FEMA Records
18
Below median
Iowa · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Delaware County, IA
18 FEMA disaster declarations (1968-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 18
- FEMA declarations
- 16
- Major disasters
- 50
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Delaware County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 18 declarations, more than 37% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 7% below the Iowa county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 50%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 50%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 18
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 105
- 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 19055 · Delaware County 18 declarations · rank 1987/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 18
- MAJOR-HEAVY 89%
- RANK-LOWER #1,987
- PHOTO-FINISH Monroe
- NRI-LOW 50
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -7%
Nearest declaration peer: Monroe, TN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Iowa state profile
Delaware County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Delaware County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Brooke · near 18
Brooke · near
18 declarations
- Delaware · this county 18
Delaware · this county
18 declarations
- Mecklenburg · near 18
Mecklenburg · near
18 declarations
- Monroe · near 18
Monroe · near
18 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Delaware County carries 18 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1987 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Delaware County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Delaware County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Delaware County
18 37th percentile higher than 37% 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
Delaware County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Delaware County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $10.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Hail 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 Delaware County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 105 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 $38.6K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Iowa county averages 19.3 federal declaration records, while Delaware County has 18. The gap is 7% 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
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 49.7/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Relatively Low (roughly $17.1M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively Low) and community resilience (Very High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Hail carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 4.5 times per year here, based on 171 historical events on record.
57 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Delaware County, IA · 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
13/30
18 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
18 declarations (0.9x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
16 of 18 declarations are major disasters (89%)
Hazard Diversity High
10/20
4 different disaster types declared in Delaware County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Delaware 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
89%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
50
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Delaware 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.5 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 11 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.4 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 8.1 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 17 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 4.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 40 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,689 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 115 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 22,128 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 8
Severe Storm 7
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Delaware County's record, 44% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
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 - 16 88.9%
of all 18 declarations
Emergency - 2 11.1%
of all 18 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1968 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 18 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 18 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4483 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-23 |
| 3480 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4386 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2018-08-20 |
| 4289 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-10-31 |
| 4135 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-07-31 |
| 4126 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-07-02 |
| 1930 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-07-29 |
| 1763 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-05-27 |
| 3239 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1518 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-05-25 |
| 1420 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2002-06-19 |
| 1277 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-05-21 |
| 1230 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1998-07-02 |
| 996 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-09 |
| 443 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-24 |
| 354 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-09-26 |
| 269 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-08-14 |
| 248 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1968-08-04 |
Storm Events in Iowa
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Delaware County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,928 | 6 | 227 | $40.5M |
| Hail | 3,736 | 0 | 0 | $4.3M |
| Heavy Rain | 2,394 | 0 | 0 | $292.0K |
| Drought | 1,556 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 1,543 | 3 | 4 | $2.8M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
105
Total Paid
$4.1M
Avg Per Claim
$38.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 49.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$17.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Earthquake 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: Hail
Hail is among the most expensive hazards in the model relative to how little it threatens life. It concentrates on roofs, vehicles and crops, and a single severe storm can generate an insurance loss across a metropolitan area without a single injury.
Worth noting for Delaware County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Hail carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. 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
Delaware County's closest FEMA peer: Nance County, NE
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Delaware County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Delaware County shows 18 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Delaware County: 16 of 18 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Delaware County: NRI composite 49.7 (Relatively 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 Delaware County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Delaware 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: 49.7 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 18. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Delaware County's NFIP claims file (105 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 Delaware County?
The most common disaster type in Delaware County is Flood, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (7), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Delaware County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Iowa average?
The typical Iowa county has 19.3 FEMA declaration records; Delaware County has 18, or 7% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 13% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Delaware County received?
Delaware County has received 16 major disaster declarations, representing 89% of all 18 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Delaware County filed?
Delaware County has 105 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.1M in payments, with an average of $38.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Delaware County?
No. In Delaware County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $10.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Delaware County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Delaware County was 2013, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1968 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Delaware County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Delaware County, Iowa has an overall risk score of 49.7 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $17.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Delaware County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Delaware County is Hail (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively Moderate) and Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 4.5 times per year, drawn from 171 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 Delaware County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Iowa profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events