FEMA Records
18
Below median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Douglas County, SD
18 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 18
- FEMA declarations
- 15
- Major disasters
- 10
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Douglas County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 18 declarations, more than 37% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 5% below the South Dakota county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 10%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 10%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 18
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 1
- 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 46043 · Douglas County 18 declarations · rank 1927/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 18
- MAJOR-HEAVY 83%
- RANK-LOWER #1,927
- PHOTO-FINISH Monroe
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -5%
Nearest declaration peer: Monroe, TN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Dakota state profile
Douglas County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Douglas County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Brooke · near 18
Brooke · near
18 declarations
- Douglas · this county 18
Douglas · this county
18 declarations
- Mecklenburg · near 18
Mecklenburg · near
18 declarations
- Monroe · near 18
Monroe · near
18 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Douglas County carries 18 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1927 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Douglas County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Douglas County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Douglas County
18 37th percentile higher than 37% 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 Cold Wave (about $1.9M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Drought 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 Douglas County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's National Risk Index places this county in the low end of the national distribution, composite score 10.4/100 (Very Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $6.0M in annualized losses). Two modifiers shape how that exposure becomes real-world harm here: social vulnerability (Very Low) and community resilience (Relatively High). Even the county's top-rated hazard, Drought, 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 22 modeled event-days per year here, based on 567 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 1 claim and $520 paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
Start with the state benchmark: a South Dakota county averages 19.0 federal declaration records, while Douglas County has 18. The gap is 5% 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.
61 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Douglas County, SD · 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) Moderate
13/30
18 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
18 declarations (0.9x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
21/25
15 of 18 declarations are major disasters (83%)
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
83%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
10
Very Low
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively Low | 22 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 6.3 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 16 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,302 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 5.1 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 3 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,342 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 6.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 24 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 36 times 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 7
Flood 6
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Douglas County's record, 39% 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 - 15 83.3%
of all 18 declarations
Emergency - 3 16.7%
of all 18 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 18 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 18 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4807 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2024-08-15 |
| 4527 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3475 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4469 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-11-18 |
| 4440 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-07 |
| 4115 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-05-10 |
| 1915 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2010-05-13 |
| 1887 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-10 |
| 1774 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-09 |
| 1620 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-12-20 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 1173 | SEVERE FLOODING, SEVER WINTER STORMS,HEAVY RAINS HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1156 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-10 |
| 1075 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-05 |
| 1052 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1995-05-26 |
| 999 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-07-19 |
| 764 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-05-03 |
| 3015 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
Storm Events in South Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Douglas County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,388 | 7 | 21 | $10.7M |
| Hail | 4,801 | 0 | 3 | $4.5M |
| High Wind | 2,277 | 0 | 1 | $35.0K |
| Winter Weather | 2,125 | 20 | 50 | $133.0K |
| Flood | 1,523 | 5 | 0 | $196.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
1
Total Paid
$520
Avg Per Claim
$520
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 10.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$6.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Lightning 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: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for Douglas County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), 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
Douglas County's closest FEMA peer: Goodhue County, MN
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 18 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Douglas County: 15 of 18 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Douglas County: NRI composite 10.4 (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 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: 10.4 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 18. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 18 FEMA declarations, Douglas County sits in the high-volume declaration band - see how that count ranks against other U.S. counties.
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 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (6), Biological (2), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Douglas County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
The typical South Dakota county has 19.0 FEMA declaration records; Douglas County has 18, or 5% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 13% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Douglas County received?
Douglas County has received 15 major disaster declarations, representing 83% of all 18 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Douglas County filed?
Douglas County has 1 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $520 in payments, with an average of $520 per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Douglas County?
No. In Douglas County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $1.9M. 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 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Douglas County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Douglas County, South Dakota has an overall risk score of 10.4 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $6.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Douglas County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Douglas County as of the latest release is Drought (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively Low) and Ice Storm (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 22 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 567 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 · South Dakota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events