FEMA Records
16
Below median
Nebraska · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Lancaster County, NE
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1967-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 91
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Lancaster County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 16 declarations, more than 27% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 5% below the Nebraska county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 9%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 9%
- 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
- 313
- 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 31109 · Lancaster County 16 declarations · rank 2297/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 16
- MAJOR-HEAVY 88%
- RANK-LOWER #2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH Greene
- NRI-MID 91
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -5%
Nearest declaration peer: Greene, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Nebraska state profile
Lancaster County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Lancaster 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
- Lancaster · this county 16
Lancaster · this county
16 declarations
- Terrell · near 16
Terrell · near
16 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Lancaster County carries 16 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2297 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Lancaster County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Lancaster County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Lancaster 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
Lancaster County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Lancaster County is led by Tornado (about $42.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Strong Wind carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very 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 Lancaster County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 313 paid claims, totaling $3.0M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $9.6K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Nebraska county averages 16.8 federal declaration records, while Lancaster County has 16. The gap is 5% 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 90.7/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $115.4M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very Low and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Strong Wind stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 4.5 times per year here, based on 171 historical events on record.
59 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Lancaster County, NE · 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 Moderate
12/25
16 declarations (1.0x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
14 of 16 declarations are major disasters (88%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Lancaster County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Lancaster 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
88%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
91
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Lancaster 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 | Very High | an average of 4.5 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively High | an average of 7.8 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Winter Weather | Very High | an average of 14 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 659 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 46 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.8 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 8.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 17 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,815 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 7
Flood 5
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Lancaster County's record, 44% 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 - 14 87.5%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 2 12.5%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1967 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4896 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-10-22 |
| 4868 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Winter Storm | 2025-05-21 |
| 4838 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-10-21 |
| 4521 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3483 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4420 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-03-21 |
| 4225 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-06-25 |
| 1902 | SEVERE STORMS, ICE JAMS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2010-04-21 |
| 1878 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-25 |
| 1770 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-20 |
| 3245 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUEES | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1517 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-05-25 |
| 1190 | SEVERE SNOW STORMS, RAIN, AND STRONG WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-11-01 |
| 998 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-19 |
| 406 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-10-20 |
| 228 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1967-07-18 |
Storm Events in Nebraska
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Lancaster County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 6,079 | 0 | 2 | $237.7M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,757 | 3 | 19 | $228.1M |
| Drought | 1,658 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| High Wind | 1,647 | 1 | 1 | $22.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,155 | 0 | 2 | $335.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
313
Total Paid
$3.0M
Avg Per Claim
$9.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 90.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$115.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Strong Wind Very High
Hail Relatively High
Tornado Relatively High
Winter Weather Very High
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane 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: 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.
For Lancaster County the two measures on this page point the same way: Strong Wind is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Very High), and Severe Storm 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
Lancaster County's closest FEMA peer: Boulder County, CO
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Lancaster County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Lancaster County: NRI composite 90.7 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar Major-disaster share
Lancaster County: 14 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Lancaster 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 Lancaster County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Lancaster 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: 90.7 (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
Lancaster County's NFIP claims file (313 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 Lancaster County?
The most common disaster type in Lancaster County is Severe Storm, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (5), Biological (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Lancaster County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Nebraska average?
The typical Nebraska county has 16.8 FEMA declaration records; Lancaster County has 16, or 5% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 23% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Lancaster County received?
Lancaster County has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 88% of all 16 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Lancaster County filed?
Lancaster County has 313 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $3.0M in payments, with an average of $9.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Lancaster County?
No. In Lancaster County, Strong Wind has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Tornado leads Expected Annual Loss at about $42.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Lancaster County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Lancaster County was 2010, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1967 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Lancaster County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Lancaster County, Nebraska has an overall risk score of 90.7 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $115.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Lancaster County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Lancaster County is Strong Wind (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Hail (Relatively High) and Tornado (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts strong wind here at an average of 4.5 times per year, drawn from 171 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 Lancaster County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Nebraska profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events