FEMA Records
14
Low volume
Nevada · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Lyon County, NV
14 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 14
- FEMA declarations
- 8
- Major disasters
- 71
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Lyon County. Its 14 FEMA declarations are 13% above the Nevada county mean and exceed the count for 20% 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
- 14
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 24
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 32019 · Lyon County 14 declarations · rank 2562/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 14
- MAJOR-MID 57%
- RANK-LOWER #2,562
- PHOTO-FINISH Pulaski
- NRI-LOW 71
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +13%
Nearest declaration peer: Pulaski, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Nevada state profile
Lyon County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Lyon County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Franklin (city) · near 14
Franklin (city) · near
14 declarations
- Harris · near 14
Harris · near
14 declarations
- Lyon · this county 14
Lyon · this county
14 declarations
- Pulaski · near 14
Pulaski · near
14 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Lyon County carries 14 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2562 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Lyon County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Lyon County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Lyon County
14 20th percentile higher than 20% 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
Lyon County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Lyon County is led by Earthquake (about $11.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Wildfire 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 Lyon County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 71.4/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $32.9M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Wildfire carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 187 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 24 claims and $678.6K 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.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Lyon County's 14 federal records stand 13% above the Nevada county mean of 12.4. 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.
53 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Lyon County, NV · 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
10/30
14 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
14 declarations (1.1x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
8 of 14 declarations are major disasters (57%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Lyon County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Lyon 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
57%
Major-heavy
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 Lyon 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 187 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 22 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 6.5 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 99 modeled event-days per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 4 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1 time per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 18 times per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 1,429 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 4 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 15 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 4
Flood 3
Biological 2
Fire 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Lyon County's record, 29% 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 - 8 57.1%
of all 14 declarations
Emergency - 4 28.6%
of all 14 declarations
Fire Management - 2 14.3%
of all 14 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 14 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 14 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4708 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2023-04-27 |
| 4523 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3443 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 5242 | UPPER COLONY FIRE | FM | Fire | 2018-06-17 |
| 4303 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-02-17 |
| 1738 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-01-08 |
| 2650 | LINEHAN FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2006-06-27 |
| 1629 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-02-03 |
| 3243 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 3204 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-02-23 |
| 3202 | RECORD AND/OR NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-02-17 |
| 1153 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-03 |
| 759 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-02-28 |
| 187 | SEVERE STORMS, HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-01-18 |
Storm Events in Nevada
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Lyon County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 1,647 | 0 | 2 | $10.4M |
| Heavy Snow | 926 | 0 | 0 | $123.0K |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 463 | 3 | 0 | $8.7M |
| Flash Flood | 315 | 7 | 2 | $36.7M |
| Excessive Heat | 252 | 376 | 17 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
24
Total Paid
$678.6K
Avg Per Claim
$28.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 71.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$32.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively High
Drought Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Cold Wave 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: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
Worth noting for Lyon County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Wildfire 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
Lyon County's closest FEMA peer: Platte County, MO
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Lyon County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Lyon County: NRI composite 71.4 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Lyon County: 8 of 14 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Lyon County shows 14 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 Lyon County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Lyon 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: 71.4 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 14. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 14 FEMA declarations, Lyon 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 Lyon County?
The most common disaster type in Lyon County is Severe Storm, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (3), Biological (2), Fire (2).
How does Lyon County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Nevada average?
FEMA lists 14 declaration records for Lyon County. That is 13% above the Nevada county mean of 12.4. Its count is also 32% 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 Lyon County received?
Lyon County has received 8 major disaster declarations, representing 57% of all 14 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Lyon County filed?
Lyon County has 24 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $678.6K in payments, with an average of $28.3K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Lyon County?
No. In Lyon County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Earthquake leads Expected Annual Loss at about $11.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Lyon County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Lyon County was 2005, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Lyon County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Lyon County, Nevada has an overall risk score of 71.4 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $32.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Lyon County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Lyon County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Earthquake (Relatively Moderate) and Winter Weather (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 187 years. 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 Lyon County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Nevada profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events