FEMA Records
20
Above median
South Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Greenwood County, SC
20 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 20
- FEMA declarations
- 6
- Major disasters
- 73
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Greenwood County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 20 declarations, more than 46% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 22% below the South Carolina county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 27%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 27%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 20
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 43
- 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 45047 · Greenwood County 20 declarations · rank 1656/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 20
- MAJOR-LIGHT 30%
- RANK-LOWER #1,656
- PHOTO-FINISH Monona
- NRI-LOW 73
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -22%
Nearest declaration peer: Monona, IA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Carolina state profile
Greenwood County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Greenwood County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Cleveland · near 20
Cleveland · near
20 declarations
- Greenwood · this county 20
Greenwood · this county
20 declarations
- Monona · near 20
Monona · near
20 declarations
- Tallapoosa · near 20
Tallapoosa · near
20 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Greenwood County carries 20 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1656 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Greenwood County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Greenwood County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Greenwood County
20 46th percentile higher than 46% 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
Greenwood County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Greenwood County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $9.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Cold Wave 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 Greenwood County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 72.7/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $27.3M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate 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, Cold Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 5 years here, based on 4 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 43 claims and $726.3K 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 South Carolina county averages 25.6 federal declaration records, while Greenwood County has 20. 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.
52 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Greenwood County, SC · 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
14/30
20 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
10/25
20 declarations (0.8x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
8/25
6 of 20 declarations are major disasters (30%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Greenwood County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Greenwood 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
30%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
73
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Greenwood 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 High | roughly once every 5 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 358 years |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 15 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 3.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 54 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.1 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,863 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 4 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 48 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 2.8 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 10
Tropical Storm 2
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Winter Storm 1
Flood 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Greenwood County's federal record, 50% 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).
Emergency - 14 70.0%
of all 20 declarations
Major Disaster - 6 30.0%
of all 20 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 3 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 20 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 20 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3632 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4829 | HURRICANE HELENE | DR | Hurricane | 2024-09-29 |
| 3619 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3606 | HURRICANE DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-05 |
| 3597 | HURRICANE IDALIA | EM | Hurricane | 2023-08-31 |
| 4677 | HURRICANE IAN | DR | Hurricane | 2022-11-21 |
| 3585 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-09-29 |
| 4492 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3470 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3421 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-01 |
| 3400 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4346 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-10-16 |
| 3386 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-07 |
| 3378 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | EM | Hurricane | 2016-10-06 |
| 4241 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2015-10-05 |
| 3373 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2015-10-03 |
| 3369 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-02-12 |
| 3233 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1313 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-01-31 |
| 3047 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-08-04 |
Storm Events in South Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Greenwood County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,845 | 11 | 40 | $11.4M |
| Hail | 1,207 | 0 | 0 | $25.1M |
| Flash Flood | 954 | 20 | 35 | $150.4M |
| Strong Wind | 395 | 4 | 13 | $711.8K |
| Tornado | 320 | 9 | 110 | $127.1M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
43
Total Paid
$726.3K
Avg Per Claim
$16.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 72.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$27.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Hurricane Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought Relatively Low
Winter Weather 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 Greenwood County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
Greenwood County's closest FEMA peer: Deschutes County, OR
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Greenwood County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Greenwood County shows 20 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Greenwood County: 6 of 20 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Greenwood County: NRI composite 72.7 (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 Greenwood County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Greenwood 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: 72.7 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 20. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 20 FEMA declarations, Greenwood 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 Greenwood County?
The most common disaster type in Greenwood County is Hurricane, with 10 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (2), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Greenwood County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Carolina average?
The typical South Carolina county has 25.6 FEMA declaration records; Greenwood County has 20, or 22% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 3% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Greenwood County received?
Greenwood County has received 6 major disaster declarations, representing 30% of all 20 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Greenwood County filed?
Greenwood County has 43 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $726.3K in payments, with an average of $16.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Greenwood County?
No. In Greenwood County, Cold Wave has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $9.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Greenwood County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Greenwood County was 2024, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Greenwood County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Greenwood County, South Carolina has an overall risk score of 72.7 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $27.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Greenwood County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Greenwood County is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively High) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at roughly once every 5 years, drawn from 4 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 Greenwood County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events