FEMA Records
7
Low volume
Wisconsin · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Menominee County, WI
7 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 7
- FEMA declarations
- 3
- Major disasters
- 9
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Menominee County: 7 FEMA declaration records are 43% below the Wisconsin county mean, even though the count is higher than 4% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks safer than 9%.
- Safer than 9%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 7
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 2
- biological declarations, the most common hazard here
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 Menominee County compare?
Menominee County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
7 4th percentile higher than 4% 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
Menominee County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Wisconsin county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Menominee County is led by Cold Wave (about $1.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Lightning 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 Menominee County's hazard record show?
Declaration frequency
The state comparison is the clearest context for Menominee County's moderate federal record. Its 7 declarations sit 43% below the Wisconsin county mean, with 3 Major Disaster entries among them. 2 records concern Flood, the file's most frequent incident type. Spread across 44 years, the registry rate is 0.2 per year. FEMA reports authorized programs separately from the DR, EM, and FM codes.
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's National Risk Index places this county in the low end of the national distribution, composite score 9.1/100 (Very Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $2.9M in annualized losses). Two modifiers shape how that exposure becomes real-world harm here: social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Relatively Moderate). Among the 18 modeled hazards, Lightning carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 30 times per year here, based on 34,111 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
No paid-claim row for this county appears in the NFIP county table used by PlainHazard. That absence is not evidence that flooding never occurred: the register observes claims under federal flood-insurance policies, not uninsured losses, emergency reports, or every flood outside the program. The FEMA declaration history below is therefore the available federal-action record on this page.
Start with the state benchmark: a Wisconsin county averages 12.3 federal declaration records, while Menominee County has 7. The gap is 43% 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.
36 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Menominee County, WI · 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) Low
5/30
7 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
7/25
7 declarations (0.6x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
11/25
3 of 7 declarations are major disasters (43%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Menominee County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
Moderate
vs. Wisconsin Avg
-43%
State avg: 12.3
vs. National Avg
-66%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.2
Over 44 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Menominee 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
43%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
9
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Menominee 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 30 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 6.8 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2 times per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 8 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 15 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 11 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 42,839 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 3,175 years |
| Hurricane | No Rating | roughly once every 192 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Flood 2
Hurricane 1
Severe Storm 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Menominee County's record, 29% 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).
Emergency - 4 57.1%
of all 7 declarations
Major Disaster - 3 42.9%
of all 7 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 7 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 7 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4520 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3454 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4459 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-08-27 |
| 3249 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 994 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-07-02 |
| 3091 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | EM | Flood | 1984-07-10 |
| 3014 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
Storm Events in Wisconsin
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Menominee County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,504 | 5 | 23 | $45.0M |
| Hail | 2,620 | 0 | 0 | $57.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,939 | 43 | 152 | $2.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,338 | 15 | 86 | $2.3M |
| Flood | 740 | 12 | 4 | $115.6M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 9.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$2.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Hail Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Drought No Rating
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: Lightning
Lightning is modeled as a high-frequency, low-per-event hazard: strike counts are large, but each strike affects a very small area. Its aggregate cost accumulates through structure fires, electrical and electronic damage, and it is one of the few hazards whose risk is essentially continuous through the season rather than episodic.
Worth noting for Menominee County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Lightning carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Menominee County's closest FEMA peer: Daggett County, UT
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Menominee County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Menominee County shows 7 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Menominee County: 3 of 7 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Menominee County: NRI composite 9.1 (Very 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 Menominee County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Lightning as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively Moderate); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
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 Menominee County?
The most common disaster type in Menominee County is Flood, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Hurricane (1), Severe Storm (1).
How does Menominee County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Wisconsin average?
The typical Wisconsin county has 12.3 FEMA declaration records; Menominee County has 7, or 43% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 66% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Menominee County received?
Menominee County has received 3 major disaster declarations, representing 43% of all 7 disaster declarations.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Menominee County?
No. In Menominee County, Lightning has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $1.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Menominee County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Menominee County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Menominee County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Menominee County, Wisconsin has an overall risk score of 9.1 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $2.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Menominee County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Menominee County is Lightning (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate) and Hail (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts lightning here at an average of 30 times per year, drawn from 34,111 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.
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 Menominee County
Against a Wisconsin county mean of 12 declarations, Menominee County, WI records 7, or 43% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as moderate activity.
- Emergency is the largest group (4 of 7) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Wisconsin overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 4% of recorded county totals, but its own Wisconsin benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- With no NFIP county row, the declaration register and modeled NRI remain distinct evidence rather than substitutes for a claims history. 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.