FEMA Records
14
Low volume
Ohio · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Medina County, OH
14 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 14
- FEMA declarations
- 9
- Major disasters
- 69
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Medina County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 14 declarations, more than 20% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 4% below the Ohio county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 31%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 31%
- 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
- 290
- 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.
How does Medina County compare?
Medina County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
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 · 2026-08-03
Medina County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Ohio county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Medina County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $20.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), 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 Medina County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 290 paid claims, totaling $4.7M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $16.1K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Ohio county averages 14.6 federal declaration records, while Medina County has 14. The gap is 4% 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 carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 69.0/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $35.0M 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 13 times per year here, based on 242 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
Nationally, Medina County's 14 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within Ohio, however, the count is 4% below the county mean. 9 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Severe Storm, appearing 6 times. The full 55-year record averages 0.3 declarations annually. A DR label alone does not say whether Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both followed.
51 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Medina County, OH · 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 Moderate
12/25
14 declarations (1.0x state county average of 15)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
9 of 14 declarations are major disasters (64%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Medina County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Ohio Avg
-4%
State avg: 14.6
vs. National Avg
-32%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.3
Over 55 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Medina 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
64%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
69
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Medina 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 13 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 5 years |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 41 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,110 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 15,363 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 4.1 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 92 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 9 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 6
Tornado 3
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Medina County's record, 43% 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 - 9 64.3%
of all 14 declarations
Emergency - 5 35.7%
of all 14 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 2 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 1992 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4507 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-31 |
| 3457 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3346 | SEVERE STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2012-06-30 |
| 3250 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1580 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-02-15 |
| 1556 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-19 |
| 1519 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-06-03 |
| 1484 | TORNADOES, FLOODING, SEVERE STORMS, AND HIGH WINDS | DR | Tornado | 2003-08-01 |
| 1444 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2002-11-18 |
| 951 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1992-08-04 |
| 3055 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-26 |
| 3029 | SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-02-02 |
| 266 | TORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1969-07-15 |
| 191 | TORNADOES & SEVERE STORMS | DR | Tornado | 1965-04-14 |
Storm Events in Ohio
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Medina County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,938 | 6 | 39 | $60.4M |
| Winter Weather | 2,101 | 7 | 42 | $3.3M |
| Hail | 1,749 | 0 | 0 | $673.5K |
| Flood | 1,607 | 9 | 0 | $84.5M |
| Flash Flood | 1,089 | 9 | 7 | $112.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
290
Total Paid
$4.7M
Avg Per Claim
$16.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 69.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$35.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought 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: 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 Medina 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 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
Medina County's closest FEMA peer: Roane County, TN
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Medina County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Medina County: NRI composite 69.0 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Medina County: 9 of 14 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Medina 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 Medina County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Medina County's NFIP claims file (290 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Medina County?
The most common disaster type in Medina County is Severe Storm, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Tornado (3), Biological (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Medina County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Ohio average?
The typical Ohio county has 14.6 FEMA declaration records; Medina County has 14, or 4% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 32% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Medina County received?
Medina County has received 9 major disaster declarations, representing 64% of all 14 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Medina County filed?
Medina County has 290 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.7M in payments, with an average of $16.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Medina County?
No. In Medina County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $20.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Medina County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Medina County was 2003, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Medina County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Medina County, Ohio has an overall risk score of 69.0 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 Low, representing $35.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Medina County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Medina County as of the latest release is Winter Weather (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Strong Wind (Relatively High) and Ice Storm (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 13 times per year, drawn from 242 historical events on record. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, 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 Medina County
Against a Ohio county mean of 15 declarations, Medina County, OH records 14, or 4% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (9 of 14) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Ohio overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 20% of recorded county totals, but its own Ohio benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- Use the data guide to separate this mid-volume insurance-claims file from declaration counts and modeled NRI risk. Disaster-data guide
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
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.