FEMA Records
11
Low volume
Michigan · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Marquette County, MI
11 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 11
- FEMA declarations
- 5
- Major disasters
- 70
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Marquette County. Its 11 FEMA declarations are 10% above the Michigan county mean and exceed the count for 12% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 30%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 30%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 11
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 21
- 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 26103 · Marquette County 11 declarations · rank 2828/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 11
- MAJOR-LIGHT 45%
- RANK-LOWER #2,828
- PHOTO-FINISH Meeker
- NRI-LOW 70
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +10%
Nearest declaration peer: Meeker, MN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Michigan state profile
Marquette County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Marquette County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Davis · near 11
Davis · near
11 declarations
- Marquette · this county 11
Marquette · this county
11 declarations
- Meeker · near 11
Meeker · near
11 declarations
- Wasatch · near 11
Wasatch · near
11 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Marquette County carries 11 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2828 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Marquette County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Marquette County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Marquette County
11 12th percentile higher than 12% 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
Marquette County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Marquette County is led by Cold Wave (about $12.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Hail 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 Marquette County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 69.8/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $26.0M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate 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, Hail stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 1 years here, based on 35 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 21 claims and $233.4K 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. Marquette County's 11 federal records stand 10% above the Michigan county mean of 10.0. 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.
51 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Marquette County, MI · 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
8/30
11 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
11 declarations (1.1x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
11/25
5 of 11 declarations are major disasters (45%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Marquette County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Marquette 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
45%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
70
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Marquette 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hail | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 4.6 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 31 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 23 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,694 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 18 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 79 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 2.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 6,173 years |
| Hurricane | No Rating | roughly once every 345 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 3
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
Fire 1
Freezing 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Marquette County's record, 27% 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 - 5 45.5%
of all 11 declarations
Emergency - 5 45.5%
of all 11 declarations
Fire Management - 1 9.1%
of all 11 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 11 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 11 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4925 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4494 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3455 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4121 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2013-06-18 |
| 3225 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1413 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2002-05-06 |
| 2261 | MI - TOWER LAKE MOUNTAIN FIRE - 05/06/1999 | FM | Fire | 1999-05-06 |
| 3137 | MI - SEVERE WEATHER 1/2 /99 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-27 |
| 1028 | SEVERE DEEP FREEZE | DR | Freezing | 1994-05-10 |
| 3057 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-27 |
| 3035 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-03-02 |
Storm Events in Michigan
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Marquette County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,010 | 10 | 18 | $173.8M |
| Winter Storm | 1,486 | 3 | 11 | $41.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,254 | 21 | 38 | $892.0K |
| Hail | 962 | 0 | 0 | $77.1M |
| High Wind | 389 | 3 | 2 | $668.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
21
Total Paid
$233.4K
Avg Per Claim
$11.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 69.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$26.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Drought Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane 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: Hail
Hail is among the most expensive hazards in the model relative to how little it threatens life. It concentrates on roofs, vehicles and crops, and a single severe storm can generate an insurance loss across a metropolitan area without a single injury.
Worth noting for Marquette County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Hail 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
Marquette County's closest FEMA peer: Ohio County, WV
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Marquette County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Marquette County: NRI composite 69.8 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Marquette County: 5 of 11 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Marquette County shows 11 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 Marquette County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Marquette 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: 69.8 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 11. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 11 FEMA declarations, Marquette 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 Marquette County?
The most common disaster type in Marquette County is Flood, with 3 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Snowstorm (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Marquette County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Michigan average?
FEMA lists 11 declaration records for Marquette County. That is 10% above the Michigan county mean of 10.0. Its count is also 47% 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 Marquette County received?
Marquette County has received 5 major disaster declarations, representing 45% of all 11 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Marquette County filed?
Marquette County has 21 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $233.4K in payments, with an average of $11.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Marquette County?
No. In Marquette County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $12.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Marquette County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Marquette County was 1999, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Marquette County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Marquette County, Michigan has an overall risk score of 69.8 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $26.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Marquette County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Marquette County is Hail (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively High) and Winter Weather (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at roughly once every 1 years, drawn from 35 historical events on record. 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Marquette County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Michigan profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events