FEMA Records
15
Below median
Montana · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Flathead County, MT
15 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 15
- FEMA declarations
- 9
- Major disasters
- 86
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Flathead County. Its 15 FEMA declarations are 37% above the Montana county mean and exceed the count for 23% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 14%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 14%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 15
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 132
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 30029 · Flathead County 15 declarations · rank 2372/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 15
- MAJOR-MID 60%
- RANK-LOWER #2,372
- PHOTO-FINISH Polk
- NRI-MID 86
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-ABOVE +37%
Nearest declaration peer: Polk, OR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Montana state profile
Flathead County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Flathead County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Flathead · this county 15
Flathead · this county
15 declarations
- Monroe · near 15
Monroe · near
15 declarations
- Murray · near 15
Murray · near
15 declarations
- Polk · near 15
Polk · near
15 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Flathead County carries 15 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2372 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Flathead County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Flathead County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Flathead County
15 23rd percentile higher than 23% 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
Flathead County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Flathead County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $23.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Avalanche 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 Flathead County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 132 paid claims, totaling $690.3K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $5.2K 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. Flathead County's 15 federal records stand 37% above the Montana county mean of 11.0. 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 86.5/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $75.4M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very Low and community resilience Relatively Moderate, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Avalanche stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 2 years here, based on 15 historical events on record.
58 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Flathead County, MT · 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
11/30
15 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
17/25
15 declarations (1.4x state county average of 11)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
9 of 15 declarations are major disasters (60%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Flathead County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Flathead 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
60%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
86
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Flathead 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Avalanche | Very High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.2 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 33 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 301 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 4.2 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 50 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1 time per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 67 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 21 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 1.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 36 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 14 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 5
Flood 3
Severe Storm 3
Biological 2
Straight-Line Winds 1
Hurricane 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Flathead County's record, 33% of its declarations. Wildfire is the one hazard here with its own dedicated federal instrument: the Fire Management Assistance Grant, which appears in this data as an FM record. An FMAG can be authorised while a fire is still burning, on a timescale of hours, because its purpose is to reimburse the cost of fighting a fire that threatens to become a major disaster.
That distinction matters when comparing counties. An FM declaration is not a presidential major disaster declaration and does not carry the same assistance programmes, so a fire-heavy county's total is not directly comparable with a hurricane-heavy county's total unless the declaration types are separated, which is why they are listed separately on this page.
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 - 9 60.0%
of all 15 declarations
Fire Management - 4 26.7%
of all 15 declarations
Emergency - 2 13.3%
of all 15 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 3 | |
| 2000 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 15 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 15 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4902 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Straight-Line Winds | 2026-04-07 |
| 4655 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2022-06-16 |
| 4508 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-31 |
| 3476 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1996 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-06-17 |
| 3253 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 2494 | MT-FLATHEAD FIRE ZONE-8/20/03 | FM | Fire | 2003-08-21 |
| 2485 | MT-WEDGE CANYON FIRE-07/18/2003 | FM | Fire | 2003-07-25 |
| 2484 | MT-ROBERT FIRE-07-23-03 | FM | Fire | 2003-07-25 |
| 1340 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2000-08-30 |
| 2320 | MT - NORTHWESTERN ZONE 1 FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2000-08-14 |
| 1183 | SEVERE STORMS,ICE JAMS, SNOW MELT, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-07-25 |
| 1113 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, ICE JAMS, SOIL SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-05-16 |
| 472 | RAINS, SHOWMELT, STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-06-28 |
| 417 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING & LANDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 1974-01-29 |
Storm Events in Montana
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Flathead County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 3,735 | 1 | 2 | $5.3M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 2,396 | 5 | 24 | $15.1M |
| Hail | 2,015 | 0 | 0 | $4.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,502 | 13 | 18 | $11.2M |
| Heavy Snow | 796 | 5 | 3 | $143.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
132
Total Paid
$690.3K
Avg Per Claim
$5.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 86.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$75.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Avalanche Very High
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Hail Very Low
Strong Wind 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: Avalanche
Avalanche is the most geographically restricted hazard in the model, limited to steep terrain holding seasonal snow. Its exposure concentrates on mountain roads, rail corridors and backcountry recreation rather than on the built environment generally.
Worth noting for Flathead County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Avalanche carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), while the county's declaration history is led by Fire. 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
Flathead County's closest FEMA peer: Mariposa County, CA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Flathead County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Flathead County: NRI composite 86.5 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar Major-disaster share
Flathead County: 9 of 15 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Flathead County shows 15 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
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 Flathead County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Flathead 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: 86.5 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 15. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Flathead County's NFIP claims file (132 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 Flathead County?
The most common disaster type in Flathead County is Fire, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (3), Severe Storm (3), Biological (2).
How does Flathead County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Montana average?
FEMA lists 15 declaration records for Flathead County. That is 37% above the Montana county mean of 11.0. Its count is also 28% below 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 Flathead County received?
Flathead County has received 9 major disaster declarations, representing 60% of all 15 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Flathead County filed?
Flathead County has 132 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $690.3K in payments, with an average of $5.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Flathead County?
No. In Flathead County, Avalanche has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $23.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Flathead County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Flathead County was 2003, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Flathead County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Flathead County, Montana has an overall risk score of 86.5 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $75.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Flathead County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Flathead County is Avalanche (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Moderate) and Earthquake (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts avalanche here at roughly once every 2 years, drawn from 15 historical events on record. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Flathead County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Montana profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events