FEMA Records
15
Below median
California · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Imperial County, CA
15 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 15
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 96
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Imperial County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 15 declarations, more than 23% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 47% below the California county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 4%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 4%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 15
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 103
- 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 06025 · Imperial County 15 declarations · rank 2431/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 15
- MAJOR-HEAVY 80%
- RANK-LOWER #2,431
- PHOTO-FINISH Polk
- NRI-HIGH 96
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -47%
Nearest declaration peer: Polk, OR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · California state profile
Imperial County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Imperial County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Flathead · near 15
Flathead · near
15 declarations
- Imperial · this county 15
Imperial · this county
15 declarations
- Murray · near 15
Murray · near
15 declarations
- Polk · near 15
Polk · near
15 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Imperial County carries 15 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2431 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Imperial County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Imperial County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Imperial County
15 23rd percentile higher than 23% 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
Imperial County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Imperial County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 103 paid claims, totaling $560.3K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $5.4K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a California county averages 28.5 federal declaration records, while Imperial County has 15. The gap is 47% below that mean. Fewer entries indicate a quieter history of recorded federal actions, not immunity from a hazard and not a prediction about what happens next.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 96.5/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $147.6M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very High and community resilience Very Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Earthquake stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 7 years here.
53 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Imperial County, CA · 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) Moderate
11/30
15 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
7/25
15 declarations (0.5x state county average of 29)
Major Disaster Share Very High
20/25
12 of 15 declarations are major disasters (80%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Imperial County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Imperial 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
96
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Imperial 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 High | roughly once every 7 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 17 modeled event-days per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Relatively Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,277 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 39 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 6.5 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 54 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 19 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 11 times per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 10 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | roughly once every 15,431 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 4
Severe Storm 3
Hurricane 2
Biological 2
Earthquake 2
Freezing 2
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Imperial County's record, 27% 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 - 12 80.0%
of all 15 declarations
Emergency - 3 20.0%
of all 15 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 15 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 15 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4750 | TROPICAL STORM HILARY | DR | Hurricane | 2023-11-21 |
| 4699 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-04-03 |
| 3592 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2023-03-10 |
| 4482 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-22 |
| 3428 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1911 | EARTHQUAKE | DR | Earthquake | 2010-05-07 |
| 1884 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND DEBRIS AND MUD FLOWS | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-08 |
| 1689 | SEVERE FREEZE | DR | Freezing | 2007-03-13 |
| 3248 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1046 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING LANDSLIDES, MUD FLOW | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-03-12 |
| 979 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, MUD & LAND SLIDES, & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-02-03 |
| 894 | SEVERE FREEZE | DR | Freezing | 1991-02-11 |
| 687 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1983-07-01 |
| 609 | EARTHQUAKE | DR | Earthquake | 1979-10-19 |
| 521 | FLOODING, TROPICAL STORM KATHLEEN | DR | Flood | 1976-09-21 |
Storm Events in California
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Imperial County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 4,070 | 13 | 27 | $228.2M |
| Flood | 3,132 | 26 | 25 | $985.1M |
| Heavy Snow | 1,814 | 6 | 0 | $1.6M |
| Dense Fog | 1,605 | 52 | 148 | $2.8M |
| Drought | 1,421 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
103
Total Paid
$560.3K
Avg Per Claim
$5.4K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 96.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$147.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Volcanic Activity Relatively Low
Wildfire Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Hail Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Cold Wave 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: 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 Imperial County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively 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
Imperial County's closest FEMA peer: Jackson County, MO
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Imperial County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Imperial County: NRI composite 96.5 (Relatively High).
Similar Major-disaster share
Imperial County: 12 of 15 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Imperial County shows 15 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
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 Imperial County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Imperial 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: 96.5 (Relatively High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 15. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Imperial County's NFIP claims file (103 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 Imperial County?
The most common disaster type in Imperial County is Flood, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (3), Hurricane (2), Biological (2).
How does Imperial County's FEMA declaration record compare with the California average?
The typical California county has 28.5 FEMA declaration records; Imperial County has 15, or 47% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 28% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Imperial County received?
Imperial County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 80% of all 15 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Imperial County filed?
Imperial County has 103 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $560.3K in payments, with an average of $5.4K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Imperial County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Imperial County was 2010, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Imperial County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Imperial County, California has an overall risk score of 96.5 out of 100 (Relatively High). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $147.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Imperial County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Imperial County is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively High) and Heat Wave (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 7 years. 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 Imperial County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · California profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events