FEMA Records
29
High volume
South Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Dillon County, SC
29 FEMA disaster declarations (1989-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 29
- FEMA declarations
- 15
- Major disasters
- 84
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Dillon County. Its 29 FEMA declarations are 13% above the South Carolina county mean and exceed the count for 85% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 16%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 16%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 29
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 102
- 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 45033 · Dillon County 29 declarations · rank 458/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 29
- MAJOR-MID 52%
- RANK-MID #458
- PHOTO-FINISH Bath
- NRI-MID 84
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +13%
Nearest declaration peer: Bath, KY (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Carolina state profile
Dillon County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Dillon County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bath · near 29
Bath · near
29 declarations
- Dillon · this county 29
Dillon · this county
29 declarations
- Lenoir · near 29
Lenoir · near
29 declarations
- Walthall · near 29
Walthall · near
29 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Dillon County carries 29 FEMA declaration records, ranked 458 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Dillon County ranks in the national declaration registry
Dillon County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Dillon County
29 Top 15% higher than 85% 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
Dillon County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Dillon County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 102 paid claims, totaling $4.9M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $47.9K 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. Dillon County's 29 federal records stand 13% above the South Carolina county mean of 25.6. 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 84.3/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $35.0M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very High and community resilience Relatively Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Hurricane stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 4 years here, based on 75 historical events on record.
66 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Dillon County, SC · 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
21/30
29 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
29 declarations (1.1x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
15 of 29 declarations are major disasters (52%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Dillon County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Dillon 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
52%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
84
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Dillon 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Relatively High | roughly once every 4 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 3.6 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 407 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 511 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 5 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 8 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.4 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 56 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 15 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 14 years |
| Coastal Flooding | No Rating | roughly once every 100 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 16
Tropical Storm 3
Severe Ice Storm 3
Biological 2
Flood 2
Severe Storm 2
Winter Storm 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Dillon County's federal record, 55% of its declarations. Atlantic tropical systems run on a defined season, 1 June to 30 November, with most activity concentrated between August and October; Pacific and territorial basins run on their own calendars. A single named storm routinely produces one declaration number covering a long corridor of counties at once, well inland as well as on the coast, which is why an affected county's count can jump by several in one year without several separate events having occurred.
One practical distinction matters when reading these records: a tropical declaration usually bundles wind, storm surge and inland rainfall flooding under a single incident, but the insurance behind them is split. Wind damage falls to property insurers, while flood and surge damage is covered only under a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. That is why a county can show heavy declaration activity and a comparatively small NFIP claims record, or the reverse.
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 - 15 51.7%
of all 29 declarations
Emergency - 14 48.3%
of all 29 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 3 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 3 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1989 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 29 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 29 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3632 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4835 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-29 |
| 3619 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3606 | HURRICANE DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-05 |
| 3597 | HURRICANE IDALIA | EM | Hurricane | 2023-08-31 |
| 4677 | HURRICANE IAN | DR | Hurricane | 2022-11-21 |
| 3585 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-09-29 |
| 4492 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3470 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4464 | HURRICANE DORIAN | DR | Hurricane | 2019-09-30 |
| 3421 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-01 |
| 4394 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | DR | Hurricane | 2018-09-16 |
| 3400 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4346 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-10-16 |
| 3386 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-07 |
| 4286 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | DR | Hurricane | 2016-10-11 |
| 3378 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | EM | Hurricane | 2016-10-06 |
| 4241 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2015-10-05 |
| 3373 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2015-10-03 |
| 4166 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-03-12 |
Show 9 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3369 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-02-12 |
| 3233 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1566 | TROPICAL STORM FRANCES | DR | Hurricane | 2004-10-07 |
| 1509 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2004-02-13 |
| 1313 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-01-31 |
| 1299 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-21 |
| 3145 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-15 |
| 1140 | SEVERE WINDS AND FLOODING ASSOC WITH HURRICANE FRAN | DR | Flood | 1996-09-30 |
| 843 | HURRICANE HUGO | DR | Hurricane | 1989-09-22 |
Storm Events in South Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Dillon County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,845 | 11 | 40 | $11.4M |
| Hail | 1,207 | 0 | 0 | $25.1M |
| Flash Flood | 954 | 20 | 35 | $150.4M |
| Strong Wind | 395 | 4 | 13 | $711.8K |
| Tornado | 320 | 9 | 110 | $127.1M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
102
Total Paid
$4.9M
Avg Per Claim
$47.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 84.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$35.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Low
Wildfire Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Coastal Flooding No Rating
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: Hurricane
Hurricane exposure in the model bundles the three ways a tropical system does harm, which arrive on different timescales and are insured differently: wind, storm surge on the coast, and rainfall flooding that can reach far inland well after landfall.
For Dillon County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively High), and Hurricane declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Dillon County's closest FEMA peer: Spokane County, WA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Dillon County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Dillon County shows 29 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Dillon County: 15 of 29 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Dillon County: NRI composite 84.3 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Dillon County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Dillon 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: 84.3 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 29. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Dillon County's NFIP claims file (102 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 Dillon County?
The most common disaster type in Dillon County is Hurricane, with 16 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (3), Severe Ice Storm (3), Biological (2).
How does Dillon County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Carolina average?
FEMA lists 29 declaration records for Dillon County. That is 13% above the South Carolina county mean of 25.6. Its count is also 40% 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 Dillon County received?
Dillon County has received 15 major disaster declarations, representing 52% of all 29 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Dillon County filed?
Dillon County has 102 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.9M in payments, with an average of $47.9K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Dillon County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Dillon County was 2017, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1989 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Dillon County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Dillon County, South Carolina has an overall risk score of 84.3 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $35.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Dillon County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Dillon County is Hurricane (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Strong Wind (Relatively High) and Earthquake (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 4 years, drawn from 75 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 Dillon County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events