FEMA Records
24
Above median
Iowa · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Harrison County, IA
24 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 24
- FEMA declarations
- 21
- Major disasters
- 31
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Harrison County. Its 24 FEMA declarations are 24% above the Iowa county mean and exceed the count for 66% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 31%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 31%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 24
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 192
- 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.
How does Harrison County compare?
Harrison County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
24 Top 34% higher than 66% 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 · 2026-08-03
Harrison County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Iowa county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Harrison County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $4.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Drought 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 Harrison County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 192 paid claims, totaling $3.4M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $17.9K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Harrison County's 24 federal records stand 24% above the Iowa county mean of 19.3. 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
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 31.3/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $9.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively Moderate) and community resilience (Relatively High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Drought carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 19 modeled event-days per year here, based on 581 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 24 entries for Harrison County, including 21 Major Disaster records, 24% above the Iowa county mean. Across the 60-year span, that works out to 0.4 declarations a year. Flood leads the file with 9 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
73 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Harrison County, IA · 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
24 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
24 declarations (1.2x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
21 of 24 declarations are major disasters (88%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Harrison County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Iowa Avg
+24%
State avg: 19.3
vs. National Avg
+16%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.4
Over 60 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Harrison 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
88%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
31
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Harrison 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 19 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 6.4 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 594 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.5 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 14 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 5.6 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 6.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 44 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,773 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 9
Flood 9
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Tornado 1
Snowstorm 1
Hurricane 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Harrison County's record, 38% 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 - 21 87.5%
of all 24 declarations
Emergency - 3 12.5%
of all 24 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 2 | |
Show 2 earlier declaration years
| 1969 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 24 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 24 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4870 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Winter Storm | 2025-05-21 |
| 4796 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-06-24 |
| 4784 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-05-24 |
| 4779 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2024-05-14 |
| 4483 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-23 |
| 3480 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4421 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-03-23 |
| 1998 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-06-27 |
| 1880 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-02 |
| 1877 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-25 |
| 1763 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-05-27 |
| 1705 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-05-25 |
| 3275 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-03-30 |
| 3239 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1282 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-07-22 |
| 1277 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-05-21 |
| 1230 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1998-07-02 |
| 1133 | SEVERE STORMS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-08-21 |
| 996 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-09 |
| 443 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-24 |
Show 4 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 354 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-09-26 |
| 348 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-08-18 |
| 259 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-25 |
| 193 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-04-22 |
Storm Events in Iowa
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Harrison County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,928 | 6 | 227 | $40.5M |
| Hail | 3,736 | 0 | 0 | $4.3M |
| Heavy Rain | 2,394 | 0 | 0 | $292.0K |
| Drought | 1,556 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 1,543 | 3 | 4 | $2.8M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
192
Total Paid
$3.4M
Avg Per Claim
$17.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 31.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$9.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane 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: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for Harrison County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. 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
Harrison County's closest FEMA peer: Hutchinson County, SD
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Harrison County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Harrison County shows 24 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Harrison County: 21 of 24 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Harrison County: NRI composite 31.3 (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 Harrison County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Harrison County's NFIP claims file (192 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Harrison County?
The most common disaster type in Harrison County is Flood, with 9 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (9), Biological (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Harrison County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Iowa average?
FEMA lists 24 declaration records for Harrison County. That is 24% above the Iowa county mean of 19.3. Its count is also 16% 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 Harrison County received?
Harrison County has received 21 major disaster declarations, representing 88% of all 24 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Harrison County filed?
Harrison County has 192 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $3.4M in payments, with an average of $17.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Harrison County?
No. In Harrison County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $4.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Harrison County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Harrison County was 2024, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Harrison County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Harrison County, Iowa has an overall risk score of 31.3 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $9.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Harrison County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Harrison County as of the latest release is Drought (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Hail (Relatively Moderate) and Landslide (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 19 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 581 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.
What this means for Harrison County
Harrison County, IA has 24 federal declaration records, 24% more than the Iowa county mean of 19; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 21 of 24 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Iowa overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Iowa mean and the totals for 66% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- Use the data guide to separate this mid-volume insurance-claims file from declaration counts and modeled NRI risk. Disaster-data guide
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.