FEMA Records
17
Below median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Lincoln County, SD
17 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 17
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 63
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Lincoln County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 17 declarations, more than 32% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 11% below the South Dakota county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 37%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 37%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 17
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 39
- 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 46083 · Lincoln County 17 declarations · rank 2187/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 17
- MAJOR-HEAVY 82%
- RANK-LOWER #2,187
- PHOTO-FINISH Curry
- NRI-LOW 63
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -11%
Nearest declaration peer: Curry, OR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Dakota state profile
Lincoln County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Lincoln County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Curry · near 17
Curry · near
17 declarations
- Lincoln · this county 17
Lincoln · this county
17 declarations
- Murray · near 17
Murray · near
17 declarations
- Washington · near 17
Washington · near
17 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Lincoln County carries 17 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2187 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Lincoln County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Lincoln County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Lincoln County
17 32nd percentile higher than 32% 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
Lincoln County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Lincoln County is led by Tornado (about $17.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Winter Weather carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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 Lincoln County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 63.0/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $41.7M in annualized losses), and a Very Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Winter Weather stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 18 times per year here, based on 339 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 39 claims and $2.1M paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
Start with the state benchmark: a South Dakota county averages 19.0 federal declaration records, while Lincoln County has 17. The gap is 11% 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.
57 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Lincoln County, SD · 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
17 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.8x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
17 declarations (0.9x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
21/25
14 of 17 declarations are major disasters (82%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Lincoln County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Lincoln 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
82%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
63
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Lincoln 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 18 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 6.4 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 22 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,418 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 7.6 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 2.7 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.1 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 5.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 15 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,208 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 39 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 7
Severe Storm 6
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Lincoln County's record, 41% 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 - 14 82.4%
of all 17 declarations
Emergency - 3 17.6%
of all 17 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 17 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 17 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4807 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2024-08-15 |
| 4527 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3475 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4469 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-11-18 |
| 4440 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-07 |
| 4186 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2014-07-28 |
| 4125 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADO, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-06-28 |
| 4115 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-05-10 |
| 1938 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-09-23 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 1173 | SEVERE FLOODING, SEVER WINTER STORMS,HEAVY RAINS HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1156 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-10 |
| 1052 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1995-05-26 |
| 999 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-07-19 |
| 717 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1984-07-19 |
| 3015 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
| 257 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-18 |
Storm Events in South Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Lincoln County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,388 | 7 | 21 | $10.7M |
| Hail | 4,801 | 0 | 3 | $4.5M |
| High Wind | 2,277 | 0 | 1 | $35.0K |
| Winter Weather | 2,125 | 20 | 50 | $133.0K |
| Flood | 1,523 | 5 | 0 | $196.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
39
Total Paid
$2.1M
Avg Per Claim
$52.7K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 63.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$41.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Relatively High
Tornado Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Hail Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Lightning Relatively 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: Winter Weather
Winter Weather in the model means the accumulation of snow and cold that disrupts rather than destroys: road closures, roof loads, burst pipes and lost heating. Its costs land heavily on transport and on households least able to absorb an interruption.
Worth noting for Lincoln County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), 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
Lincoln County's closest FEMA peer: Lee County, IA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Lincoln County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Lincoln County: NRI composite 63.0 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Lincoln County: 14 of 17 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Lincoln County shows 17 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
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 Lincoln County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Lincoln 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: 63.0 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 17. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 17 FEMA declarations, Lincoln County sits in the high-volume declaration band - see how that count ranks against other U.S. counties.
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 Lincoln County?
The most common disaster type in Lincoln County is Flood, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (6), Biological (2), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Lincoln County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
The typical South Dakota county has 19.0 FEMA declaration records; Lincoln County has 17, or 11% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 18% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Lincoln County received?
Lincoln County has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 82% of all 17 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Lincoln County filed?
Lincoln County has 39 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $2.1M in payments, with an average of $52.7K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Lincoln County?
No. In Lincoln County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Tornado leads Expected Annual Loss at about $17.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Lincoln County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Lincoln County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Lincoln County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Lincoln County, South Dakota has an overall risk score of 63.0 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $41.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Lincoln County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Lincoln County as of the latest release is Winter Weather (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively High) and Ice Storm (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 18 times per year, drawn from 339 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Lincoln County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Dakota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events