FEMA Records
30
High volume
Mississippi · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Holmes County, MS
30 FEMA disaster declarations (1971-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 30
- FEMA declarations
- 24
- Major disasters
- 50
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Holmes County. Its 30 FEMA declarations are 16% above the Mississippi county mean and exceed the count for 86% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 50%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 50%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 30
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 117
- 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 28051 · Holmes County 30 declarations · rank 426/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 30
- MAJOR-HEAVY 80%
- RANK-MID #426
- PHOTO-FINISH Jefferson
- NRI-LOW 50
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +16%
Nearest declaration peer: Jefferson, OK (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Mississippi state profile
Holmes County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Holmes County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Clallam · near 30
Clallam · near
30 declarations
- Holmes · this county 30
Holmes · this county
30 declarations
- Jefferson · near 30
Jefferson · near
30 declarations
- Latimer · near 30
Latimer · near
30 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Holmes County carries 30 FEMA declaration records, ranked 426 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Holmes County ranks in the national declaration registry
Holmes County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Holmes County
30 Top 14% higher than 86% 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
Holmes County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Holmes County is led by Tornado (about $2.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), 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 Holmes County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 117 paid claims, totaling $1.4M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $12.3K 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. Holmes County's 30 federal records stand 16% above the Mississippi county mean of 25.9. 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 49.8/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $9.1M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Very Low) 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 15 modeled event-days per year here, based on 476 historical events on record.
76 /100
Historical Activity Index
Very High historical activity
Holmes County, MS · 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
22/30
30 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
30 declarations (1.2x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Very High
20/25
24 of 30 declarations are major disasters (80%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Holmes County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Holmes 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
80%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
50
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Holmes 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 | 15 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.5 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.9 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 67 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 17 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 356 years |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 14 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 882 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 3.2 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 15
Hurricane 7
Winter Storm 2
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 1
Flood 1
Snowstorm 1
Tornado 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Holmes 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 - 24 80.0%
of all 30 declarations
Emergency - 6 20.0%
of all 30 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 4 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
Show 7 earlier declaration years
| 2001 | 2 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1971 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 30 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 30 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4899 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Winter Storm | 2026-02-06 |
| 3640 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4727 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES. | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-08-12 |
| 4626 | HURRICANE IDA | DR | Hurricane | 2021-10-22 |
| 3569 | HURRICANE IDA | EM | Hurricane | 2021-08-28 |
| 4598 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-05-04 |
| 4538 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2020-04-23 |
| 4536 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2020-04-16 |
| 4528 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3474 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4450 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-06-20 |
| 4314 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-05-22 |
| 4268 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-03-25 |
| 4081 | HURRICANE ISAAC | DR | Hurricane | 2012-08-29 |
| 3348 | TROPICAL STORM ISAAC | EM | Hurricane | 2012-08-28 |
| 1972 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND ASSOCIATED FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-04-29 |
| 1906 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-04-29 |
| 3291 | HURRICANE GUSTAV | EM | Hurricane | 2008-08-30 |
| 1604 | HURRICANE KATRINA | DR | Hurricane | 2005-08-29 |
| 1594 | HURRICANE DENNIS | DR | Hurricane | 2005-07-10 |
Show 10 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1459 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODS | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-04-24 |
| 1398 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-12-07 |
| 1365 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-04-17 |
| 1360 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-02-23 |
| 906 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1991-05-17 |
| 683 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1983-06-01 |
| 577 | STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODS | DR | Severe Storm | 1979-04-16 |
| 3032 | DROUGHT & FREEZING | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-02-22 |
| 368 | HEAVY RAINS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1973-03-27 |
| 302 | STORMS & TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1971-02-22 |
Storm Events in Mississippi
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Holmes County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,557 | 17 | 60 | $93.9M |
| Flash Flood | 1,551 | 6 | 9 | $83.6M |
| Hail | 1,411 | 0 | 0 | $90.1M |
| Heat | 1,340 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 1,097 | 68 | 610 | $562.0M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
117
Total Paid
$1.4M
Avg Per Claim
$12.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 49.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$9.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Earthquake Relatively Low
Hurricane Relatively Low
Landslide Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding 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: 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 Holmes 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 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
Holmes County's closest FEMA peer: Lincoln County, ME
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Holmes County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Holmes County shows 30 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Holmes County: 24 of 30 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Holmes County: NRI composite 49.8 (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 Holmes County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Holmes 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: 49.8 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 30. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Holmes County's NFIP claims file (117 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 Holmes County?
The most common disaster type in Holmes County is Severe Storm, with 15 declarations. Other disaster types include Hurricane (7), Winter Storm (2), Biological (2).
How does Holmes County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Mississippi average?
FEMA lists 30 declaration records for Holmes County. That is 16% above the Mississippi county mean of 25.9. Its count is also 45% 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 Holmes County received?
Holmes County has received 24 major disaster declarations, representing 80% of all 30 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Holmes County filed?
Holmes County has 117 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.4M in payments, with an average of $12.3K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Holmes County?
No. In Holmes County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Tornado leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Holmes County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Holmes County was 2020, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1971 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Holmes County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Holmes County, Mississippi has an overall risk score of 49.8 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $9.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Holmes County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Holmes County is Drought (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively Moderate) and Hail (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 15 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 476 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Holmes County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Mississippi profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events