FEMA Records
28
High volume
Tennessee · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Decatur County, TN
28 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 28
- FEMA declarations
- 23
- Major disasters
- 38
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Decatur 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 safer than 38%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 38%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 28
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 111
- 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 Decatur County compare?
Decatur County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
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 · 2026-08-03
Decatur County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Tennessee county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Decatur County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $2.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Earthquake carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low). 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?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 111 paid claims, totaling $1.8M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $16.1K 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. Decatur 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
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 38.4/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $8.4M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Relatively Moderate) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Earthquake, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 187 years here.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 28 entries for Decatur County, including 23 Major Disaster records, 31% above the Tennessee county mean. Across the 52-year span, that works out to 0.5 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 16 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
72 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Decatur 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
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Decatur County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Tennessee Avg
+31%
State avg: 21.4
vs. National Avg
+35%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.5
Over 52 years
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
82%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
38
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 187 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.7 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 12 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 3.3 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 32 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 59 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 9.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 3,052 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 5.9 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 3.1 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 16
Tornado 5
Winter Storm 2
Biological 2
Flood 2
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Decatur County's record, 57% 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 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 2 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 4 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
Show 5 earlier declaration years
| 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 |
| 4712 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADO | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-05-17 |
| 4637 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2022-01-14 |
| 3576 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | EM | Tornado | 2021-12-13 |
| 4601 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2021-05-08 |
| 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 |
| 4471 | SEVERE STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-12-06 |
| 4427 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2019-04-17 |
| 4189 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-08-13 |
| 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 |
| 1856 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-08-21 |
| 3217 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1464 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-05-08 |
| 1456 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-03-20 |
Show 8 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1408 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2002-04-05 |
| 1275 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-05-12 |
| 1262 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND HIGH WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-01-19 |
| 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 Decatur 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 NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
111
Total Paid
$1.8M
Avg Per Claim
$16.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 38.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$8.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Drought Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Hail Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) 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 Decatur County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), 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
Decatur County's closest FEMA peer: San Luis Obispo County, CA
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 28 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Decatur County: 23 of 28 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Decatur County: NRI composite 38.4 (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.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Decatur County's NFIP claims file (111 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 Decatur County?
The most common disaster type in Decatur County is Severe Storm, with 16 declarations. Other disaster types include Tornado (5), Winter Storm (2), Biological (2).
How does Decatur County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Tennessee average?
FEMA lists 28 declaration records for Decatur 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 Decatur County received?
Decatur County has received 23 major disaster declarations, representing 82% of all 28 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Decatur County filed?
Decatur County has 111 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.8M in payments, with an average of $16.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Decatur County?
No. In Decatur County, Earthquake has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.7M. 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 2020, with 4 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, Tennessee has an overall risk score of 38.4 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very High; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $8.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Decatur County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Decatur County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 187 years. 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.
What this means for Decatur County
Decatur County, TN has 28 federal declaration records, 31% more than the Tennessee county mean of 21; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 23 of 28 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Tennessee overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Tennessee mean and the totals for 81% 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.