FEMA Records
37
Very high volume
Washington · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Lewis County, WA
37 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 37
- FEMA declarations
- 34
- Major disasters
- 90
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Lewis County. Its 37 FEMA declarations are 49% above the Washington county mean and exceed the count for 95% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 10%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 10%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 37
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 2,102
- 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 Lewis County compare?
Lewis County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
37 Top 5% higher than 95% 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
Lewis County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Washington county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Lewis County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $36.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Earthquake 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 Lewis County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 2,102 claims and $82.5M 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 $39.3K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Lewis County's 37 federal records stand 49% above the Washington county mean of 24.9. 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 89.7/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $70.9M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Relatively Moderate, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Earthquake carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 52 years here.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 37 entries for Lewis County, including 34 Major Disaster records, 49% above the Washington county mean. Across the 61-year span, that works out to 0.6 declarations a year. Flood leads the file with 19 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
84 /100
Historical Activity Index
Very High historical activity
Lewis County, WA · 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) Very High
27/30
37 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.8x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
19/25
37 declarations (1.5x state county average of 25)
Major Disaster Share Very High
23/25
34 of 37 declarations are major disasters (92%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Lewis County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Washington Avg
+49%
State avg: 24.9
vs. National Avg
+79%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.6
Over 61 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Lewis 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
92%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
90
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Lewis 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 52 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.8 times per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 80 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Avalanche | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 3.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 7,149 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 29 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 6.6 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 43 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 2.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 34 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 8,345 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 19
Severe Storm 13
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Earthquake 1
Volcanic Eruption 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Lewis County's record, 51% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
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 - 34 91.9%
of all 37 declarations
Emergency - 3 8.1%
of all 37 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 2 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
Show 13 earlier declaration years
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 2 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1971 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 37 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 37 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4906 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2026-04-07 |
| 3629 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2025-12-12 |
| 4775 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-04-28 |
| 4682 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-01-12 |
| 4650 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, SNOWSTORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2022-03-29 |
| 4635 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2022-01-05 |
| 4593 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2021-04-08 |
| 4539 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2020-04-23 |
| 4481 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-22 |
| 3427 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4309 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2017-04-21 |
| 4253 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, MUDSLIDES, AND A T | DR | Flood | 2016-02-02 |
| 4249 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-01-15 |
| 4056 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-03-05 |
| 1963 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-03-25 |
| 1825 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-03-02 |
| 1817 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, LANDSLIDES, MUDSLIDES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2009-01-30 |
| 1734 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-12-08 |
| 1682 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-02-14 |
| 1671 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-12-12 |
Show 17 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3227 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-07 |
| 1361 | EARTHQUAKE | DR | Earthquake | 2001-03-01 |
| 1159 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, LAND & MUDS SLIDES,FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-17 |
| 1100 | HIGH WINDS, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-02-09 |
| 1079 | SEVERE STORMS, HIGH WIND, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-01-03 |
| 981 | SEVERE STORMS & HIGH WIND | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-03-04 |
| 896 | SEVERE STORMS & HIGH TIDES | DR | Flood | 1991-03-08 |
| 883 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1990-11-26 |
| 852 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1990-01-18 |
| 784 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-12-15 |
| 623 | VOLCANIC ERUPTION, MT. ST. HELENS | DR | Volcanic Eruption | 1980-05-21 |
| 545 | SEVERE STORMS,MUDSLIDES, & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1977-12-10 |
| 492 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-12-13 |
| 414 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-01-25 |
| 322 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-02-01 |
| 300 | HEAVY RAINS, MELTING SNOWS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1971-02-09 |
| 185 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1964-12-29 |
Storm Events in Washington
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Lewis County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Snow | 1,700 | 5 | 7 | $2.3M |
| High Wind | 614 | 15 | 6 | $1.1B |
| Wildfire | 299 | 4 | 4 | $1.8B |
| Winter Weather | 259 | 9 | 62 | $1.1M |
| Flood | 231 | 4 | 0 | $391.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
2,102
Total Paid
$82.5M
Avg Per Claim
$39.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 89.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$70.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Volcanic Activity Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Avalanche Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Tornado Very Low
Drought Very Low
Hail Very Low
Cold Wave 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: Earthquake
Earthquake is the model's clearest example of a hazard with no season and no warning. Its expected loss is driven less by how often shaking occurs than by how much of the building stock predates modern seismic codes, so exposure can be high in places where nothing has happened for a long time.
Worth noting for Lewis County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. 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
Lewis County's closest FEMA peer: Washita County, OK
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Lewis County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Lewis County shows 37 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Lewis County: 34 of 37 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Lewis County: NRI composite 89.7 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Lewis County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Lewis County's NFIP claims file (2,102 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 Lewis County?
The most common disaster type in Lewis County is Flood, with 19 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (13), Biological (2), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Lewis County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Washington average?
FEMA lists 37 declaration records for Lewis County. That is 49% above the Washington county mean of 24.9. Its count is also 79% above 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 Lewis County received?
Lewis County has received 34 major disaster declarations, representing 92% of all 37 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Lewis County filed?
Lewis County has 2,102 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $82.5M in payments, with an average of $39.3K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Lewis County?
No. In Lewis County, Earthquake has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $36.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Lewis County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Lewis County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Lewis County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Lewis County, Washington has an overall risk score of 89.7 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $70.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Lewis County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Lewis County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Moderate) and Volcanic Activity (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 52 years. 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.
What this means for Lewis County
Lewis County, WA has 37 federal declaration records, 49% more than the Washington county mean of 25; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 34 of 37 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Washington overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Washington mean and the totals for 95% of 3,266 U.S. counties. 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
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.