FEMA Records
21
Above median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Meade County, SD
21 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 21
- FEMA declarations
- 16
- Major disasters
- 49
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Meade County. Its 21 FEMA declarations are 11% above the South Dakota county mean and exceed the count for 52% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 49%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 49%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 21
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 23
- 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.
How does Meade County compare?
Meade County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
21 Top 48% higher than 52% 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
Meade County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the South Dakota county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Meade County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $9.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), 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 Meade County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 49.5/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Relatively Low (roughly $21.7M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very Low) and community resilience (Relatively Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. 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 217 years here.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 21 entries for Meade County, including 16 Major Disaster records, 11% above the South Dakota county mean. Across the 55-year span, that works out to 0.4 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 8 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 23 claims and $52.8K 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. Meade County's 21 federal records stand 11% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. 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.
66 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Meade 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) High
15/30
21 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
21 declarations (1.1x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
16 of 21 declarations are major disasters (76%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Meade County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. South Dakota Avg
+11%
State avg: 19.0
vs. National Avg
+1%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.4
Over 55 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Meade 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
76%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
49
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Meade 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 217 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 16 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 5.1 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 6.4 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 36 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,571 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.9 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 59 modeled event-days 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
Severe Storm 8
Flood 6
Biological 2
Fire 2
Snowstorm 1
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Meade County's record, 38% 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 - 16 76.2%
of all 21 declarations
Emergency - 3 14.3%
of all 21 declarations
Fire Management - 2 9.5%
of all 21 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 3 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 2 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 21 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 21 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4527 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3475 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4467 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-10-07 |
| 4463 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-09-23 |
| 4298 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-02-01 |
| 4155 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-11-08 |
| 1887 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-10 |
| 1811 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Snowstorm | 2008-12-12 |
| 1774 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-09 |
| 2658 | EAST RIDGE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-07-27 |
| 1647 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-06-05 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 2565 | SD RICCO FIRE | FM | Fire | 2005-07-10 |
| 1173 | SEVERE FLOODING, SEVER WINTER STORMS,HEAVY RAINS HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1161 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-02-28 |
| 1156 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-10 |
| 1052 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1995-05-26 |
| 511 | FLASH FLOODING & MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 1976-06-25 |
| 3015 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
| 336 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-06-10 |
Show 1 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 197 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-05-26 |
Storm Events in South Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Meade 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
23
Total Paid
$52.8K
Avg Per Claim
$2.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 49.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$21.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively High
Hail Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Drought Very 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: 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 Meade 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
Meade County's closest FEMA peer: Kemper County, MS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Meade County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Meade County shows 21 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Meade County: 16 of 21 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Meade County: NRI composite 49.5 (Relatively Low).
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 Meade County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 21 FEMA declarations, Meade 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Meade County?
The most common disaster type in Meade County is Severe Storm, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (6), Biological (2), Fire (2).
How does Meade County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
FEMA lists 21 declaration records for Meade County. That is 11% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. Its count is also 1% 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 Meade County received?
Meade County has received 16 major disaster declarations, representing 76% of all 21 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Meade County filed?
Meade County has 23 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $52.8K in payments, with an average of $2.3K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Meade County?
No. In Meade County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $9.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Meade County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Meade County was 1997, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Meade County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Meade County, South Dakota has an overall risk score of 49.5 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $21.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Meade County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Meade County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively High) and Hail (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 217 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 Meade County
Meade County, SD has 21 federal declaration records, 11% more than the South Dakota county mean of 19; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 16 of 21 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. South Dakota overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the South Dakota mean and the totals for 52% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- A short NFIP claims file cannot establish low flood exposure; the data guide explains the limits of each federal measure. 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.