FEMA Records
23
Above median
District of Columbia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
District of Columbia, DC
23 FEMA disaster declarations (1989-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 23
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 98
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for District of Columbia. Its 23 FEMA declarations are 0% above the District of Columbia county mean and exceed the count for 62% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 2%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 2%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 23
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 495
- 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 District of Columbia compare?
District of Columbia vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
23 Top 38% higher than 62% 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
District of Columbia's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the District of Columbia county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for District of Columbia is led by Riverine Flooding (about $130.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Heat Wave carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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 District of Columbia's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 495 paid claims, totaling $5.5M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $11.2K 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. District of Columbia's 23 federal records stand 0% above the District of Columbia county mean of 23.0. 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 97.6/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $292.5M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Heat Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 6.1 modeled event-days per year here.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 23 entries for District of Columbia, including 14 Major Disaster records, 0% above the District of Columbia county mean. Across the 37-year span, that works out to 0.6 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 8 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
60 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
District of Columbia, DC · 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
17/30
23 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
13/25
23 declarations (1.0x state county average of 23)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
14 of 23 declarations are major disasters (61%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in District of Columbia
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. District of Columbia Avg
+0%
State avg: 23.0
vs. National Avg
+11%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.6
Over 37 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - District of Columbia
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
61%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
98
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike District of Columbia?
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Heat Wave | Relatively High | 6.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively High | roughly once every 948 years |
| Strong Wind | Very High | an average of 7.9 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 4.2 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively High | an average of 3.5 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Very High | an average of 10 times per year |
| Lightning | Very High | an average of 39 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively High | roughly once every 11 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 19 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 24 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.8 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 104,886 years |
| Drought | No Rating | 2.8 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 8
Hurricane 6
Other 3
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Earthquake 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on District of Columbia's record, 35% of its declarations. In FEMA's vocabulary this covers convective weather: thunderstorm straight-line winds, large hail, and the multi-day outbreaks that often carry embedded tornadoes. Activity is heaviest in spring and summer, though the season varies by region.
These events behave differently from a hurricane on paper. Damage tends to be distributed along a storm track rather than concentrated on a coastline, and a declaration typically follows an outbreak that crossed several counties over a few days, not a single point of impact. Because the qualifying threshold is the cost of uninsured public and individual losses rather than storm intensity, two similar storms can produce a declaration in one year and none in another.
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 60.9%
of all 23 declarations
Emergency - 9 39.1%
of all 23 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1989 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 23 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 23 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3643 | SEWER LINE COLLAPSE | EM | Other | 2026-02-20 |
| 3553 | 59TH PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION | EM | Other | 2021-01-11 |
| 4502 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-29 |
| 3447 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4260 | SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2016-03-04 |
| 4096 | HURRICANE SANDY | DR | Hurricane | 2012-12-05 |
| 3352 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-28 |
| 4073 | SEVERE STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-07-31 |
| 4044 | EARTHQUAKE | DR | Earthquake | 2011-11-08 |
| 4036 | HURRICANE IRENE | DR | Hurricane | 2011-09-28 |
| 3337 | HURRICANE IRENE | EM | Hurricane | 2011-08-28 |
| 1890 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-24 |
| 1882 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2010-03-03 |
| 3300 | 56TH PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION | EM | Other | 2009-01-13 |
| 3226 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1493 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-20 |
| 3178 | SNOW | EM | Severe Storm | 2003-03-14 |
| 1389 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-08-16 |
| 1338 | SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-08-17 |
| 1325 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-04-10 |
Show 3 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1030 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-06-17 |
| 3108 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
| 838 | SEVERE STORMS & HIGH WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1989-08-28 |
Storm Events in District of Columbia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to District of Columbia.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 159 | 0 | 7 | $28.2M |
| Flood | 60 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 56 | 0 | 0 | $600.0K |
| Coastal Flood | 49 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Weather | 37 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
495
Total Paid
$5.5M
Avg Per Claim
$11.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 97.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$292.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Heat Wave Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively High
Strong Wind Very High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Hail Relatively High
Winter Weather Very High
Lightning Very High
Hurricane Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively High
Tornado Relatively High
Landslide Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Very Low
Drought 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: Heat Wave
Heat Wave is measured in event-days per year rather than discrete events, and it is the hazard whose harm is most consistently undercounted: its toll is health and mortality, concentrated among people without cooling, rather than visible damage to property.
Worth noting for District of Columbia: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Heat Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Severe Storm. 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
District of Columbia's closest FEMA peer: Gregg County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for District of Columbia. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
District of Columbia shows 23 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
District of Columbia: 14 of 23 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
District of Columbia: NRI composite 97.6 (Relatively High).
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 District of Columbia - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
District of Columbia's NFIP claims file (495 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 District of Columbia?
The most common disaster type in District of Columbia is Severe Storm, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Hurricane (6), Other (3), Snowstorm (3).
How does District of Columbia's FEMA declaration record compare with the District of Columbia average?
FEMA lists 23 declaration records for District of Columbia. That is 0% above the District of Columbia county mean of 23.0. Its count is also 11% 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 District of Columbia received?
District of Columbia has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 61% of all 23 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has District of Columbia filed?
District of Columbia has 495 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $5.5M in payments, with an average of $11.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in District of Columbia?
No. In District of Columbia, Heat Wave has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $130.1M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in District of Columbia?
The most active year for disaster declarations in District of Columbia was 2000, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1989 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for District of Columbia?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, District of Columbia, District of Columbia has an overall risk score of 97.6 out of 100 (Relatively High). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $292.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to District of Columbia?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in District of Columbia as of the latest release is Heat Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Earthquake (Relatively High) and Strong Wind (Very High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts heat wave here at 6.1 modeled event-days per year. 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.
What this means for District of Columbia
District of Columbia, DC has 23 federal declaration records, 0% more than the District of Columbia county mean of 23; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 14 of 23 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. District of Columbia overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the District of Columbia mean and the totals for 62% 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.