FEMA Records
29
High volume
Nebraska · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Douglas County, NE
29 FEMA disaster declarations (1967-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 29
- FEMA declarations
- 26
- Major disasters
- 96
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Douglas County. Its 29 FEMA declarations are 73% above the Nebraska 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 4%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 4%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 29
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 1,045
- 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 31055 · Douglas County 29 declarations · rank 499/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-HIGH
- DECL-HEAVY 29
- MAJOR-HEAVY 90%
- RANK-MID #499
- PHOTO-FINISH Bath
- NRI-HIGH 96
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-HIGH +73%
Nearest declaration peer: Bath, KY (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Nebraska state profile
Douglas County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Douglas County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bath · near 29
Bath · near
29 declarations
- Douglas · this county 29
Douglas · 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 Douglas County carries 29 FEMA declaration records, ranked 499 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Douglas County ranks in the national declaration registry
Douglas County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Douglas 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
Douglas County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Douglas County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $88.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Strong Wind carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very 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 Douglas County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 1,045 claims and $14.6M 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 $14.0K. 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. Douglas County's 29 federal records stand 73% above the Nebraska county mean of 16.8. 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 95.9/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $233.9M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Strong Wind stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 4.3 times per year here, based on 166 historical events on record.
80 /100
Historical Activity Index
Very High historical activity
Douglas County, NE · 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 Very High
22/25
29 declarations (1.7x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
26 of 29 declarations are major disasters (90%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Douglas County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Douglas 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
90%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
96
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Douglas 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Wind | Very High | an average of 4.3 times per year |
| Hail | Very High | an average of 6.9 times per year |
| Tornado | Very High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Winter Weather | Very High | an average of 14 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Very High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively High | 8.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 4.7 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,028 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 46 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 14 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,724 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 15
Flood 7
Tornado 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Douglas County's record, 52% 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 - 26 89.7%
of all 29 declarations
Emergency - 3 10.3%
of all 29 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2024 | 3 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
Show 7 earlier declaration years
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1971 | 1 | |
| 1967 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4896 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-10-22 |
| 4868 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Winter Storm | 2025-05-21 |
| 4838 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-10-21 |
| 4822 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-09-24 |
| 4808 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-08-20 |
| 4778 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2024-05-03 |
| 4616 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2021-09-06 |
| 4521 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3483 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4420 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-03-21 |
| 4325 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-08-01 |
| 4013 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-08-12 |
| 3323 | FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2011-06-18 |
| 1924 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-07-15 |
| 1878 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-25 |
| 1779 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-18 |
| 1770 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-20 |
| 3245 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUEES | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1517 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-05-25 |
| 1480 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-07-21 |
Show 9 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1286 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-08-20 |
| 1190 | SEVERE SNOW STORMS, RAIN, AND STRONG WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-11-01 |
| 998 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-19 |
| 873 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-07-04 |
| 716 | TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1984-07-03 |
| 552 | STORMS, ICE JAMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1978-03-24 |
| 467 | SEVERE STORMS & TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1975-05-07 |
| 303 | FLOODS | DR | Flood | 1971-02-23 |
| 228 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1967-07-18 |
Storm Events in Nebraska
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Douglas County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 6,079 | 0 | 2 | $237.7M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,757 | 3 | 19 | $228.1M |
| Drought | 1,658 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| High Wind | 1,647 | 1 | 1 | $22.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,155 | 0 | 2 | $335.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
1,045
Total Paid
$14.6M
Avg Per Claim
$14.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 95.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$233.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Strong Wind Very High
Hail Very High
Tornado Very High
Winter Weather Very High
Ice Storm Very High
Heat Wave Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively High
Landslide Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane 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: Strong Wind
Strong Wind covers damaging non-thunderstorm, non-tornadic wind, the kind produced by steep pressure gradients and downslope events. It is a broad, frequent, low-drama hazard: roofs, signage, power lines and high-profile vehicles, spread across a wide area rather than concentrated on a path.
For Douglas County the two measures on this page point the same way: Strong Wind is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Very High), and Severe Storm 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
Douglas County's closest FEMA peer: Wells County, ND
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Douglas County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Douglas County shows 29 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Douglas County: 26 of 29 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Douglas County: NRI composite 95.9 (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 Douglas County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Douglas 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: 95.9 (Relatively High).
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
Douglas County's NFIP claims file (1,045 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 Douglas County?
The most common disaster type in Douglas County is Severe Storm, with 15 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (7), Tornado (3), Biological (2).
How does Douglas County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Nebraska average?
FEMA lists 29 declaration records for Douglas County. That is 73% above the Nebraska county mean of 16.8. 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 Douglas County received?
Douglas County has received 26 major disaster declarations, representing 90% of all 29 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Douglas County filed?
Douglas County has 1,045 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $14.6M in payments, with an average of $14.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Douglas County?
No. In Douglas County, Strong Wind has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $88.1M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Douglas County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Douglas County was 2024, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1967 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Douglas County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Douglas County, Nebraska has an overall risk score of 95.9 out of 100 (Relatively High). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $233.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Douglas County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Douglas County is Strong Wind (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Hail (Very High) and Tornado (Very High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts strong wind here at an average of 4.3 times per year, drawn from 166 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 Douglas County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Nebraska profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events