FEMA Records
9
Low volume
Illinois · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Iroquois County, IL
9 FEMA disaster declarations (1990-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Snowstorm.
- 9
- FEMA declarations
- 5
- Major disasters
- 74
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Snowstorm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Iroquois County: 9 FEMA declaration records are 30% below the Illinois county mean, even though the count is higher than 8% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks in the riskiest 26%.
- Riskiest 26%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 9
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 840
- 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.
How does Iroquois County compare?
Iroquois County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
9 8th percentile higher than 8% 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 · 2026-08-03
Iroquois County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Illinois county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Iroquois County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $19.9M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Cold Wave 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 Iroquois County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 840 claims and $16.9M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $20.1K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
Start with the state benchmark: a Illinois county averages 12.9 federal declaration records, while Iroquois County has 9. The gap is 30% 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 carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 74.0/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $33.9M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Cold Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3.6 times per year here, based on 69 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
The state comparison is the clearest context for Iroquois County's moderate federal record. Its 9 declarations sit 30% below the Illinois county mean, with 5 Major Disaster entries among them. 2 records concern Snowstorm, the file's most frequent incident type. Spread across 30 years, the registry rate is 0.3 per year. FEMA reports authorized programs separately from the DR, EM, and FM codes.
45 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Iroquois County, IL · 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) Low
7/30
9 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
9 declarations (0.7x state county average of 13)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
5 of 9 declarations are major disasters (56%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Iroquois County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
Moderate
vs. Illinois Avg
-30%
State avg: 12.9
vs. National Avg
-57%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.3
Over 30 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Iroquois 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
56%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
74
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Iroquois 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 3.6 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 567 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | an average of 1 time per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 4.6 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 4.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 46 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 93 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 9.9 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 0.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 28,515 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
Tornado 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
What Snowstorm declarations mean here
Snowstorm is the most frequent declaration type on Iroquois County's record, 22% of its declarations. Snow-related declarations work on a narrower basis than most other hazards: they are generally issued to reimburse the cost of snow removal and emergency protective measures, rather than to repair destroyed property.
The qualifying test is unusual too. FEMA assesses snowfall against record levels for the affected area, so the same storm total can qualify in a county where it is historically extreme and not qualify a few hundred miles north where it is an ordinary winter. A low snowstorm declaration count is therefore not evidence of mild winters.
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 - 5 55.6%
of all 9 declarations
Emergency - 4 44.4%
of all 9 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 9 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 9 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4489 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-26 |
| 3435 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1747 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-03-07 |
| 3230 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1416 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2002-05-21 |
| 3161 | ILLINOIS WINTER SNOW STORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-01-17 |
| 3134 | IL-WINTER STORM 1/1/99 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-08 |
| 1025 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-04-26 |
| 860 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 1990-03-06 |
Storm Events in Illinois
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Iroquois County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,218 | 9 | 67 | $46.0M |
| Hail | 3,195 | 0 | 0 | $27.1M |
| Winter Weather | 1,363 | 14 | 49 | $1.8M |
| Flood | 1,221 | 14 | 11 | $84.3M |
| Flash Flood | 1,133 | 11 | 3 | $1.1B |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
840
Total Paid
$16.9M
Avg Per Claim
$20.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 74.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$33.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Drought Very Low
Wildfire 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: Cold Wave
Cold Wave measures exposure to extreme cold rather than to snow. Its harm is concentrated in health effects, burst infrastructure and energy demand spikes, and it falls hardest where the building stock and the grid were not built with sustained cold in mind.
For Iroquois County the two measures on this page point the same way: Cold Wave is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively High), and Snowstorm declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Iroquois County's closest FEMA peer: Chesterfield County, SC
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Iroquois County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Iroquois County: NRI composite 74.0 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Iroquois County: 5 of 9 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Iroquois County shows 9 FEMA declarations, led by Snowstorm.
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 Iroquois County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Iroquois County's NFIP claims file (840 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Iroquois County?
The most common disaster type in Iroquois County is Snowstorm, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Severe Storm (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Iroquois County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Illinois average?
The typical Illinois county has 12.9 FEMA declaration records; Iroquois County has 9, or 30% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 57% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Iroquois County received?
Iroquois County has received 5 major disaster declarations, representing 56% of all 9 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Iroquois County filed?
Iroquois County has 840 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $16.9M in payments, with an average of $20.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Iroquois County?
No. In Iroquois County, Cold Wave has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $19.9M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Iroquois County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Iroquois County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1990 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Iroquois County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Iroquois County, Illinois has an overall risk score of 74.0 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Low and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $33.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Iroquois County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Iroquois County as of the latest release is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate) and Earthquake (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 3.6 times per year, drawn from 69 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.
What this means for Iroquois County
Against a Illinois county mean of 13 declarations, Iroquois County, IL records 9, or 30% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as moderate activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (5 of 9) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Illinois overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 8% of recorded county totals, but its own Illinois benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- The large NFIP claims file and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records; the guide explains where they overlap and where they do not. Disaster-data guide
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.