FEMA Records
16
Below median
Ohio · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Lawrence County, OH
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1978-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 71
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Lawrence County. Its 16 FEMA declarations are 9% above the Ohio 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 29%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 29%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 16
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 467
- 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 Lawrence County compare?
Lawrence County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
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 · 2026-08-03
Lawrence County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Ohio county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Lawrence County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $21.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Heat Wave 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 Lawrence County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 467 paid claims, totaling $4.7M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $10.0K 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. Lawrence County's 16 federal records stand 9% above the Ohio county mean of 14.6. 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 carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 71.0/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $27.4M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Heat Wave carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 4.6 modeled event-days per year here, based on 79 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 16 entries for Lawrence County, including 12 Major Disaster records, 9% above the Ohio county mean. Across the 42-year span, that works out to 0.4 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 8 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
58 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Lawrence County, OH · 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
14/25
16 declarations (1.1x state county average of 15)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
12 of 16 declarations are major disasters (75%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Lawrence County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Ohio Avg
+9%
State avg: 14.6
vs. National Avg
-23%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.4
Over 42 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Lawrence 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
75%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
71
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Lawrence 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 4.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.8 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 48 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 8.5 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,376 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 864 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 49 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 1.7 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 3 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 1.4 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 8
Flood 4
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Snowstorm 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Lawrence County's record, 50% 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 - 12 75.0%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 4 25.0%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4507 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-31 |
| 3457 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4424 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2019-04-08 |
| 4360 | SEVERE STORMS, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2018-04-17 |
| 4077 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-08-20 |
| 3346 | SEVERE STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2012-06-30 |
| 4002 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-07-13 |
| 3250 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1556 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-19 |
| 1453 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD/NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-03-14 |
| 1321 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-03-07 |
| 1164 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-03-04 |
| 1122 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-06-24 |
| 1097 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-01-27 |
| 870 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-06-06 |
| 3055 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-26 |
Storm Events in Ohio
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Lawrence County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,938 | 6 | 39 | $60.4M |
| Winter Weather | 2,101 | 7 | 42 | $3.3M |
| Hail | 1,749 | 0 | 0 | $673.5K |
| Flood | 1,607 | 9 | 0 | $84.5M |
| Flash Flood | 1,089 | 9 | 7 | $112.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
467
Total Paid
$4.7M
Avg Per Claim
$10.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 71.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$27.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Drought 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: Heat Wave
Heat Wave is measured in event-days per year rather than discrete events, and it is the hazard whose harm is most consistently undercounted: its toll is health and mortality, concentrated among people without cooling, rather than visible damage to property.
Worth noting for Lawrence County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Heat Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Lawrence County's closest FEMA peer: St. James Parish, LA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Lawrence County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Lawrence County: NRI composite 71.0 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Lawrence County: 12 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Lawrence 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 Lawrence County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Lawrence County's NFIP claims file (467 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 Lawrence County?
The most common disaster type in Lawrence County is Severe Storm, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Lawrence County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Ohio average?
FEMA lists 16 declaration records for Lawrence County. That is 9% above the Ohio county mean of 14.6. 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 Lawrence County received?
Lawrence County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 75% of all 16 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Lawrence County filed?
Lawrence County has 467 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.7M in payments, with an average of $10.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Lawrence County?
No. In Lawrence County, Heat Wave has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $21.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Lawrence County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Lawrence County was 1996, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1978 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Lawrence County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Lawrence County, Ohio has an overall risk score of 71.0 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $27.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Lawrence County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Lawrence County is Heat Wave (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Moderate) and Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts heat wave here at 4.6 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 79 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 Lawrence County
Lawrence County, OH has 16 federal declaration records, 9% more than the Ohio county mean of 15; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 12 of 16 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Ohio overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Ohio mean and the totals for 27% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- Use the data guide to separate this mid-volume insurance-claims file from declaration counts and modeled NRI risk. Disaster-data guide
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
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.