FEMA Records
23
Above median
Texas · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Guadalupe County, TX
23 FEMA disaster declarations (1972-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 23
- FEMA declarations
- 15
- Major disasters
- 92
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Guadalupe County. Its 23 FEMA declarations are 10% above the Texas county mean and exceed the count for 62% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 8%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 8%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 23
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 2,455
- 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 48187 · Guadalupe County 23 declarations · rank 1190/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 23
- MAJOR-MID 65%
- RANK-LOWER #1,190
- PHOTO-FINISH Roanoke
- NRI-MID 92
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +10%
Nearest declaration peer: Roanoke, VA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Texas state profile
Guadalupe County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Guadalupe County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Amherst · near 23
Amherst · near
23 declarations
- Guadalupe · this county 23
Guadalupe · this county
23 declarations
- Roanoke · near 23
Roanoke · near
23 declarations
- Vance · near 23
Vance · near
23 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Guadalupe County carries 23 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1190 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Guadalupe County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Guadalupe County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Guadalupe County
23 Top 38% higher than 62% 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
Guadalupe County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Guadalupe County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 2,455 claims and $109.5M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $44.6K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Guadalupe County's 23 federal records stand 10% above the Texas county mean of 20.9. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 91.5/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $123.7M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very Low and community resilience Relatively Moderate, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Riverine Flooding stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 2.9 times per year here, based on 81 historical events on record.
65 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Guadalupe County, TX · 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
17/30
23 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
23 declarations (1.1x state county average of 21)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
15 of 23 declarations are major disasters (65%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Guadalupe County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Guadalupe 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
65%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
92
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Guadalupe 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 2.9 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 49 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 11 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.6 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 75 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 832 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 18 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 13 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,681 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 6
Hurricane 5
Severe Storm 4
Fire 3
Severe Ice Storm 2
Biological 2
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Guadalupe County's record, 26% 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 - 15 65.2%
of all 23 declarations
Emergency - 8 34.8%
of all 23 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 23 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 23 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4879 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2025-07-06 |
| 4781 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2024-05-17 |
| 4586 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-19 |
| 3554 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-14 |
| 4485 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3458 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4332 | HURRICANE HARVEY | DR | Hurricane | 2017-08-25 |
| 4245 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-11-25 |
| 4223 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-05-29 |
| 3313 | TROPICAL STORM ALEX | EM | Hurricane | 2010-06-29 |
| 3284 | WILDFIRES | EM | Fire | 2008-03-14 |
| 1709 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-06-29 |
| 1624 | EXTREME WILDFIRE THREAT | DR | Fire | 2006-01-11 |
| 1606 | HURRICANE RITA | DR | Hurricane | 2005-09-24 |
| 3261 | HURRICANE RITA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-21 |
| 3216 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-02 |
| 1425 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2002-07-04 |
| 3142 | EXTREME FIRE HAZARDS | EM | Fire | 1999-09-01 |
| 1257 | TX-FLOODING 10/18/98 | DR | Flood | 1998-10-21 |
| 1239 | TROPICAL STORM CHARLEY | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-08-26 |
Show 3 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1179 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1997-07-07 |
| 3113 | EXTREME FIRE HAZARD | EM | Drought | 1993-09-10 |
| 333 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-05-20 |
Storm Events in Texas
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Guadalupe County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 14,072 | 0 | 15 | $7.4B |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 10,293 | 41 | 141 | $369.9M |
| Drought | 7,032 | 0 | 0 | $86.0K |
| Flash Flood | 4,728 | 338 | 24 | $47.6B |
| Heat | 4,079 | 119 | 405 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
2,455
Total Paid
$109.5M
Avg Per Claim
$44.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 91.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$123.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Tornado Relatively High
Hail Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Earthquake 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: Riverine Flooding
Riverine Flooding is the model's measure of a watershed draining more water than its channel can carry. Unlike flash flooding it usually builds over days and is forecast in advance, which makes it the hazard where warning time most reliably converts into reduced harm.
For Guadalupe County the two measures on this page point the same way: Riverine Flooding is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively High), and Flood declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Guadalupe County's closest FEMA peer: Calaveras County, CA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Guadalupe County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Guadalupe County shows 23 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Guadalupe County: 15 of 23 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Guadalupe County: NRI composite 91.5 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Guadalupe County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Guadalupe 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: 91.5 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 23. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Guadalupe County's NFIP claims file (2,455 claims) and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records - this guide separates them from modeled NRI risk.
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 Guadalupe County?
The most common disaster type in Guadalupe County is Flood, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Hurricane (5), Severe Storm (4), Fire (3).
How does Guadalupe County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Texas average?
FEMA lists 23 declaration records for Guadalupe County. That is 10% above the Texas county mean of 20.9. Its count is also 11% 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 Guadalupe County received?
Guadalupe County has received 15 major disaster declarations, representing 65% of all 23 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Guadalupe County filed?
Guadalupe County has 2,455 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $109.5M in payments, with an average of $44.6K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Guadalupe County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Guadalupe County was 2005, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1972 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Guadalupe County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Guadalupe County, Texas has an overall risk score of 91.5 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very Low and community resilience is Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $123.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Guadalupe County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Guadalupe County is Riverine Flooding (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively High) and Hail (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts riverine flooding here at an average of 2.9 times per year, drawn from 81 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 Guadalupe County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Texas profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events