FEMA Records
23
Above median
North Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Harnett County, NC
23 FEMA disaster declarations (1968-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 23
- FEMA declarations
- 11
- Major disasters
- 75
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Harnett County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 23 declarations, more than 62% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 4% below the North Carolina county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 25%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 25%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 23
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 116
- 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 37085 · Harnett County 23 declarations · rank 1183/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 23
- MAJOR-LIGHT 48%
- RANK-LOWER #1,183
- PHOTO-FINISH Roanoke
- NRI-LOW 75
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -4%
Nearest declaration peer: Roanoke, VA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · North Carolina state profile
Harnett County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Harnett County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Amherst · near 23
Amherst · near
23 declarations
- Harnett · this county 23
Harnett · 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 Harnett County carries 23 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1183 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Harnett County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Harnett County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Harnett 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
Harnett County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Harnett County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $16.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Hurricane 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 Harnett County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 116 paid claims, totaling $2.5M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $21.6K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a North Carolina county averages 24.0 federal declaration records, while Harnett County has 23. 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 sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 75.3/100 (Relatively Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $37.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Hurricane carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 5 years here, based on 60 historical events on record.
61 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Harnett County, NC · 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 Moderate
12/25
23 declarations (1.0x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
11 of 23 declarations are major disasters (48%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Harnett County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Harnett 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
48%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
75
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Harnett 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 5 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 8.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.1 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 52 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1 time per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.1 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,316 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 740 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 13 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 12
Tropical Storm 2
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Winter Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Harnett County's federal record, 52% 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 - 12 52.2%
of all 23 declarations
Major Disaster - 11 47.8%
of all 23 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1968 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3637 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 3617 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3608 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-06 |
| 3586 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-10-01 |
| 3534 | HURRICANE ISAIAS | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-02 |
| 4487 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3471 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3423 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-03 |
| 4393 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | DR | Hurricane | 2018-09-14 |
| 3401 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4285 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | DR | Hurricane | 2016-10-10 |
| 3380 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | EM | Hurricane | 2016-10-07 |
| 1969 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-04-19 |
| 3222 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1490 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-18 |
| 1448 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2002-12-12 |
| 1312 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-01-31 |
| 1292 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-16 |
| 3146 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-15 |
| 1134 | HURRICANE FRAN | DR | Hurricane | 1996-09-06 |
Show 3 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1087 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3049 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-08-11 |
| 234 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 1968-02-10 |
Storm Events in North Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Harnett County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,123 | 11 | 60 | $62.9M |
| Flash Flood | 1,881 | 105 | 6 | $2.3B |
| Hail | 1,623 | 0 | 0 | $122.5M |
| Winter Weather | 1,272 | 6 | 2 | $425.0K |
| Winter Storm | 743 | 7 | 0 | $10.7M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
116
Total Paid
$2.5M
Avg Per Claim
$21.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 75.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$37.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Relatively Low
Earthquake Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Landslide 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: Hurricane
Hurricane exposure in the model bundles the three ways a tropical system does harm, which arrive on different timescales and are insured differently: wind, storm surge on the coast, and rainfall flooding that can reach far inland well after landfall.
For Harnett County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Moderate), and Hurricane 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
Harnett County's closest FEMA peer: Hampshire County, MA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Harnett County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Harnett County shows 23 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Harnett County: 11 of 23 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Harnett County: NRI composite 75.3 (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 Harnett County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Harnett 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: 75.3 (Relatively Low).
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
Harnett County's NFIP claims file (116 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 Harnett County?
The most common disaster type in Harnett County is Hurricane, with 12 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (2), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Harnett County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Carolina average?
The typical North Carolina county has 24.0 FEMA declaration records; Harnett County has 23, or 4% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 11% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Harnett County received?
Harnett County has received 11 major disaster declarations, representing 48% of all 23 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Harnett County filed?
Harnett County has 116 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $2.5M in payments, with an average of $21.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Harnett County?
No. In Harnett County, Hurricane has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $16.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Harnett County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Harnett County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1968 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Harnett County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Harnett County, North Carolina has an overall risk score of 75.3 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $37.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Harnett County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Harnett County is Hurricane (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively Moderate) and Heat Wave (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 5 years, drawn from 60 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 Harnett County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · North Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events