration band - see how that count ranks against other U.S. counties.
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 Decatur County?
The most common disaster type in Decatur County is Severe Storm, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (3), Biological (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Decatur County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Indiana average?
The typical Indiana county has 17.1 FEMA declaration records; Decatur County has 14, or 18% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 32% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Decatur County received?
Decatur County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 71% of all 14 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Decatur County filed?
Decatur County has 29 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $830.7K in payments, with an average of $28.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Decatur County?
No. In Decatur County, Lightning has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $6.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Decatur County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Decatur County was 2005, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Decatur County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Decatur County, Indiana has an overall risk score of 23.1 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very Low and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $12.2M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Decatur County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Decatur County as of the latest release is Lightning (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively Low) and Earthquake (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts lightning here at an average of 49 times per year, drawn from 70,697 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 Decatur County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Indiana profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events