FEMA Records
27
High volume
Iowa · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Des Moines County, IA
27 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 27
- FEMA declarations
- 25
- Major disasters
- 56
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Des Moines County. Its 27 FEMA declarations are 40% above the Iowa county mean and exceed the count for 78% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 44%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 44%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 27
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 352
- 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 Des Moines County compare?
Des Moines County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
27 Top 22% higher than 78% 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
Des Moines County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Iowa county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Des Moines County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $8.3M 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 Des Moines County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 352 paid claims, totaling $9.4M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $26.6K 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. Des Moines County's 27 federal records stand 40% above the Iowa county mean of 19.3. 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 carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 55.8/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $19.5M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. 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 times per year here, based on 151 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 27 entries for Des Moines County, including 25 Major Disaster records, 40% above the Iowa county mean. Across the 59-year span, that works out to 0.5 declarations a year. Flood leads the file with 13 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
73 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Des Moines 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) High
20/30
27 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
17/25
27 declarations (1.4x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
23/25
25 of 27 declarations are major disasters (93%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Des Moines County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Iowa Avg
+40%
State avg: 19.3
vs. National Avg
+30%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.5
Over 59 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Des Moines 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
93%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
56
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Des Moines 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 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 5.5 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 8.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 9 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 45 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 13 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 770 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 2.9 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,068 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 4.8 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 103 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 13
Severe Storm 10
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Tornado 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Des Moines County's record, 48% 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 - 25 92.6%
of all 27 declarations
Emergency - 2 7.4%
of all 27 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
Show 9 earlier declaration years
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 2 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 27 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 27 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4796 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-06-24 |
| 4732 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-08-25 |
| 4483 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-23 |
| 3480 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4421 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-03-23 |
| 4289 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-10-31 |
| 4234 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-07-31 |
| 4187 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-08-05 |
| 4126 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-07-02 |
| 4119 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2013-05-31 |
| 1928 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-07-27 |
| 1763 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-05-27 |
| 1688 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-03-14 |
| 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 |
| 1367 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-05-02 |
| 1230 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1998-07-02 |
| 1121 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-06-24 |
| 996 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-09 |
Show 7 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 986 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-04-26 |
| 868 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1990-05-26 |
| 590 | HIGH WINDS & TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1979-07-01 |
| 443 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-24 |
| 386 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-05-23 |
| 259 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-25 |
| 193 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-04-22 |
Storm Events in Iowa
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Des Moines 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
352
Total Paid
$9.4M
Avg Per Claim
$26.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 55.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$19.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively High
Drought Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hurricane 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 Des Moines 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
Des Moines County's closest FEMA peer: Edwards County, KS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Des Moines County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Des Moines County shows 27 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Des Moines County: 25 of 27 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Des Moines County: NRI composite 55.8 (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 Des Moines County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Des Moines County's NFIP claims file (352 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 Des Moines County?
The most common disaster type in Des Moines County is Flood, with 13 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (10), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Des Moines County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Iowa average?
FEMA lists 27 declaration records for Des Moines County. That is 40% above the Iowa county mean of 19.3. Its count is also 30% 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 Des Moines County received?
Des Moines County has received 25 major disaster declarations, representing 93% of all 27 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Des Moines County filed?
Des Moines County has 352 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $9.4M in payments, with an average of $26.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Des Moines County?
No. In Des Moines County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $8.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Des Moines County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Des Moines County was 1993, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Des Moines County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Des Moines County, Iowa has an overall risk score of 55.8 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $19.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Des Moines County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Des Moines County is Hail (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Strong Wind (Relatively High) and Drought (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 4 times per year, drawn from 151 historical events on record. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, 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 Des Moines County
Des Moines County, IA has 27 federal declaration records, 40% more than the Iowa county mean of 19; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 25 of 27 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Iowa overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Iowa mean and the totals for 78% 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.