FEMA Records
12
Low volume
Michigan · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Gratiot County, MI
12 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 12
- FEMA declarations
- 8
- Major disasters
- 54
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Gratiot County. Its 12 FEMA declarations are 20% above the Michigan county mean and exceed the count for 14% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 46%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 46%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 12
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 36
- 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 26057 · Gratiot County 12 declarations · rank 2731/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 12
- MAJOR-MID 67%
- RANK-LOWER #2,731
- PHOTO-FINISH Johnson
- NRI-LOW 54
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +20%
Nearest declaration peer: Johnson, KS (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Michigan state profile
Gratiot County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Gratiot County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Crane · near 12
Crane · near
12 declarations
- Gratiot · this county 12
Gratiot · this county
12 declarations
- Johnson · near 12
Johnson · near
12 declarations
- Seward · near 12
Seward · near
12 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Gratiot County carries 12 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2731 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Gratiot County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Gratiot County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Gratiot County
12 14th percentile higher than 14% 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
Gratiot County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Gratiot County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $9.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Strong Wind carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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 Gratiot County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 54.1/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $16.7M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Strong Wind stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3.8 times per year here, based on 144 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 36 claims and $148.9K 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. Gratiot County's 12 federal records stand 20% above the Michigan county mean of 10.0. 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.
56 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Gratiot County, MI · 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
9/30
12 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
15/25
12 declarations (1.2x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
8 of 12 declarations are major disasters (67%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Gratiot County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Gratiot 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
67%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
54
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Gratiot 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 3.8 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 16 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 55 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 14 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,626 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 32 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 56,984 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 4
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Severe Storm 2
Hurricane 1
Tornado 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Gratiot County's record, 33% 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 - 8 66.7%
of all 12 declarations
Emergency - 4 33.3%
of all 12 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 12 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 12 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4925 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4494 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3455 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3225 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 3160 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-01-10 |
| 1226 | SEVERE STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-06-24 |
| 774 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-09-18 |
| 744 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1985-09-18 |
| 3057 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-27 |
| 495 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, ICING & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1976-03-19 |
| 486 | SEVERE STORMS, HIGH WINDS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-09-30 |
| 190 | TORNADOES & SEVERE STORMS | DR | Tornado | 1965-04-14 |
Storm Events in Michigan
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Gratiot County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,010 | 10 | 18 | $173.8M |
| Winter Storm | 1,486 | 3 | 11 | $41.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,254 | 21 | 38 | $892.0K |
| Hail | 962 | 0 | 0 | $77.1M |
| High Wind | 389 | 3 | 2 | $668.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
36
Total Paid
$148.9K
Avg Per Claim
$4.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 54.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$16.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Strong Wind Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Wildfire 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: Strong Wind
Strong Wind covers damaging non-thunderstorm, non-tornadic wind, the kind produced by steep pressure gradients and downslope events. It is a broad, frequent, low-drama hazard: roofs, signage, power lines and high-profile vehicles, spread across a wide area rather than concentrated on a path.
Worth noting for Gratiot County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Strong Wind carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), 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
Gratiot County's closest FEMA peer: Teton County, MT
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Gratiot County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Gratiot County shows 12 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Gratiot County: 8 of 12 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Gratiot County: NRI composite 54.1 (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 Gratiot County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Gratiot 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: 54.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 12. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 12 FEMA declarations, Gratiot 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 Gratiot County?
The most common disaster type in Gratiot County is Flood, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Snowstorm (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Gratiot County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Michigan average?
FEMA lists 12 declaration records for Gratiot County. That is 20% above the Michigan county mean of 10.0. Its count is also 42% 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 Gratiot County received?
Gratiot County has received 8 major disaster declarations, representing 67% of all 12 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Gratiot County filed?
Gratiot County has 36 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $148.9K in payments, with an average of $4.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Gratiot County?
No. In Gratiot County, Strong Wind has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $9.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Gratiot County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Gratiot County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Gratiot County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Gratiot County, Michigan has an overall risk score of 54.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $16.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Gratiot County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Gratiot County as of the latest release is Strong Wind (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively High) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts strong wind here at an average of 3.8 times per year, drawn from 144 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 Gratiot County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Michigan profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events