FEMA Records
31
High volume
Arkansas · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Independence County, AR
31 FEMA disaster declarations (1968-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 31
- FEMA declarations
- 24
- Major disasters
- 69
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Independence County. Its 31 FEMA declarations are 28% above the Arkansas county mean and exceed the count for 88% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 31%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 31%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 31
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 187
- 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 05063 · Independence County 31 declarations · rank 355/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 31
- MAJOR-MID 77%
- RANK-MID #355
- PHOTO-FINISH Galveston
- NRI-LOW 69
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +28%
Nearest declaration peer: Galveston, TX (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Arkansas state profile
Independence County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Independence County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Galveston · near 31
Galveston · near
31 declarations
- Independence · this county 31
Independence · this county
31 declarations
- Orange · near 31
Orange · near
31 declarations
- Woodward · near 31
Woodward · near
31 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Independence County carries 31 FEMA declaration records, ranked 355 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Independence County ranks in the national declaration registry
Independence County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Independence County
31 Top 12% higher than 88% 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
Independence County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Independence County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $7.0M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Ice Storm 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 Independence County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 187 paid claims, totaling $2.3M. 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. Independence County's 31 federal records stand 28% above the Arkansas county mean of 24.2. 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 carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 69.1/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $24.3M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Ice Storm stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 1.3 times per year here, based on 90 historical events on record.
77 /100
Historical Activity Index
Very High historical activity
Independence County, AR · 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
31 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
31 declarations (1.3x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
24 of 31 declarations are major disasters (77%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Independence County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Independence 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
77%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
69
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Independence 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Storm | Very High | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 139 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 14 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.7 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 473 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 7.3 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 58 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 7 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 2.3 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 40 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.1 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 17
Severe Ice Storm 3
Flood 3
Hurricane 2
Biological 2
Tornado 2
Winter Storm 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Independence County's record, 55% 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 77.4%
of all 31 declarations
Emergency - 7 22.6%
of all 31 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
Show 10 earlier declaration years
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1989 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
| 1968 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 31 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 31 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3636 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4865 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-05-08 |
| 3627 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-04-05 |
| 3541 | HURRICANE LAURA | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-27 |
| 4518 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-03 |
| 3461 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4318 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-06-15 |
| 4254 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-02-05 |
| 4226 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-06-26 |
| 4174 | SEVERE STORMS,TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-04-29 |
| 4124 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-06-25 |
| 1975 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND ASSOCIATED FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-05-02 |
| 1819 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-02-06 |
| 3301 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-01-28 |
| 1751 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-03-26 |
| 1744 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-02-07 |
| 3215 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-02 |
| 1516 | SEVER STORMS, FLOODING AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-05-07 |
| 1472 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-06-06 |
| 1450 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2003-01-06 |
Show 11 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1400 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2002-01-24 |
| 1354 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2000-12-29 |
| 1266 | AR SEVERE WEATHER 1-21-99 | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-01-23 |
| 1162 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-03-02 |
| 817 | SEVERE STORMS & TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1988-11-23 |
| 673 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1982-12-13 |
| 3019 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-12-03 |
| 471 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-06-07 |
| 375 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-04-27 |
| 254 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-02-15 |
| 239 | TORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1968-05-29 |
Storm Events in Arkansas
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Independence County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,657 | 10 | 23 | $60.9M |
| Hail | 2,230 | 0 | 0 | $7.7M |
| Flash Flood | 1,517 | 12 | 3 | $15.9M |
| Heat | 1,222 | 2 | 325 | $0 |
| Flood | 1,152 | 9 | 0 | $40.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
187
Total Paid
$2.3M
Avg Per Claim
$12.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 69.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$24.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Very High
Earthquake Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively 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: Ice Storm
Ice storms load power lines and tree limbs with accumulating freezing rain until they fail. The characteristic cost is infrastructure and multi-day power loss across a wide area rather than structural damage to buildings, which is why their consequences often outlast the weather that caused them.
Worth noting for Independence County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Ice Storm carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), 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
Independence County's closest FEMA peer: Jefferson County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Independence County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Independence County shows 31 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Independence County: 24 of 31 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Independence County: NRI composite 69.1 (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 Independence County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Independence 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: 69.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 31. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Independence County's NFIP claims file (187 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 Independence County?
The most common disaster type in Independence County is Severe Storm, with 17 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Ice Storm (3), Flood (3), Hurricane (2).
How does Independence County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Arkansas average?
FEMA lists 31 declaration records for Independence County. That is 28% above the Arkansas county mean of 24.2. Its count is also 50% 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 Independence County received?
Independence County has received 24 major disaster declarations, representing 77% of all 31 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Independence County filed?
Independence County has 187 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $2.3M in payments, with an average of $12.3K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Independence County?
No. In Independence County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $7.0M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Independence County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Independence County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1968 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Independence County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Independence County, Arkansas has an overall risk score of 69.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $24.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Independence County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Independence County is Ice Storm (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Earthquake (Relatively Low) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at an average of 1.3 times per year, drawn from 90 historical events on record. FEMA derives these ratings from historical event frequency, the assets exposed, and the community's vulnerability profile.
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 Independence County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Arkansas profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events