FEMA Records
21
Above median
Arkansas · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Desha County, AR
21 FEMA disaster declarations (1973-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 21
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 33
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Desha County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 21 declarations, more than 52% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 13% below the Arkansas county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 33%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 33%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 21
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 206
- 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 05041 · Desha County 21 declarations · rank 1479/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 21
- MAJOR-MID 67%
- RANK-LOWER #1,479
- PHOTO-FINISH Montgomery
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -13%
Nearest declaration peer: Montgomery, IN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Arkansas state profile
Desha County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Desha County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Atascosa · near 21
Atascosa · near
21 declarations
- Desha · this county 21
Desha · this county
21 declarations
- Mason · near 21
Mason · near
21 declarations
- Montgomery · near 21
Montgomery · near
21 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Desha County carries 21 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1479 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Desha County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Desha County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Desha County
21 Top 48% higher than 52% 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
Desha County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Desha County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $2.4M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very Low), 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 Desha County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 206 paid claims, totaling $3.6M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $17.5K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Arkansas county averages 24.2 federal declaration records, while Desha County has 21. The gap is 13% 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 32.9/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $6.5M 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 264 years here.
63 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Desha County, AR · 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
15/30
21 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
21 declarations (0.9x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
14 of 21 declarations are major disasters (67%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Desha County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Desha 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
67%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
33
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Desha 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 264 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 12 modeled event-days per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 20 modeled event-days per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 27 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.8 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 61 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 3.8 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 6,162 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 6
Severe Storm 5
Winter Storm 2
Hurricane 2
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Tornado 1
Snowstorm 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Desha County's record, 29% 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 - 14 66.7%
of all 21 declarations
Emergency - 7 33.3%
of all 21 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 4 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 21 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 21 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3636 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4873 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2025-05-21 |
| 3627 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-04-05 |
| 4700 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Winter Storm | 2023-04-04 |
| 3541 | HURRICANE LAURA | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-27 |
| 4556 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Tornado | 2020-07-10 |
| 4518 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-03 |
| 3461 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4441 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-08 |
| 3414 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2019-05-30 |
| 4270 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-05-06 |
| 1975 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND ASSOCIATED FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-05-02 |
| 1751 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-03-26 |
| 3215 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-02 |
| 1354 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2000-12-29 |
| 3159 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2000-12-28 |
| 1011 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Snowstorm | 1994-02-28 |
| 907 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1991-05-30 |
| 865 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1990-05-15 |
| 673 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1982-12-13 |
Show 1 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 375 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-04-27 |
Storm Events in Arkansas
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Desha County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,657 | 10 | 23 | $60.9M |
| Hail | 2,230 | 0 | 0 | $7.7M |
| Flash Flood | 1,517 | 12 | 3 | $15.9M |
| Heat | 1,222 | 2 | 325 | $0 |
| Flood | 1,152 | 9 | 0 | $40.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
206
Total Paid
$3.6M
Avg Per Claim
$17.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 32.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$6.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Hurricane Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Very Low
Landslide 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: 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 Desha 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 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
Desha County's closest FEMA peer: Montgomery County, MD
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Desha County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Desha County shows 21 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Desha County: 14 of 21 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Desha County: NRI composite 32.9 (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 Desha County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Desha 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: 32.9 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 21. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Desha County's NFIP claims file (206 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 Desha County?
The most common disaster type in Desha County is Flood, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (5), Winter Storm (2), Hurricane (2).
How does Desha County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Arkansas average?
The typical Arkansas county has 24.2 FEMA declaration records; Desha County has 21, or 13% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 1% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Desha County received?
Desha County has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 67% of all 21 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Desha County filed?
Desha County has 206 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $3.6M in payments, with an average of $17.5K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Desha County?
No. In Desha County, Earthquake has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.4M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Desha County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Desha County was 2020, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1973 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Desha County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Desha County, Arkansas has an overall risk score of 32.9 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 $6.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Desha County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Desha County is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively Moderate) and Heat Wave (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 264 years. 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 Desha County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Arkansas profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events