FEMA Records
23
Above median
Iowa · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Iowa County, IA
23 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 23
- FEMA declarations
- 21
- Major disasters
- 28
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Iowa County. Its 23 FEMA declarations are 19% above the Iowa county mean and exceed the count for 62% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 28%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 28%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 23
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 36
- 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 19095 · Iowa County 23 declarations · rank 1240/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 23
- MAJOR-HEAVY 91%
- RANK-LOWER #1,240
- PHOTO-FINISH Roanoke
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +19%
Nearest declaration peer: Roanoke, VA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Iowa state profile
Iowa County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Iowa County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Amherst · near 23
Amherst · near
23 declarations
- Iowa · this county 23
Iowa · 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 Iowa County carries 23 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1240 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Iowa County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Iowa County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Iowa 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
Iowa County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Iowa County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $4.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Strong Wind 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 Iowa County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 28.2/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $11.1M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Very Low social-vulnerability score and Very High community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Strong Wind carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 5.8 times per year here, based on 221 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 36 claims and $267.0K paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Iowa County's 23 federal records stand 19% above the Iowa county mean of 19.3. 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.
70 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Iowa County, IA · 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
15/25
23 declarations (1.2x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
23/25
21 of 23 declarations are major disasters (91%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Iowa County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Iowa 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
91%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
28
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Iowa 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.8 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 10 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.6 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 773 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 15 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 6.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 1.9 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,285 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 7 times per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 45 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 174 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 9
Flood 9
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 1
Hurricane 1
Snowstorm 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Iowa County's record, 39% 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 - 21 91.3%
of all 23 declarations
Emergency - 2 8.7%
of all 23 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4784 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-05-24 |
| 4557 | SEVERE STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2020-08-17 |
| 4483 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-23 |
| 3480 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4421 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-03-23 |
| 4187 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-08-05 |
| 4126 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-07-02 |
| 4119 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2013-05-31 |
| 1930 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-07-29 |
| 1763 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-05-27 |
| 1737 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2008-01-04 |
| 1688 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-03-14 |
| 3239 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1518 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-05-25 |
| 1420 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2002-06-19 |
| 1230 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1998-07-02 |
| 1191 | SEVERE SNOWSTORMS | DR | Snowstorm | 1997-11-20 |
| 1121 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-06-24 |
| 996 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-09 |
| 868 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1990-05-26 |
Show 3 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 443 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-24 |
| 386 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-05-23 |
| 269 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-08-14 |
Storm Events in Iowa
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Iowa County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,928 | 6 | 227 | $40.5M |
| Hail | 3,736 | 0 | 0 | $4.3M |
| Heavy Rain | 2,394 | 0 | 0 | $292.0K |
| Drought | 1,556 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 1,543 | 3 | 4 | $2.8M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
36
Total Paid
$267.0K
Avg Per Claim
$7.4K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 28.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$11.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Very Low
Hurricane Very 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: Strong Wind
Strong Wind covers damaging non-thunderstorm, non-tornadic wind, the kind produced by steep pressure gradients and downslope events. It is a broad, frequent, low-drama hazard: roofs, signage, power lines and high-profile vehicles, spread across a wide area rather than concentrated on a path.
Worth noting for Iowa County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Strong Wind 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
Iowa County's closest FEMA peer: Hamilton County, NE
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Iowa County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Iowa County shows 23 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Iowa County: 21 of 23 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Iowa County: NRI composite 28.2 (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 Iowa County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Iowa 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: 28.2 (Very Low).
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
Most disaster-prone counties
With 23 FEMA declarations, Iowa County sits in the high-volume declaration band - see how that count ranks against other U.S. counties.
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 Iowa County?
The most common disaster type in Iowa County is Flood, with 9 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (9), Biological (2), Severe Ice Storm (1).
How does Iowa County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Iowa average?
FEMA lists 23 declaration records for Iowa County. That is 19% above the Iowa county mean of 19.3. 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 Iowa County received?
Iowa County has received 21 major disaster declarations, representing 91% of all 23 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Iowa County filed?
Iowa County has 36 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $267.0K in payments, with an average of $7.4K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Iowa County?
No. In Iowa County, Strong Wind has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $4.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Iowa County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Iowa County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Iowa County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Iowa County, Iowa has an overall risk score of 28.2 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $11.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Iowa County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Iowa County is Strong Wind (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively Moderate) and Hail (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts strong wind here at an average of 5.8 times per year, drawn from 221 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 Iowa County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Iowa profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events