FEMA Records
22
Above median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Grant County, SD
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 19
- Major disasters
- 19
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Grant County. Its 22 FEMA declarations are 16% above the South Dakota county mean and exceed the count for 57% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 19%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 19%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 40
- 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 46051 · Grant County 22 declarations · rank 1278/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-HEAVY 86%
- RANK-LOWER #1,278
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +16%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Dakota state profile
Grant County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Grant County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Grant · this county 22
Grant · this county
22 declarations
- Hardy · near 22
Hardy · near
22 declarations
- Prairie · near 22
Prairie · near
22 declarations
- St. Francis · near 22
St. Francis · near
22 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Grant County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1278 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Grant County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Grant County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Grant County
22 Top 43% higher than 57% 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
Grant County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Grant County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 18.9/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $10.7M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Very Low social-vulnerability score and Relatively High community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Cold Wave carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 14 times per year here, based on 259 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 40 claims and $329.1K 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.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Grant County's 22 federal records stand 16% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. 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.
67 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Grant County, SD · 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
16/30
22 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
22 declarations (1.2x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
19 of 22 declarations are major disasters (86%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Grant County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Grant 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
86%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
19
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Grant 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 14 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 23 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,169 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.9 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 10 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 5.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 2.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.7 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 1 time per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 4,651 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 33 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 9
Severe Storm 8
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Grant County's record, 41% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
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 86.4%
of all 22 declarations
Emergency - 3 13.6%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
Show 4 earlier declaration years
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 22 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 22 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4718 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-07-06 |
| 4656 | SEVERE STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2022-06-29 |
| 4527 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3475 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4440 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-07 |
| 4298 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-02-01 |
| 4137 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-08-02 |
| 1984 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-13 |
| 1915 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2010-05-13 |
| 1887 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-10 |
| 1620 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-12-20 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 1375 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Flood | 2001-05-17 |
| 1173 | SEVERE FLOODING, SEVER WINTER STORMS,HEAVY RAINS HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1156 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-10 |
| 1075 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-05 |
| 1052 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1995-05-26 |
| 1031 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-06-21 |
| 999 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-07-19 |
| 764 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-05-03 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3015 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
| 257 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-18 |
Storm Events in South Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Grant County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,388 | 7 | 21 | $10.7M |
| Hail | 4,801 | 0 | 3 | $4.5M |
| High Wind | 2,277 | 0 | 1 | $35.0K |
| Winter Weather | 2,125 | 20 | 50 | $133.0K |
| Flood | 1,523 | 5 | 0 | $196.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
40
Total Paid
$329.1K
Avg Per Claim
$8.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 18.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Lightning 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: Cold Wave
Cold Wave measures exposure to extreme cold rather than to snow. Its harm is concentrated in health effects, burst infrastructure and energy demand spikes, and it falls hardest where the building stock and the grid were not built with sustained cold in mind.
Worth noting for Grant County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. 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
Grant County's closest FEMA peer: Chase County, KS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Grant County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Grant County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Grant County: 19 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Grant County: NRI composite 18.9 (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 Grant County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Grant 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: 18.9 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 22. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 22 FEMA declarations, Grant 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 Grant County?
The most common disaster type in Grant County is Flood, with 9 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (8), Biological (2), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Grant County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
FEMA lists 22 declaration records for Grant County. That is 16% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. Its count is also 6% above 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 Grant County received?
Grant County has received 19 major disaster declarations, representing 86% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Grant County filed?
Grant County has 40 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $329.1K in payments, with an average of $8.2K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Grant County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Grant County was 1997, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Grant County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Grant County, South Dakota has an overall risk score of 18.9 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Grant County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Grant County as of the latest release is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively Moderate) and Winter Weather (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 14 times per year, drawn from 259 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 Grant County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Dakota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events