FEMA Records
16
Below median
Wisconsin · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Kenosha County, WI
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1973-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 11
- Major disasters
- 85
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Kenosha County. Its 16 FEMA declarations are 30% above the Wisconsin county mean and exceed the count for 27% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 15%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 15%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 16
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 334
- 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 55059 · Kenosha County 16 declarations · rank 2355/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 16
- MAJOR-MID 69%
- RANK-LOWER #2,355
- PHOTO-FINISH Greene
- NRI-MID 85
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +30%
Nearest declaration peer: Greene, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Wisconsin state profile
Kenosha County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Kenosha County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Frontier · near 16
Frontier · near
16 declarations
- Greene · near 16
Greene · near
16 declarations
- Kenosha · this county 16
Kenosha · this county
16 declarations
- Terrell · near 16
Terrell · near
16 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Kenosha County carries 16 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2355 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Kenosha County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Kenosha County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Kenosha County
16 27th percentile higher than 27% 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
Kenosha County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Kenosha County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 334 paid claims, totaling $5.2M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $15.6K 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. Kenosha County's 16 federal records stand 30% above the Wisconsin county mean of 12.3. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 85.0/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $63.5M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. 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 4.9 times per year here, based on 93 historical events on record.
58 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Kenosha County, WI · 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
12/30
16 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.8x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
16 declarations (1.3x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
11 of 16 declarations are major disasters (69%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Kenosha County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Kenosha 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
69%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
85
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Kenosha 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 4.9 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 35 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 4.9 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.8 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 3.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,174 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 6.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 75 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 10,476 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 23 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 16 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 5
Flood 4
Snowstorm 4
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Kenosha County's record, 31% 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 - 11 68.8%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 5 31.3%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 16 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 16 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4923 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4520 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3454 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4477 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2020-03-11 |
| 1966 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2011-04-05 |
| 1768 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-14 |
| 3285 | RECORD SNOW AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2008-03-19 |
| 1719 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-08-26 |
| 3249 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1526 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-06-18 |
| 3163 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-01-24 |
| 1332 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-06-24 |
| 994 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-07-02 |
| 775 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-10-07 |
| 3069 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1979-01-19 |
| 376 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-04-27 |
Storm Events in Wisconsin
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Kenosha County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,504 | 5 | 23 | $45.0M |
| Hail | 2,620 | 0 | 0 | $57.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,939 | 43 | 152 | $2.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,338 | 15 | 86 | $2.3M |
| Flood | 740 | 12 | 4 | $115.6M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
334
Total Paid
$5.2M
Avg Per Claim
$15.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 85.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$63.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively High
Lightning Relatively High
Tornado Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Hail Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively 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: 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.
Worth noting for Kenosha County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively 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
Kenosha County's closest FEMA peer: Deschutes County, OR
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Kenosha County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Kenosha County: NRI composite 85.0 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar Major-disaster share
Kenosha County: 11 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Kenosha County shows 16 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
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 Kenosha County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Kenosha 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: 85.0 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 16. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Kenosha County's NFIP claims file (334 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 Kenosha County?
The most common disaster type in Kenosha County is Severe Storm, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Snowstorm (4), Biological (2).
How does Kenosha County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Wisconsin average?
FEMA lists 16 declaration records for Kenosha County. That is 30% above the Wisconsin county mean of 12.3. Its count is also 23% 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 Kenosha County received?
Kenosha County has received 11 major disaster declarations, representing 69% of all 16 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Kenosha County filed?
Kenosha County has 334 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $5.2M in payments, with an average of $15.6K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Kenosha County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Kenosha 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 Kenosha County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Kenosha County, Wisconsin has an overall risk score of 85.0 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $63.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Kenosha County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Kenosha County is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Lightning (Relatively High) and Tornado (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 4.9 times per year, drawn from 93 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 Kenosha County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Wisconsin profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events