FEMA Records
14
Low volume
Ohio · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Hancock County, OH
14 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 14
- FEMA declarations
- 9
- Major disasters
- 54
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Hancock County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 14 declarations, more than 20% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 4% below the Ohio county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 46%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 46%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 14
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 2,049
- 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 39063 · Hancock County 14 declarations · rank 2508/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 14
- MAJOR-MID 64%
- RANK-LOWER #2,508
- PHOTO-FINISH Pulaski
- NRI-LOW 54
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -4%
Nearest declaration peer: Pulaski, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Ohio state profile
Hancock County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Hancock County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Franklin (city) · near 14
Franklin (city) · near
14 declarations
- Hancock · this county 14
Hancock · this county
14 declarations
- Harris · near 14
Harris · near
14 declarations
- Pulaski · near 14
Pulaski · near
14 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Hancock County carries 14 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2508 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Hancock County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Hancock County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Hancock County
14 20th percentile higher than 20% 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
Hancock County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Hancock County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $18.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Hail carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate). 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 Hancock County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 2,049 claims and $38.6M 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 $18.8K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
Start with the state benchmark: a Ohio county averages 14.6 federal declaration records, while Hancock County has 14. The gap is 4% 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.
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 $30.9M in annualized losses), and a Very Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Hail carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3.3 times per year here, based on 126 historical events on record.
51 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Hancock County, OH · 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
10/30
14 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
14 declarations (1.0x state county average of 15)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
9 of 14 declarations are major disasters (64%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Hancock County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Hancock 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
64%
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 Hancock 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.3 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1 time per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 9.4 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 707 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 4.4 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 58 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 41 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 3.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 13 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 64,679 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 7
Tornado 2
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Hancock County's record, 50% of its declarations. In FEMA's vocabulary this covers convective weather: thunderstorm straight-line winds, large hail, and the multi-day outbreaks that often carry embedded tornadoes. Activity is heaviest in spring and summer, though the season varies by region.
These events behave differently from a hurricane on paper. Damage tends to be distributed along a storm track rather than concentrated on a coastline, and a declaration typically follows an outbreak that crossed several counties over a few days, not a single point of impact. Because the qualifying threshold is the cost of uninsured public and individual losses rather than storm intensity, two similar storms can produce a declaration in one year and none in another.
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 - 9 64.3%
of all 14 declarations
Emergency - 5 35.7%
of all 14 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 1981 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 14 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 14 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4777 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2024-05-02 |
| 4507 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-31 |
| 3457 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4077 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-08-20 |
| 3346 | SEVERE STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2012-06-30 |
| 1720 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-08-27 |
| 3250 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1580 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-02-15 |
| 1556 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-19 |
| 1444 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2002-11-18 |
| 642 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING & TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1981-06-30 |
| 3055 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-26 |
| 3029 | SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-02-02 |
| 191 | TORNADOES & SEVERE STORMS | DR | Tornado | 1965-04-14 |
Storm Events in Ohio
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Hancock County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,938 | 6 | 39 | $60.4M |
| Winter Weather | 2,101 | 7 | 42 | $3.3M |
| Hail | 1,749 | 0 | 0 | $673.5K |
| Flood | 1,607 | 9 | 0 | $84.5M |
| Flash Flood | 1,089 | 9 | 7 | $112.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
2,049
Total Paid
$38.6M
Avg Per Claim
$18.8K
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
$30.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Earthquake Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Landslide Very 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: Hail
Hail is among the most expensive hazards in the model relative to how little it threatens life. It concentrates on roofs, vehicles and crops, and a single severe storm can generate an insurance loss across a metropolitan area without a single injury.
For Hancock County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hail is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Moderate), and Severe Storm 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
Hancock County's closest FEMA peer: Shiawassee County, MI
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Hancock County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Hancock County shows 14 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Hancock County: 9 of 14 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Hancock 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 Hancock County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Hancock 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: 14. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Hancock County's NFIP claims file (2,049 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 Hancock County?
The most common disaster type in Hancock County is Severe Storm, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Tornado (2), Biological (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Hancock County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Ohio average?
The typical Ohio county has 14.6 FEMA declaration records; Hancock County has 14, or 4% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 32% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Hancock County received?
Hancock County has received 9 major disaster declarations, representing 64% of all 14 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Hancock County filed?
Hancock County has 2,049 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $38.6M in payments, with an average of $18.8K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Hancock County?
No. In Hancock County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $18.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Hancock County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Hancock County was 2005, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Hancock County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Hancock County, Ohio has an overall risk score of 54.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $30.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Hancock County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Hancock County is Hail (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively Moderate) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 3.3 times per year, drawn from 126 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 Hancock County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Ohio profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events