FEMA Records
23
Above median
Hawaii · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Honolulu County, HI
23 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 23
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 99
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Honolulu County. Its 23 FEMA declarations are 12% above the Hawaii county mean and exceed the count for 62% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 1%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 1%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 23
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 3,059
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 15003 · Honolulu County 23 declarations · rank 1146/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 23
- MAJOR-MID 61%
- RANK-LOWER #1,146
- PHOTO-FINISH Roanoke
- NRI-HIGH 99
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +12%
Nearest declaration peer: Roanoke, VA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Hawaii state profile
Honolulu County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Honolulu County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Amherst · near 23
Amherst · near
23 declarations
- Honolulu · this county 23
Honolulu · 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 Honolulu County carries 23 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1146 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Honolulu County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Honolulu County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Honolulu 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
Honolulu County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Honolulu County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $329.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Lightning carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High). 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 Honolulu County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 3,059 claims and $69.3M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $22.7K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Honolulu County's 23 federal records stand 12% above the Hawaii county mean of 20.6. 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 98.8/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $517.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Lightning stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 77 times per year here, based on 1,081,291 historical events on record.
66 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Honolulu County, HI · 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 High
14/25
23 declarations (1.1x state county average of 21)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
14 of 23 declarations are major disasters (61%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Honolulu County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Honolulu 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
61%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
99
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Honolulu 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Very High | an average of 77 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very High | an average of 5.9 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively High | roughly once every 68 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively High | roughly once every 115 years |
| Tsunami | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 54 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 144 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 48 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 2 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 86 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 151 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 6
Fire 4
Severe Storm 4
Hurricane 4
Biological 2
Tsunami 1
Earthquake 1
Typhoon 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Honolulu County's record, 26% 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 - 14 60.9%
of all 23 declarations
Emergency - 5 21.7%
of all 23 declarations
Fire Management - 4 17.4%
of all 23 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2018 | 3 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 2 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1992 | 1 | |
| 1988 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4909 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2026-04-07 |
| 5609 | KUNIA ROAD FIRE | FM | Fire | 2025-08-19 |
| 4639 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2022-02-15 |
| 3529 | HURRICANE DOUGLAS | EM | Hurricane | 2020-07-25 |
| 4510 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-01 |
| 3431 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3404 | TROPICAL STORM OLIVIA | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-12 |
| 3399 | HURRICANE LANE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-08-22 |
| 4365 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2018-05-08 |
| 1967 | TSUNAMI WAVES | DR | Tsunami | 2011-04-08 |
| 1814 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2009-01-05 |
| 2720 | WAIALUA FIRE | FM | Fire | 2007-08-14 |
| 1664 | EARTHQUAKE | DR | Earthquake | 2006-10-17 |
| 1640 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-05-02 |
| 2577 | WAIKELE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2005-08-19 |
| 2576 | NANAKULI BRUSH FIRE | FM | Fire | 2005-08-15 |
| 1575 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLASH FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-02-01 |
| 1147 | PROLONGED AND HEAVY RAINS, HIGH SURF,FLOODING,LAND/MUD SLIDE | DR | Flood | 1996-11-26 |
| 3122 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 1996-11-18 |
| 961 | HURRICANE INIKI | DR | Hurricane | 1992-09-12 |
Show 3 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 808 | SEVERE STORMS, MUDSLIDES & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1988-01-08 |
| 671 | TYPHOON IWA | DR | Typhoon | 1982-11-27 |
| 433 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-05-07 |
Storm Events in Hawaii
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Honolulu County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Surf | 3,536 | 20 | 28 | $672.0K |
| Heavy Rain | 1,044 | 4 | 2 | $0 |
| Drought | 899 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 223 | 6 | 4 | $125.1M |
| Strong Wind | 127 | 0 | 11 | $555.8K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
3,059
Total Paid
$69.3M
Avg Per Claim
$22.7K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 98.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$517.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Lightning Very High
Landslide Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Very High
Wildfire Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively High
Tsunami Relatively High
Coastal Flooding Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Hail Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Cold Wave No Rating
Heat Wave No Rating
Volcanic Activity No Rating
Winter Weather 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: Lightning
Lightning is modeled as a high-frequency, low-per-event hazard: strike counts are large, but each strike affects a very small area. Its aggregate cost accumulates through structure fires, electrical and electronic damage, and it is one of the few hazards whose risk is essentially continuous through the season rather than episodic.
Worth noting for Honolulu County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Lightning carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), 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
Honolulu County's closest FEMA peer: Yancey County, NC
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Honolulu County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Honolulu County shows 23 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Honolulu County: 14 of 23 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Honolulu County: NRI composite 98.8 (Relatively High).
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 Honolulu County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Honolulu 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: 98.8 (Relatively High).
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
Honolulu County's NFIP claims file (3,059 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 Honolulu County?
The most common disaster type in Honolulu County is Flood, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Fire (4), Severe Storm (4), Hurricane (4).
How does Honolulu County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Hawaii average?
FEMA lists 23 declaration records for Honolulu County. That is 12% above the Hawaii county mean of 20.6. Its count is also 11% 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 Honolulu County received?
Honolulu County has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 61% of all 23 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Honolulu County filed?
Honolulu County has 3,059 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $69.3M in payments, with an average of $22.7K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Honolulu County?
No. In Honolulu County, Lightning has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $329.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Honolulu County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Honolulu County was 2005, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Honolulu County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Honolulu County, Hawaii has an overall risk score of 98.8 out of 100 (Relatively High). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Low and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $517.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Honolulu County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Honolulu County is Lightning (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively High) and Riverine Flooding (Very High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts lightning here at an average of 77 times per year, drawn from 1,081,291 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 Honolulu County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Hawaii profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events