FEMA Records
3
Low volume
Nevada · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Esmeralda County, NV
3 FEMA disaster declarations (2005-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Biological.
- 3
- FEMA declarations
- 1
- Major disasters
- 2
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Biological
- Top hazard
The verdict
The declaration register is comparatively quiet for Esmeralda County. Its 3 federal records sit 76% below the Nevada county mean and above the count for 1% of counties nationally. That historical total does not set the National Risk Index: FEMA's separate loss-and-vulnerability model ranks the county safer than 2%.
- Safer than 2%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 3
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 2
- biological declarations, the most common hazard here
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 Esmeralda County compare?
Esmeralda County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
3 1st percentile higher than 1% 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
Esmeralda County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Nevada county average
What does Esmeralda County's hazard record show?
Declaration frequency
Esmeralda County's federal file is quiet on both comparisons: 3 declarations, 76% below the Nevada county mean. Of those, 1 use the Major Disaster code. The register covers 15 years and averages 0.2 entries a year. Biological is the most frequent incident label at 2. A small federal count does not include undeclared local events and is not evidence of zero hazard exposure.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits at the very bottom of FEMA's National Risk Index nationally, a composite score of 2.1/100 (rated Very Low). Projected losses are minimal, Expected Annual Loss reads Very Low (roughly $1.3M in annualized losses), and the county's exposure is shaped by a Relatively High social-vulnerability profile and Very Low community resilience. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Earthquake, 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 roughly once every 15 years here.
Reading the federal records together
No paid-claim row for this county appears in the NFIP county table used by PlainHazard. That absence is not evidence that flooding never occurred: the register observes claims under federal flood-insurance policies, not uninsured losses, emergency reports, or every flood outside the program. The FEMA declaration history below is therefore the available federal-action record on this page.
Start with the state benchmark: a Nevada county averages 12.4 federal declaration records, while Esmeralda County has 3. The gap is 76% 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.
18 /100
Historical Activity Index
Low historical activity
Esmeralda County, NV · 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) Low
2/30
3 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density Low
3/25
3 declarations (0.2x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
8/25
1 of 3 declarations are major disasters (33%)
Hazard Diversity Moderate
5/20
2 different disaster types declared in Esmeralda County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
Low
vs. Nevada Avg
-76%
State avg: 12.4
vs. National Avg
-86%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.2
Over 15 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Esmeralda 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
33%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
2
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Esmeralda 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 Low | roughly once every 15 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 124 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 6.7 times per year |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 4 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 10,015 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 1,111 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 5.9 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 19 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 22 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 21 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 104 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 63 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
What Biological declarations mean here
Biological is the most frequent declaration type on Esmeralda County's record, 67% of its declarations. In practice this category is dominated by the COVID-19 declarations of 2020, which were issued across every US state and territory rather than in response to any local hazard event.
This has a direct consequence for how Esmeralda County's number should be read. Because those declarations reached essentially every county in the country, they raise every county's total by a similar amount and tell you nothing about local hazard exposure. A county whose record is led by Biological declarations is, in most cases, a county with a genuinely quiet weather-hazard history, the pandemic records are simply the largest thing in an otherwise short list.
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 - 2 66.7%
of all 3 declarations
Major Disaster - 1 33.3%
of all 3 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 3 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 3 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4523 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3443 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3243 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
Storm Events in Nevada
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Esmeralda County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 1,647 | 0 | 2 | $10.4M |
| Heavy Snow | 926 | 0 | 0 | $123.0K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 463 | 3 | 0 | $8.7M |
| Flash Flood | 315 | 7 | 2 | $36.7M |
| Excessive Heat | 252 | 376 | 17 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 2.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$1.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Avalanche Very Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Hail Very Low
Tornado 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 Esmeralda County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), while the county's declaration history is led by Biological. 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
Esmeralda County's closest FEMA peer: Juneau City and Borough, AK
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Esmeralda County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Esmeralda County shows 3 FEMA declarations, led by Biological.
Similar Major-disaster share
Esmeralda County: 1 of 3 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Esmeralda County: NRI composite 2.1 (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 Esmeralda County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Earthquake as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively Low); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
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 Esmeralda County?
The most common disaster type in Esmeralda County is Biological, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Hurricane (1).
How does Esmeralda County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Nevada average?
The typical Nevada county has 12.4 FEMA declaration records; Esmeralda County has 3, or 76% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 86% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Esmeralda County received?
Esmeralda County has received 1 major disaster declaration, representing 33% of all 3 disaster declarations.
What was the worst year for disasters in Esmeralda County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Esmeralda County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 2005 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Esmeralda County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Esmeralda County, Nevada has an overall risk score of 2.1 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively High; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $1.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Esmeralda County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Esmeralda County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively Moderate) and Landslide (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 15 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.
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 Esmeralda County
Against a Nevada county mean of 12 declarations, Esmeralda County, NV records 3, or 76% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as low activity.
- Emergency is the largest group (2 of 3) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Nevada overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 1% of recorded county totals, but its own Nevada benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- With no NFIP county row, the declaration register and modeled NRI remain distinct evidence rather than substitutes for a claims history. Disaster-data guide
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
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.