FEMA Records
22
Above median
Virginia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Henrico County, VA
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 83
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Henrico County. Its 22 FEMA declarations are 8% above the Virginia county mean and exceed the count for 57% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 17%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 17%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 357
- 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 51087 · Henrico County 22 declarations · rank 1336/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-MID 64%
- RANK-LOWER #1,336
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-MID 83
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +8%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Virginia state profile
Henrico County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Henrico County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Hardy · near 22
Hardy · near
22 declarations
- Henrico · this county 22
Henrico · this county
22 declarations
- Prairie · near 22
Prairie · near
22 declarations
- St. Francis · near 22
St. Francis · near
22 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Henrico County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1336 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Henrico County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Henrico County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Henrico County
22 Top 43% higher than 57% 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
Henrico County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Henrico County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $30.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Earthquake 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 Henrico County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 357 paid claims, totaling $4.2M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $11.9K 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. Henrico County's 22 federal records stand 8% above the Virginia county mean of 20.4. 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 83.4/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $57.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Earthquake carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 405 years here.
65 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Henrico County, VA · 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
16/30
22 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
13/25
22 declarations (1.1x state county average of 20)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
14 of 22 declarations are major disasters (64%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Henrico County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Henrico 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
83
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Henrico 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 405 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 43 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 5.1 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 5.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.7 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 8 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 7 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 5.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 11 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | an average of 3.7 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 19,221 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 9
Snowstorm 4
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Flood 2
Winter Storm 1
Drought 1
Freezing 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Henrico County's federal record, 41% 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).
Major Disaster - 14 63.6%
of all 22 declarations
Emergency - 8 36.4%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1977 | 2 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 22 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 22 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3631 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4512 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-02 |
| 3448 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3403 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-11 |
| 4262 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2016-03-07 |
| 3359 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 4024 | HURRICANE IRENE | DR | Hurricane | 2011-09-03 |
| 3329 | HURRICANE IRENE | EM | Hurricane | 2011-08-26 |
| 3240 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-12 |
| 1544 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND TORNADOES ASSOCIATED W TD GASTON | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-03 |
| 1491 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-18 |
| 1318 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-02-28 |
| 1293 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-18 |
| 1135 | HURRICANE FRAN AND ASSOCIATED SEVERE STORM COND | DR | Hurricane | 1996-09-06 |
| 1086 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 1014 | SEVERE ICE STORMS, FLOODING | DR | Snowstorm | 1994-03-10 |
| 3112 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-25 |
| 755 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1985-11-09 |
| 3046 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-07-23 |
| 525 | ICE CONDITIONS | DR | Freezing | 1977-01-26 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 339 | TROPICAL STORM AGNES | DR | Flood | 1972-06-23 |
| 274 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Hurricane | 1969-08-23 |
Storm Events in Virginia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Henrico County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 8,940 | 13 | 31 | $123.1M |
| Flood | 2,300 | 4 | 0 | $85.1M |
| Winter Weather | 2,049 | 6 | 32 | $902.0K |
| Flash Flood | 1,942 | 13 | 4 | $244.2M |
| Heavy Rain | 1,566 | 0 | 0 | $2.5M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
357
Total Paid
$4.2M
Avg Per Claim
$11.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 83.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$57.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Cold Wave 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: Earthquake
Earthquake is the model's clearest example of a hazard with no season and no warning. Its expected loss is driven less by how often shaking occurs than by how much of the building stock predates modern seismic codes, so exposure can be high in places where nothing has happened for a long time.
Worth noting for Henrico County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
Henrico County's closest FEMA peer: Choctaw County, OK
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Henrico County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Henrico County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Henrico County: 14 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Henrico County: NRI composite 83.4 (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 Henrico County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Henrico 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: 83.4 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 22. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Henrico County's NFIP claims file (357 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 Henrico County?
The most common disaster type in Henrico County is Hurricane, with 9 declarations. Other disaster types include Snowstorm (4), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Henrico County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Virginia average?
FEMA lists 22 declaration records for Henrico County. That is 8% above the Virginia county mean of 20.4. Its count is also 6% 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 Henrico County received?
Henrico County has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 64% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Henrico County filed?
Henrico County has 357 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.2M in payments, with an average of $11.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Henrico County?
No. In Henrico County, Earthquake has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $30.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Henrico County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Henrico County was 1977, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Henrico County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Henrico County, Virginia has an overall risk score of 83.4 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $57.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Henrico County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Henrico County is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Lightning (Relatively High) and Winter Weather (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 405 years. 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 Henrico County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Virginia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events