FEMA Records
14
Low volume
Virginia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Franklin (city), VA
14 FEMA disaster declarations (1993-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 14
- FEMA declarations
- 8
- Major disasters
- 8
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Franklin (city) has a nationally busy FEMA history: 14 declarations, more than 20% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 31% below the Virginia county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 8%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 8%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 14
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 106
- 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 51620 · Franklin (city) 14 declarations · rank 2502/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 14
- MAJOR-MID 57%
- RANK-LOWER #2,502
- PHOTO-FINISH Pulaski
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -31%
Nearest declaration peer: Pulaski, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Virginia state profile
Franklin (city) among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Franklin (city) and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Franklin (city) · this county 14
Franklin (city) · this county
14 declarations
- Harris · near 14
Harris · near
14 declarations
- Madison · near 14
Madison · near
14 declarations
- Pulaski · near 14
Pulaski · near
14 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Franklin (city) carries 14 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2502 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Franklin (city) versus quieter counties in this dataset
Franklin (city) among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Franklin (city)
14 20th percentile higher than 20% 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
Franklin (city)'s FEMA Risk Index score
What does Franklin (city)'s hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 106 paid claims, totaling $5.0M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $47.0K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Virginia county averages 20.4 federal declaration records, while Franklin (city) has 14. The gap is 31% 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's National Risk Index places this county in the low end of the national distribution, composite score 7.5/100 (Very Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $3.0M in annualized losses). Two modifiers shape how that exposure becomes real-world harm here: social vulnerability (Relatively High) and community resilience (Relatively High). Even the county's top-rated hazard, Hurricane, 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 4 years here, based on 40 historical events on record.
46 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Franklin (city), VA · 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
10/30
14 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
14 declarations (0.7x state county average of 20)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
8 of 14 declarations are major disasters (57%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Franklin (city)
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Franklin (city)
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
57%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
8
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Franklin (city)?
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 4.4 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 971 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 6.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 209 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 46 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 5,373 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 601 years |
| Drought | No Rating | 2.2 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 8
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Winter Storm 1
Severe Storm 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Franklin (city)'s federal record, 57% 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).
Major Disaster - 8 57.1%
of all 14 declarations
Emergency - 6 42.9%
of all 14 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 14 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 14 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3631 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4512 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-02 |
| 3448 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4401 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | DR | Hurricane | 2018-10-15 |
| 3403 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-11 |
| 4291 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | DR | Hurricane | 2016-11-02 |
| 3359 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 4024 | HURRICANE IRENE | DR | Hurricane | 2011-09-03 |
| 3240 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-12 |
| 1491 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-18 |
| 1318 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-02-28 |
| 1293 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-18 |
| 1086 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3112 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-25 |
Storm Events in Virginia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Franklin (city).
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 8,940 | 13 | 31 | $123.1M |
| Flood | 2,300 | 4 | 0 | $85.1M |
| Winter Weather | 2,049 | 6 | 32 | $902.0K |
| Flash Flood | 1,942 | 13 | 4 | $244.2M |
| Heavy Rain | 1,566 | 0 | 0 | $2.5M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
106
Total Paid
$5.0M
Avg Per Claim
$47.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 7.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$3.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Hail Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought 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: Hurricane
Hurricane exposure in the model bundles the three ways a tropical system does harm, which arrive on different timescales and are insured differently: wind, storm surge on the coast, and rainfall flooding that can reach far inland well after landfall.
For Franklin (city) the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Low), and Hurricane 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
Franklin (city)'s closest FEMA peer: Marshall County, IL
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Franklin (city). Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Franklin (city) shows 14 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Franklin (city): 8 of 14 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Franklin (city): NRI composite 7.5 (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 Franklin (city) - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Franklin (city): 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: 7.5 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 14. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Franklin (city)'s NFIP claims file (106 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 Franklin (city)?
The most common disaster type in Franklin (city) is Hurricane, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Snowstorm (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Franklin (city)'s FEMA declaration record compare with the Virginia average?
The typical Virginia county has 20.4 FEMA declaration records; Franklin (city) has 14, or 31% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 32% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Franklin (city) received?
Franklin (city) has received 8 major disaster declarations, representing 57% of all 14 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Franklin (city) filed?
Franklin (city) has 106 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $5.0M in payments, with an average of $47.0K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Franklin (city)?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Franklin (city) was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1993 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Franklin (city)?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Franklin (city), Virginia has an overall risk score of 7.5 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively High and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $3.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Franklin (city)?
FEMA's NRI data points to Franklin (city) as of the latest release is Hurricane (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively Low) and Earthquake (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 4 years, drawn from 40 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 Franklin (city) · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Virginia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events