FEMA Records
11
Low volume
Colorado · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Denver County, CO
11 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 11
- FEMA declarations
- 6
- Major disasters
- 95
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Denver County. Its 11 FEMA declarations are 8% above the Colorado county mean and exceed the count for 12% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 5%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 5%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 11
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 242
- 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 08031 · Denver County 11 declarations · rank 2820/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 11
- MAJOR-MID 55%
- RANK-LOWER #2,820
- PHOTO-FINISH Meeker
- NRI-HIGH 95
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +8%
Nearest declaration peer: Meeker, MN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Colorado state profile
Denver County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Denver County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Davis · near 11
Davis · near
11 declarations
- Denver · this county 11
Denver · 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 Denver County carries 11 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2820 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Denver County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Denver County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Denver 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
Denver County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Denver County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $93.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Hail carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High). 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 Denver County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 242 paid claims, totaling $719.4K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $3.0K 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. Denver County's 11 federal records stand 8% above the Colorado county mean of 10.2. 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
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 95.2/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $222.0M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very Low and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Hail stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 8.3 times per year here, based on 315 historical events on record.
50 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Denver County, CO · 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 High
13/25
11 declarations (1.1x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
6 of 11 declarations are major disasters (55%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Denver County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Denver 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
55%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
95
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Denver 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 | Very High | an average of 8.3 times per year |
| Lightning | Very High | an average of 52 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 6 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 14 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1,490 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 36 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 1 modeled event-day per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,685 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 21 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 64 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 4
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Coastal Storm 1
Fire 1
Tornado 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Denver County's record, 36% 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 - 6 54.5%
of all 11 declarations
Emergency - 5 45.5%
of all 11 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4498 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3436 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4229 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2015-07-16 |
| 4145 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-09-14 |
| 3365 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2013-09-12 |
| 3270 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-01-07 |
| 3224 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-05 |
| 3185 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2003-04-09 |
| 1421 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2002-06-19 |
| 385 | HEAVY RAINS, SNOWMELT AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-05-23 |
| 200 | TORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1965-06-19 |
Storm Events in Colorado
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Denver County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 4,913 | 0 | 100 | $2.9B |
| Winter Weather | 2,620 | 3 | 23 | $22.5K |
| High Wind | 1,992 | 5 | 6 | $20.9M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,741 | 2 | 11 | $5.4M |
| Winter Storm | 1,497 | 0 | 0 | $848.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
242
Total Paid
$719.4K
Avg Per Claim
$3.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 95.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$222.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Very High
Lightning Very High
Tornado Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Drought Very Low
Ice Storm 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 Denver County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Hail carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), 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
Denver County's closest FEMA peer: Charlotte County, FL
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Denver County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Denver County: NRI composite 95.2 (Relatively High).
Similar Major-disaster share
Denver County: 6 of 11 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Denver County shows 11 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
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 Denver County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Denver 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: 95.2 (Relatively High).
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
Denver County's NFIP claims file (242 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 Denver County?
The most common disaster type in Denver County is Flood, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Snowstorm (2), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Denver County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Colorado average?
FEMA lists 11 declaration records for Denver County. That is 8% above the Colorado county mean of 10.2. Its count is also 47% below 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 Denver County received?
Denver County has received 6 major disaster declarations, representing 55% of all 11 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Denver County filed?
Denver County has 242 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $719.4K in payments, with an average of $3.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Denver County?
No. In Denver County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $93.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Denver County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Denver County was 2013, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Denver County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Denver County, Colorado has an overall risk score of 95.2 out of 100 (Relatively High). Social vulnerability here rates Very Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $222.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Denver County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Denver County as of the latest release is Hail (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Lightning (Very High) and Tornado (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 8.3 times per year, drawn from 315 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 Denver County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Colorado profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events