FEMA Records
11
Low volume
Michigan · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Iosco County, MI
11 FEMA disaster declarations (1973-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 11
- FEMA declarations
- 6
- Major disasters
- 38
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Iosco County. Its 11 FEMA declarations are 10% above the Michigan county mean and exceed the count for 12% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 38%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 38%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 11
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 80
- 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 26069 · Iosco County 11 declarations · rank 2851/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 11
- MAJOR-MID 55%
- RANK-LOWER #2,851
- PHOTO-FINISH Meeker
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +10%
Nearest declaration peer: Meeker, MN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Michigan state profile
Iosco County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Iosco County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Davis · near 11
Davis · near
11 declarations
- Iosco · this county 11
Iosco · this county
11 declarations
- Meeker · near 11
Meeker · near
11 declarations
- Wasatch · near 11
Wasatch · near
11 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Iosco County carries 11 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2851 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Iosco County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Iosco County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Iosco County
11 12th percentile higher than 12% 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
Iosco County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Iosco County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $5.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Winter Weather 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 Iosco County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 80 paid claims, totaling $815.6K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $10.2K 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. Iosco County's 11 federal records stand 10% above the Michigan county mean of 10.0. 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 37.8/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $8.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Relatively High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Winter Weather carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 13 times per year here, based on 246 historical events on record.
51 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Iosco County, MI · 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
8/30
11 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
11 declarations (1.1x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
6 of 11 declarations are major disasters (55%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Iosco County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Iosco 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
55%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
38
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Iosco 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 13 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 27 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 2,385 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 73 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 72 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 11 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,532 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1 modeled event-day per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 4
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Dam/Levee Break 1
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Iosco County's record, 36% 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 - 6 54.5%
of all 11 declarations
Emergency - 5 45.5%
of all 11 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 2 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 11 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 11 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4925 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4547 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Dam/Levee Break | 2020-07-09 |
| 4494 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3455 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3225 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 3137 | MI - SEVERE WEATHER 1/2 /99 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-27 |
| 744 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1985-09-18 |
| 3057 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-27 |
| 3035 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-03-02 |
| 371 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-04-12 |
| 363 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-12-01 |
Storm Events in Michigan
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Iosco County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,010 | 10 | 18 | $173.8M |
| Winter Storm | 1,486 | 3 | 11 | $41.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,254 | 21 | 38 | $892.0K |
| Hail | 962 | 0 | 0 | $77.1M |
| High Wind | 389 | 3 | 2 | $668.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
80
Total Paid
$815.6K
Avg Per Claim
$10.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 37.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$8.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Drought 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: Winter Weather
Winter Weather in the model means the accumulation of snow and cold that disrupts rather than destroys: road closures, roof loads, burst pipes and lost heating. Its costs land heavily on transport and on households least able to absorb an interruption.
Worth noting for Iosco County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Iosco County's closest FEMA peer: Clark County, OH
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Iosco County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Iosco County shows 11 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Iosco County: 6 of 11 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Iosco County: NRI composite 37.8 (Very 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 Iosco County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Iosco 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: 37.8 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 11. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Iosco County's NFIP claims file (80 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 Iosco County?
The most common disaster type in Iosco County is Flood, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Snowstorm (2), Dam/Levee Break (1).
How does Iosco County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Michigan average?
FEMA lists 11 declaration records for Iosco County. That is 10% above the Michigan county mean of 10.0. Its count is also 47% below 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 Iosco County received?
Iosco County has received 6 major disaster declarations, representing 55% of all 11 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Iosco County filed?
Iosco County has 80 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $815.6K in payments, with an average of $10.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Iosco County?
No. In Iosco County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $5.1M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Iosco County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Iosco County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1973 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Iosco County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Iosco County, Michigan has an overall risk score of 37.8 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $8.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Iosco County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Iosco County as of the latest release is Winter Weather (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate) and Lightning (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 13 times per year, drawn from 246 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 Iosco County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Michigan profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events