FEMA Records
18
Below median
West Virginia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Hancock County, WV
18 FEMA disaster declarations (1972-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 18
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 41
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Hancock County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 18 declarations, more than 37% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 26% below the West Virginia county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 41%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 41%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 18
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 365
- 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 54029 · Hancock County 18 declarations · rank 1985/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 18
- MAJOR-MID 67%
- RANK-LOWER #1,985
- PHOTO-FINISH Monroe
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -26%
Nearest declaration peer: Monroe, TN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · West Virginia state profile
Hancock County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Hancock County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Brooke · near 18
Brooke · near
18 declarations
- Hancock · this county 18
Hancock · this county
18 declarations
- Mecklenburg · near 18
Mecklenburg · near
18 declarations
- Monroe · near 18
Monroe · near
18 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Hancock County carries 18 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1985 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Hancock County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Hancock County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Hancock County
18 37th percentile higher than 37% 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 $10.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Landslide carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low). 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
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 365 paid claims, totaling $4.0M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $10.9K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a West Virginia county averages 24.2 federal declaration records, while Hancock County has 18. The gap is 26% 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
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 40.7/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $11.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively Moderate) and community resilience (Relatively Moderate) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Landslide, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 6 years here.
57 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Hancock County, WV · 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
13/30
18 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
18 declarations (0.7x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
12 of 18 declarations are major disasters (67%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 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
67%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
41
Very 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 36 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.8 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 42 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,110 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 29 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 14,724 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 10 times per year |
| Cold Wave | 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
Severe Storm 5
Flood 4
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Hurricane 2
Winter Storm 1
Mud/Landslide 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Hancock County's record, 28% 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 - 12 66.7%
of all 18 declarations
Emergency - 6 33.3%
of all 18 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 18 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 18 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3639 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4787 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2024-05-24 |
| 4783 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-05-22 |
| 4517 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-03 |
| 3450 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4359 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Mud/Landslide | 2018-04-17 |
| 3358 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 3345 | SEVERE STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2012-06-30 |
| 1903 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | DR | Snowstorm | 2010-04-23 |
| 3221 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1574 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-02-01 |
| 1558 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-20 |
| 1455 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, RECORD/NEAR RECORD SNOW, HEAVY RAINS, FLOODING AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-03-14 |
| 1096 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-01-25 |
| 1084 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3109 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
| 628 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1980-08-15 |
| 344 | TROPICAL STORM AGNES | DR | Flood | 1972-07-03 |
Storm Events in West Virginia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Hancock County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,644 | 4 | 9 | $16.4M |
| Winter Weather | 1,939 | 0 | 22 | $1.3M |
| Flood | 1,127 | 13 | 0 | $109.0M |
| Flash Flood | 1,003 | 33 | 1 | $141.5M |
| Hail | 757 | 1 | 0 | $6.5M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
365
Total Paid
$4.0M
Avg Per Claim
$10.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 40.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$11.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Landslide Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Cold Wave 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: Landslide
Landslide risk is a function of slope, soil and water, so it is usually a SECOND-ORDER hazard: it is triggered by the rainfall, snowmelt, wildfire burn scars or seismic shaking that came first. That is why a county can carry high landslide exposure whose realized damage is recorded under a flood or storm declaration instead.
Worth noting for Hancock County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Landslide carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), while the county's declaration history is led by Severe Storm. 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
Hancock County's closest FEMA peer: Unicoi County, TN
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 18 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Hancock County: 12 of 18 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Hancock County: NRI composite 40.7 (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 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: 40.7 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 18. 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 (365 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 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Snowstorm (3), Biological (2).
How does Hancock County's FEMA declaration record compare with the West Virginia average?
The typical West Virginia county has 24.2 FEMA declaration records; Hancock County has 18, or 26% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 13% 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 12 major disaster declarations, representing 67% of all 18 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Hancock County filed?
Hancock County has 365 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.0M in payments, with an average of $10.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Hancock County?
No. In Hancock County, Landslide has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $10.5M. 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 1996, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1972 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Hancock County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Hancock County, West Virginia has an overall risk score of 40.7 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $11.8M 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 Landslide (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively Low) and Hurricane (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts landslide here at roughly once every 6 years. FEMA derives these ratings from historical event frequency, the assets exposed, and the community's vulnerability profile.
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 · West Virginia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events