FEMA Records
8
Low volume
Colorado · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Grand County, CO
8 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2021), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 8
- FEMA declarations
- 3
- Major disasters
- 50
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Grand County: 8 FEMA declaration records are 22% below the Colorado county mean, even though the count is higher than 6% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks in the riskiest 50%.
- Riskiest 50%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 8
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 7
- 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 08049 · Grand County 8 declarations · rank 3039/3,266
DECL-LIGHT · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-MODERATE · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-LIGHT 8
- MAJOR-LIGHT 38%
- RANK-LOWER #3,039
- PHOTO-FINISH Marion
- NRI-LOW 50
- ACT-MODERATE Moderate
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-BELOW -22%
Nearest declaration peer: Marion, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Colorado state profile
Grand County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Grand County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Grand · this county 8
Grand · this county
8 declarations
- Kane · near 8
Kane · near
8 declarations
- Marion · near 8
Marion · near
8 declarations
- Mesa · near 8
Mesa · near
8 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Grand County carries 8 FEMA declaration records, ranked 3039 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Grand County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Grand County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Grand County
8 6th percentile higher than 6% 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
Grand County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Grand County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $12.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), 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 Grand County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 50.2/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $20.3M in annualized losses), and a Very Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Moderate community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. 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 1 years here, based on 28 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 7 claims and $46.2K 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 Colorado county averages 10.2 federal declaration records, while Grand County has 8. The gap is 22% 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.
38 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Grand County, CO · 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
6/30
8 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
10/25
8 declarations (0.8x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
9/25
3 of 8 declarations are major disasters (38%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Grand County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Grand 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
38%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
50
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Grand 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 1 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 60 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 972 years |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 961 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 26 times per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 41 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 3
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Grand County's record, 38% 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).
Emergency - 4 50.0%
of all 8 declarations
Major Disaster - 3 37.5%
of all 8 declarations
Fire Management - 1 12.5%
of all 8 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 8 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 8 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4581 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2021-01-15 |
| 5378 | EAST TROUBLESOME FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-10-17 |
| 4498 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3436 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3224 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-05 |
| 3185 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2003-04-09 |
| 1421 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2002-06-19 |
| 3025 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-01-29 |
Storm Events in Colorado
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Grand County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 4,913 | 0 | 100 | $2.9B |
| Winter Weather | 2,620 | 3 | 23 | $22.5K |
| High Wind | 1,992 | 5 | 6 | $20.9M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,741 | 2 | 11 | $5.4M |
| Winter Storm | 1,497 | 0 | 0 | $848.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
7
Total Paid
$46.2K
Avg Per Claim
$6.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 50.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$20.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Avalanche Very High
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Heat Wave 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: 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 Grand 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
Grand County's closest FEMA peer: Montmorency County, MI
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Grand County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Grand County shows 8 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Grand County: 3 of 8 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Grand County: NRI composite 50.2 (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 Grand County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Grand 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: 50.2 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 8. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Avalanche as the top modeled exposure here (Very High); 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).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Grand County?
The most common disaster type in Grand County is Fire, with 3 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Coastal Storm (1), Snowstorm (1).
How does Grand County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Colorado average?
The typical Colorado county has 10.2 FEMA declaration records; Grand County has 8, or 22% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 61% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Grand County received?
Grand County has received 3 major disaster declarations, representing 38% of all 8 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Grand County filed?
Grand County has 7 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $46.2K in payments, with an average of $6.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Grand County?
No. In Grand County, Avalanche has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $12.1M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Grand County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Grand County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2021.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Grand County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Grand County, Colorado has an overall risk score of 50.2 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $20.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Grand County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Grand County is Avalanche (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Moderate) and Lightning (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts avalanche here at roughly once every 1 years, drawn from 28 historical events on record. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against 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 Grand County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Colorado profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events