FEMA Records
13
Low volume
Kansas · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Mitchell County, KS
13 FEMA disaster declarations (1967-2022), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 13
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 30
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Mitchell County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 13 declarations, more than 17% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 28% below the Kansas county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 30%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 30%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 13
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 16
- 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 20123 · Mitchell County 13 declarations · rank 2695/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 13
- MAJOR-MID 77%
- RANK-LOWER #2,695
- PHOTO-FINISH Clarke
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -28%
Nearest declaration peer: Clarke, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Kansas state profile
Mitchell County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Mitchell County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bristol (city) · near 13
Bristol (city) · near
13 declarations
- Clarke · near 13
Clarke · near
13 declarations
- Douglas · near 13
Douglas · near
13 declarations
- Mitchell · this county 13
Mitchell · this county
13 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Mitchell County carries 13 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2695 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Mitchell County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Mitchell County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Mitchell County
13 17th percentile higher than 17% 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
Mitchell County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Mitchell County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 29.8/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $10.3M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively Low social-vulnerability score and Relatively High community-resilience score. 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 an average of 8.4 times per year here, based on 319 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 16 claims and $153.7K 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.
Start with the state benchmark: a Kansas county averages 18.0 federal declaration records, while Mitchell County has 13. The gap is 28% 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.
50 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Mitchell County, KS · 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
9/30
13 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
13 declarations (0.7x state county average of 18)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
10 of 13 declarations are major disasters (77%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Mitchell County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Mitchell 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
30
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Mitchell 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 | an average of 8.4 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.1 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 19 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 11 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 3,677 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 7.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 46 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,934 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 8
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Flood 1
Tornado 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Mitchell County's record, 62% 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 - 10 76.9%
of all 13 declarations
Emergency - 3 23.1%
of all 13 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 3 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1967 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 13 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 13 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4640 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2022-02-17 |
| 4504 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-29 |
| 3481 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4063 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-05-24 |
| 4010 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-07-29 |
| 1932 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-08-10 |
| 1776 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-09 |
| 1741 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-02-01 |
| 3282 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2007-12-12 |
| 3236 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1535 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-08-03 |
| 1000 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-22 |
| 229 | TORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1967-07-18 |
Storm Events in Kansas
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Mitchell County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 8,265 | 0 | 9 | $24.2M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,987 | 3 | 34 | $30.6M |
| High Wind | 1,553 | 1 | 7 | $10.2M |
| Drought | 1,272 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 1,037 | 6 | 9 | $35.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
16
Total Paid
$153.7K
Avg Per Claim
$9.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 29.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Landslide 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: 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.
For Mitchell County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hail is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively High), and Severe Storm declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Mitchell County's closest FEMA peer: Stearns County, MN
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Mitchell County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Mitchell County shows 13 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Mitchell County: 10 of 13 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Mitchell County: NRI composite 29.8 (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 Mitchell County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Mitchell 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: 29.8 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 13. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 13 FEMA declarations, Mitchell 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 Mitchell County?
The most common disaster type in Mitchell County is Severe Storm, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Hurricane (1), Flood (1).
How does Mitchell County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Kansas average?
The typical Kansas county has 18.0 FEMA declaration records; Mitchell County has 13, or 28% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 37% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Mitchell County received?
Mitchell County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 77% of all 13 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Mitchell County filed?
Mitchell County has 16 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $153.7K in payments, with an average of $9.6K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Mitchell County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Mitchell County was 2008, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1967 to 2022.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Mitchell County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Mitchell County, Kansas has an overall risk score of 29.8 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Mitchell County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Mitchell County is Hail (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively Moderate) and Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 8.4 times per year, drawn from 319 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 Mitchell County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Kansas profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events