FEMA Records
26
High volume
Kentucky · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Fulton County, KY
26 FEMA disaster declarations (1973-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 26
- FEMA declarations
- 19
- Major disasters
- 47
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Fulton County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 26 declarations, more than 75% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 7% below the Kentucky county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 47%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 47%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 26
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 25
- 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 21075 · Fulton County 26 declarations · rank 795/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 26
- MAJOR-MID 73%
- RANK-MID #795
- PHOTO-FINISH Hunterdon
- NRI-LOW 47
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -7%
Nearest declaration peer: Hunterdon, NJ (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Kentucky state profile
Fulton County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Fulton County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Fulton · this county 26
Fulton · this county
26 declarations
- Hunterdon · near 26
Hunterdon · near
26 declarations
- Pierce · near 26
Pierce · near
26 declarations
- San Sebastián · near 26
San Sebastián · near
26 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Fulton County carries 26 FEMA declaration records, ranked 795 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Fulton County ranks in the national declaration registry
Fulton County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Fulton County
26 Top 25% higher than 75% 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
Fulton County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Fulton County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 46.8/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $9.6M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Very Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Earthquake carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 61 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 25 claims and $591.0K 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 Kentucky county averages 28.1 federal declaration records, while Fulton County has 26. The gap is 7% 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.
69 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Fulton County, KY · 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
19/30
26 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
26 declarations (0.9x state county average of 28)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
19 of 26 declarations are major disasters (73%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Fulton County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Fulton 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
73%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
47
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Fulton 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 Moderate | roughly once every 61 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 11 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 11 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 6.4 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 77 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 57 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 3 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 15,650 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 10
Flood 5
Tornado 3
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Snowstorm 2
Winter Storm 1
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Fulton County's record, 38% 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 - 19 73.1%
of all 26 declarations
Emergency - 7 26.9%
of all 26 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 3 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 4 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 26 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 26 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3633 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4864 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-04-24 |
| 3626 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-04-03 |
| 3624 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-02-16 |
| 4804 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-07-23 |
| 4630 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2021-12-12 |
| 3575 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | EM | Tornado | 2021-12-11 |
| 4497 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3469 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4428 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-04-17 |
| 4361 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2018-04-26 |
| 4218 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2015-05-12 |
| 1976 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-05-04 |
| 1841 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-05-29 |
| 1818 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-02-05 |
| 3302 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-01-28 |
| 1802 | SEVERE WIND STORM ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL DEPRESSION IKE | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-10-09 |
| 1757 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-05-19 |
| 3231 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1578 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD SNOW | DR | Snowstorm | 2005-02-08 |
Show 6 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1163 | SEVERE STORM, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-03-04 |
| 1089 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 1055 | TORNADOES, SEVERE WINDS, HAIL | DR | Tornado | 1995-06-13 |
| 893 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1991-01-29 |
| 461 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-03-29 |
| 381 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-05-11 |
Storm Events in Kentucky
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Fulton County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,702 | 9 | 56 | $55.2M |
| Flash Flood | 1,757 | 65 | 16 | $42.6M |
| Flood | 1,646 | 31 | 6 | $37.1M |
| Hail | 1,534 | 1 | 0 | $4.7M |
| Winter Weather | 1,079 | 14 | 54 | $655.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
25
Total Paid
$591.0K
Avg Per Claim
$23.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 46.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$9.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively High
Drought Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Wildfire 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 Fulton County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Fulton County's closest FEMA peer: Greene County, VA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Fulton County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Fulton County shows 26 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Fulton County: 19 of 26 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Fulton County: NRI composite 46.8 (Relatively 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 Fulton County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Fulton 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: 46.8 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 26. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 26 FEMA declarations, Fulton 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 Fulton County?
The most common disaster type in Fulton County is Severe Storm, with 10 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (5), Tornado (3), Biological (2).
How does Fulton County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Kentucky average?
The typical Kentucky county has 28.1 FEMA declaration records; Fulton County has 26, or 7% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 25% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Fulton County received?
Fulton County has received 19 major disaster declarations, representing 73% of all 26 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Fulton County filed?
Fulton County has 25 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $591.0K in payments, with an average of $23.6K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Fulton County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Fulton County was 2009, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1973 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Fulton County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Fulton County, Kentucky has an overall risk score of 46.8 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $9.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Fulton County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Fulton County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively High) and Drought (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 61 years. 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 Fulton County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Kentucky profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events