FEMA Records
22
Above median
Wisconsin · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Milwaukee County, WI
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 98
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Milwaukee County. Its 22 FEMA declarations are 79% above the Wisconsin county mean and exceed the count for 57% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 2%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 2%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 2,433
- 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 55079 · Milwaukee County 22 declarations · rank 1325/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-HIGH
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-MID 77%
- RANK-LOWER #1,325
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-HIGH 98
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-HIGH +79%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Wisconsin state profile
Milwaukee County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Milwaukee County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Hardy · near 22
Hardy · near
22 declarations
- Milwaukee · this county 22
Milwaukee · this county
22 declarations
- Prairie · near 22
Prairie · near
22 declarations
- St. Francis · near 22
St. Francis · near
22 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Milwaukee County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1325 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Milwaukee County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Milwaukee County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Milwaukee County
22 Top 43% higher than 57% 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
Milwaukee County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Milwaukee County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 2,433 claims and $28.9M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $11.9K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Milwaukee County's 22 federal records stand 79% above the Wisconsin county mean of 12.3. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 98.4/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $342.1M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively High and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Cold Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 4.9 times per year here, based on 93 historical events on record.
70 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Milwaukee 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) High
16/30
22 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
22/25
22 declarations (1.8x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
17 of 22 declarations are major disasters (77%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Milwaukee County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Milwaukee 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
77%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
98
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Milwaukee 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Wave | Very High | an average of 4.9 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively High | 3.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Very High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Very High | an average of 16 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.7 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1,524 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 34 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 79 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 21 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 35,207 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 174 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 1.5 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 8
Severe Storm 7
Snowstorm 4
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Milwaukee County's record, 36% 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 - 17 77.3%
of all 22 declarations
Emergency - 5 22.7%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
Show 4 earlier declaration years
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 22 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 22 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4923 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4892 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2025-09-11 |
| 4520 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3454 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4477 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2020-03-11 |
| 1966 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2011-04-05 |
| 1933 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-08-11 |
| 1768 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-14 |
| 3285 | RECORD SNOW AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2008-03-19 |
| 3249 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1526 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-06-18 |
| 3163 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-01-24 |
| 1332 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-06-24 |
| 1238 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-08-12 |
| 1180 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-07-07 |
| 994 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-07-02 |
| 775 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-10-07 |
| 770 | SEVERE STORMS | DR | Flood | 1986-08-14 |
| 3069 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1979-01-19 |
| 496 | SEVERE STORMS, ICING, WIND & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1976-03-23 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 376 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-04-27 |
| 264 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-07-11 |
Storm Events in Wisconsin
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Milwaukee 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
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
2,433
Total Paid
$28.9M
Avg Per Claim
$11.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 98.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$342.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Very High
Heat Wave Relatively High
Tornado Very High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Winter Weather Very High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Hail Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Drought 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: Cold Wave
Cold Wave measures exposure to extreme cold rather than to snow. Its harm is concentrated in health effects, burst infrastructure and energy demand spikes, and it falls hardest where the building stock and the grid were not built with sustained cold in mind.
Worth noting for Milwaukee County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Very 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
Milwaukee County's closest FEMA peer: Guam, GU
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Milwaukee County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Milwaukee County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Milwaukee County: 17 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Milwaukee County: NRI composite 98.4 (Relatively High).
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 Milwaukee County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Milwaukee 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: 98.4 (Relatively High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 22. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Milwaukee County's NFIP claims file (2,433 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).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Milwaukee County?
The most common disaster type in Milwaukee County is Flood, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (7), Snowstorm (4), Biological (2).
How does Milwaukee County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Wisconsin average?
FEMA lists 22 declaration records for Milwaukee County. That is 79% above the Wisconsin county mean of 12.3. Its count is also 6% 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 Milwaukee County received?
Milwaukee County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 77% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Milwaukee County filed?
Milwaukee County has 2,433 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $28.9M in payments, with an average of $11.9K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Milwaukee County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Milwaukee County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Milwaukee County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin has an overall risk score of 98.4 out of 100 (Relatively High). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively High and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $342.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Milwaukee County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Milwaukee County as of the latest release is Cold Wave (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Heat Wave (Relatively High) and Tornado (Very High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 4.9 times per year, drawn from 93 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 Milwaukee County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Wisconsin profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events