FEMA Records
28
High volume
Alabama · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Houston County, AL
28 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 28
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 88
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Houston County. Its 28 FEMA declarations are 8% above the Alabama county mean and exceed the count for 81% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 12%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 12%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 28
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 195
- 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 01069 · Houston County 28 declarations · rank 552/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 28
- MAJOR-MID 61%
- RANK-MID #552
- PHOTO-FINISH Loíza
- NRI-MID 88
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +8%
Nearest declaration peer: Loíza, PR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Alabama state profile
Houston County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Houston County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Hertford · near 28
Hertford · near
28 declarations
- Houston · this county 28
Houston · this county
28 declarations
- Loíza · near 28
Loíza · near
28 declarations
- Maunabo · near 28
Maunabo · near
28 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Houston County carries 28 FEMA declaration records, ranked 552 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Houston County ranks in the national declaration registry
Houston County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Houston County
28 Top 19% higher than 81% 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
Houston County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Houston County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $23.4M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Tornado carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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 Houston County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 195 paid claims, totaling $4.1M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $21.1K 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. Houston County's 28 federal records stand 8% above the Alabama county mean of 25.8. 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 87.8/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $55.2M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively High and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Tornado stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 2 years here, based on 42 historical events on record.
64 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Houston County, AL · 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
20/30
28 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
28 declarations (1.1x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
17 of 28 declarations are major disasters (61%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Houston County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Houston 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
88
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Houston 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 75 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively High | roughly once every 5 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 1.7 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 5.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 33 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 946 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 3,234 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 10 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 12
Severe Storm 11
Biological 2
Snowstorm 1
Flood 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Houston County's federal record, 43% 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 - 17 60.7%
of all 28 declarations
Emergency - 11 39.3%
of all 28 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 4 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
Show 7 earlier declaration years
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 28 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 28 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3618 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Hurricane | 2024-09-26 |
| 4563 | HURRICANE SALLY | DR | Hurricane | 2020-09-20 |
| 3545 | HURRICANE SALLY | EM | Hurricane | 2020-09-14 |
| 4503 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-29 |
| 3472 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4406 | HURRICANE MICHAEL | DR | Hurricane | 2018-11-05 |
| 3407 | HURRICANE MICHAEL | EM | Hurricane | 2018-10-12 |
| 3394 | HURRICANE NATE | EM | Hurricane | 2017-10-08 |
| 3389 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-11 |
| 4251 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-01-21 |
| 4176 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-05-02 |
| 1971 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-04-28 |
| 3319 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | EM | Severe Storm | 2011-04-27 |
| 1835 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, TORNADOES & STRAIGHT-LINE | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-04-28 |
| 3292 | HURRICANE GUSTAV | EM | Hurricane | 2008-08-30 |
| 3237 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1593 | HURRICANE DENNIS | DR | Hurricane | 2005-07-10 |
| 1549 | HURRICANE IVAN | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-15 |
| 1442 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2002-11-14 |
| 1352 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-12-18 |
Show 8 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1208 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-03-09 |
| 1070 | HURRICANE OPAL | DR | Hurricane | 1995-10-04 |
| 1034 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (TROPICAL STORM ALBERTO) | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-07-08 |
| 3096 | SEVERE SNOWFALL, WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-15 |
| 861 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-03-21 |
| 578 | STORMS, WIND, FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-04-18 |
| 3045 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-07-20 |
| 488 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1975-10-02 |
Storm Events in Alabama
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Houston County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,827 | 16 | 115 | $51.7M |
| Hail | 1,349 | 0 | 0 | $5.0K |
| Flash Flood | 1,047 | 17 | 7 | $12.8M |
| Tornado | 896 | 57 | 343 | $49.7M |
| Drought | 857 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
195
Total Paid
$4.1M
Avg Per Claim
$21.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 87.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$55.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Tornado Relatively High
Lightning Relatively High
Hurricane Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Hail Relatively 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: Tornado
Tornado exposure is the most spatially concentrated in the model: total destruction along a narrow corridor with intact property either side. County-level averages therefore understate severity badly for anyone actually in the path, and overstate it for everyone else.
Worth noting for Houston County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Tornado carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), 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
Houston County's closest FEMA peer: Oneida County, NY
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Houston County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Houston County shows 28 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Houston County: 17 of 28 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Houston County: NRI composite 87.8 (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 Houston County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Houston 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: 87.8 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 28. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Houston County's NFIP claims file (195 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 Houston County?
The most common disaster type in Houston County is Hurricane, with 12 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (11), Biological (2), Snowstorm (1).
How does Houston County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Alabama average?
FEMA lists 28 declaration records for Houston County. That is 8% above the Alabama county mean of 25.8. Its count is also 35% 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 Houston County received?
Houston County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 61% of all 28 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Houston County filed?
Houston County has 195 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.1M in payments, with an average of $21.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Houston County?
No. In Houston County, Tornado has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $23.4M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Houston County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Houston County was 2020, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Houston County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Houston County, Alabama has an overall risk score of 87.8 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively High; on community resilience, Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $55.2M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Houston County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Houston County is Tornado (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Lightning (Relatively High) and Hurricane (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts tornado here at roughly once every 2 years, drawn from 42 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 Houston County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Alabama profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events