FEMA Records
19
Below median
Texas · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Johnson County, TX
19 FEMA disaster declarations (1989-2021), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 19
- FEMA declarations
- 9
- Major disasters
- 87
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Johnson County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 19 declarations, more than 41% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 9% below the Texas county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 13%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 13%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 19
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 332
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 48251 · Johnson County 19 declarations · rank 1824/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 19
- MAJOR-LIGHT 47%
- RANK-LOWER #1,824
- PHOTO-FINISH Bartow
- NRI-MID 87
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-BELOW -9%
Nearest declaration peer: Bartow, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Texas state profile
Johnson County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Johnson County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bartow · near 19
Bartow · near
19 declarations
- Johnson · this county 19
Johnson · this county
19 declarations
- Union · near 19
Union · near
19 declarations
- Warren · near 19
Warren · near
19 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Johnson County carries 19 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1824 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Johnson County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Johnson County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Johnson County
19 41st percentile higher than 41% 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
Johnson County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Johnson County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 332 paid claims, totaling $4.9M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $14.8K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Texas county averages 20.9 federal declaration records, while Johnson County has 19. The gap is 9% 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 86.7/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $70.7M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively Moderate, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Tornado stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 1 years here, based on 73 historical events on record.
57 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Johnson County, TX · 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
14/30
19 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
19 declarations (0.9x state county average of 21)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
9 of 19 declarations are major disasters (47%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Johnson County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Johnson 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
47%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
87
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Johnson 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 265 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 17 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 8.6 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.8 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 53 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 44 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,471 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 3.6 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 44 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 10 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 5
Severe Storm 4
Hurricane 3
Severe Ice Storm 2
Biological 2
Other 1
Drought 1
Flood 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Johnson County's record, 26% of its declarations. Wildfire is the one hazard here with its own dedicated federal instrument: the Fire Management Assistance Grant, which appears in this data as an FM record. An FMAG can be authorised while a fire is still burning, on a timescale of hours, because its purpose is to reimburse the cost of fighting a fire that threatens to become a major disaster.
That distinction matters when comparing counties. An FM declaration is not a presidential major disaster declaration and does not carry the same assistance programmes, so a fire-heavy county's total is not directly comparable with a hurricane-heavy county's total unless the declaration types are separated, which is why they are listed separately on this page.
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 - 9 47.4%
of all 19 declarations
Emergency - 8 42.1%
of all 19 declarations
Fire Management - 2 10.5%
of all 19 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1992 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1989 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 19 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 19 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4586 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-19 |
| 3554 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-14 |
| 4485 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3458 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4223 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-05-29 |
| 3284 | WILDFIRES | EM | Fire | 2008-03-14 |
| 2621 | HUNTINGTON BROOK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-01-19 |
| 1624 | EXTREME WILDFIRE THREAT | DR | Fire | 2006-01-11 |
| 1606 | HURRICANE RITA | DR | Hurricane | 2005-09-24 |
| 3261 | HURRICANE RITA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-21 |
| 3216 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-02 |
| 3171 | LOSS OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA | EM | Other | 2003-02-01 |
| 2351 | TX - ALSBURY FIRE - 08/29/00 | FM | Fire | 2001-01-05 |
| 3142 | EXTREME FIRE HAZARDS | EM | Fire | 1999-09-01 |
| 1239 | TROPICAL STORM CHARLEY | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-08-26 |
| 3113 | EXTREME FIRE HAZARD | EM | Drought | 1993-09-10 |
| 930 | SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS | DR | Flood | 1991-12-26 |
| 863 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-05-02 |
| 828 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1989-05-19 |
Storm Events in Texas
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Johnson County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 14,072 | 0 | 15 | $7.4B |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 10,293 | 41 | 141 | $369.9M |
| Drought | 7,032 | 0 | 0 | $86.0K |
| Flash Flood | 4,728 | 338 | 24 | $47.6B |
| Heat | 4,079 | 119 | 405 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
332
Total Paid
$4.9M
Avg Per Claim
$14.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 86.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$70.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Tornado Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Landslide 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: Tornado
Tornado exposure is the most spatially concentrated in the model: total destruction along a narrow corridor with intact property either side. County-level averages therefore understate severity badly for anyone actually in the path, and overstate it for everyone else.
Worth noting for Johnson County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Tornado carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Fire. 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
Johnson County's closest FEMA peer: Gloucester County, NJ
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Johnson County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Johnson County: NRI composite 86.7 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar Major-disaster share
Johnson County: 9 of 19 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Johnson County shows 19 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
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 Johnson County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Johnson 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: 86.7 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 19. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Johnson County's NFIP claims file (332 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 Johnson County?
The most common disaster type in Johnson County is Fire, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (4), Hurricane (3), Severe Ice Storm (2).
How does Johnson County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Texas average?
The typical Texas county has 20.9 FEMA declaration records; Johnson County has 19, or 9% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 8% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Johnson County received?
Johnson County has received 9 major disaster declarations, representing 47% of all 19 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Johnson County filed?
Johnson County has 332 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.9M in payments, with an average of $14.8K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Johnson County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Johnson County was 2005, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1989 to 2021.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Johnson County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Johnson County, Texas has an overall risk score of 86.7 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $70.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Johnson County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Johnson County is Tornado (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Wildfire (Relatively Moderate) and Heat Wave (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts tornado here at roughly once every 1 years, drawn from 73 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 Johnson County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Texas profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events