FEMA Records
26
High volume
South Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Dorchester County, SC
26 FEMA disaster declarations (1989-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 26
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 94
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Dorchester County. Its 26 FEMA declarations are 2% above the South Carolina county mean and exceed the count for 75% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 6%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 6%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 26
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 779
- 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 Dorchester County compare?
Dorchester County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
26 Top 25% higher than 75% 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
Dorchester County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the South Carolina county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Dorchester County is led by Hurricane (about $84.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Earthquake 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 Dorchester County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 779 claims and $16.8M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $21.6K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Dorchester County's 26 federal records stand 2% 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 93.7/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $175.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very Low and community resilience Relatively Moderate, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Earthquake carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 159 years here.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 26 entries for Dorchester County, including 12 Major Disaster records, 2% above the South Carolina county mean. Across the 37-year span, that works out to 0.7 declarations a year. Hurricane leads the file with 15 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
62 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Dorchester 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
19/30
26 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
13/25
26 declarations (1.0x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
12 of 26 declarations are major disasters (46%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Dorchester County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. South Carolina Avg
+2%
State avg: 25.6
vs. National Avg
+25%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.7
Over 37 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Dorchester 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
46%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
94
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Dorchester 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 Moderate | roughly once every 159 years |
| Hurricane | Relatively High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 66 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 742 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 8.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 3.5 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3 times per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 15 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 3.2 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 15
Tropical Storm 3
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Winter Storm 1
Flood 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Dorchester County's federal record, 58% 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).
Emergency - 14 53.8%
of all 26 declarations
Major Disaster - 12 46.2%
of all 26 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 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1989 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 26 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 26 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 6 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 Dorchester 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
779
Total Paid
$16.8M
Avg Per Claim
$21.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 93.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$175.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Lightning Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Coastal Flooding Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Landslide 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 Dorchester County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
Dorchester County's closest FEMA peer: Palo Pinto County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Dorchester County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Dorchester County shows 26 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Dorchester County: 12 of 26 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Dorchester County: NRI composite 93.7 (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 Dorchester County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Dorchester County's NFIP claims file (779 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 Dorchester County?
The most common disaster type in Dorchester County is Hurricane, with 15 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (3), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Dorchester County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Carolina average?
FEMA lists 26 declaration records for Dorchester County. That is 2% above the South Carolina county mean of 25.6. Its count is also 25% 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 Dorchester County received?
Dorchester County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 46% of all 26 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Dorchester County filed?
Dorchester County has 779 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $16.8M in payments, with an average of $21.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Dorchester County?
No. In Dorchester County, Earthquake has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Hurricane leads Expected Annual Loss at about $84.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Dorchester County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Dorchester 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 Dorchester County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Dorchester County, South Carolina has an overall risk score of 93.7 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very Low and community resilience is Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $175.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Dorchester County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Dorchester County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Hurricane (Relatively High) and Ice Storm (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 159 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.
What this means for Dorchester County
Dorchester County, SC has 26 federal declaration records, 2% more than the South Carolina county mean of 26; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, emergency leads with 14 of 26 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. South Carolina overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the South Carolina mean and the totals for 75% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- The large NFIP claims file and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records; the guide explains where they overlap and where they do not. 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.