FEMA Records
16
Below median
Virginia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Loudoun County, VA
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1972-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 78
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Loudoun 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 22% below the Virginia county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 22%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 22%
- 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
- 168
- 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 51107 · Loudoun County 16 declarations · rank 2354/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 16
- MAJOR-MID 63%
- RANK-LOWER #2,354
- PHOTO-FINISH Greene
- NRI-LOW 78
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -22%
Nearest declaration peer: Greene, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Virginia state profile
Loudoun County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Loudoun 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
- Loudoun · this county 16
Loudoun · this county
16 declarations
- Terrell · near 16
Terrell · near
16 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Loudoun County carries 16 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2354 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Loudoun County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Loudoun County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Loudoun 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
Loudoun County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Loudoun County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $37.5M 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 Loudoun County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 168 paid claims, totaling $2.0M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $12.2K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Virginia county averages 20.4 federal declaration records, while Loudoun County has 16. The gap is 22% 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 78.1/100 (Relatively Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $60.7M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very Low and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. 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 4.5 modeled event-days per year here, based on 76 historical events on record.
53 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Loudoun County, VA · 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
10/25
16 declarations (0.8x state county average of 20)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
10 of 16 declarations are major disasters (63%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Loudoun County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Loudoun 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
63%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
78
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Loudoun 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 | 4.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 12 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 38 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 7.7 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 11 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 806 years |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.9 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 4.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 3,122 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 5
Snowstorm 4
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Flood 2
Winter Storm 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Loudoun County's federal record, 31% of its declarations. Atlantic tropical systems run on a defined season, 1 June to 30 November, with most activity concentrated between August and October; Pacific and territorial basins run on their own calendars. A single named storm routinely produces one declaration number covering a long corridor of counties at once, well inland as well as on the coast, which is why an affected county's count can jump by several in one year without several separate events having occurred.
One practical distinction matters when reading these records: a tropical declaration usually bundles wind, storm surge and inland rainfall flooding under a single incident, but the insurance behind them is split. Wind damage falls to property insurers, while flood and surge damage is covered only under a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. That is why a county can show heavy declaration activity and a comparatively small NFIP claims record, or the reverse.
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 - 10 62.5%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 6 37.5%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3631 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4512 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-02 |
| 3448 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3403 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-11 |
| 4262 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2016-03-07 |
| 4092 | HURRICANE SANDY | DR | Hurricane | 2012-11-26 |
| 3359 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 1905 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | DR | Snowstorm | 2010-04-27 |
| 3240 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-12 |
| 1491 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-18 |
| 1458 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, RECORD/NEAR RECORD SNOWFALL, HEAVY RAIN,FLOODIND, AND MUDSLIDE | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-03-27 |
| 1318 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-02-28 |
| 1098 | FLOODING, HIGH WINDS, AND WIND DRIVEN RAIN | DR | Flood | 1996-01-27 |
| 1086 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3112 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-25 |
| 339 | TROPICAL STORM AGNES | DR | Flood | 1972-06-23 |
Storm Events in Virginia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Loudoun County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 8,940 | 13 | 31 | $123.1M |
| Flood | 2,300 | 4 | 0 | $85.1M |
| Winter Weather | 2,049 | 6 | 32 | $902.0K |
| Flash Flood | 1,942 | 13 | 4 | $244.2M |
| Heavy Rain | 1,566 | 0 | 0 | $2.5M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
168
Total Paid
$2.0M
Avg Per Claim
$12.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 78.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$60.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively High
Lightning Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Low
Earthquake Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Avalanche 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 Loudoun 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 Hurricane. 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
Loudoun County's closest FEMA peer: Osage County, OK
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Loudoun County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Loudoun County: NRI composite 78.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Loudoun County: 10 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Loudoun County shows 16 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
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 Loudoun County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Loudoun 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: 78.1 (Relatively Low).
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
Loudoun County's NFIP claims file (168 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 Loudoun County?
The most common disaster type in Loudoun County is Hurricane, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Snowstorm (4), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Loudoun County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Virginia average?
The typical Virginia county has 20.4 FEMA declaration records; Loudoun County has 16, or 22% 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 Loudoun County received?
Loudoun County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 63% of all 16 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Loudoun County filed?
Loudoun County has 168 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $2.0M in payments, with an average of $12.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Loudoun County?
No. In Loudoun County, Heat Wave has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $37.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Loudoun County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Loudoun County was 1996, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1972 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Loudoun County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Loudoun County, Virginia has an overall risk score of 78.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very Low, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $60.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Loudoun County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Loudoun County as of the latest release is Heat Wave (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively High) and Lightning (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts heat wave here at 4.5 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 76 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 Loudoun County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Virginia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events