FEMA Records
21
Above median
Georgia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Monroe County, GA
21 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 21
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 19
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Monroe County. Its 21 FEMA declarations are 21% above the Georgia 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 19%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 19%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 21
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 61
- 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 13207 · Monroe County 21 declarations · rank 1423/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 21
- MAJOR-MID 57%
- RANK-LOWER #1,423
- PHOTO-FINISH Montgomery
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +21%
Nearest declaration peer: Montgomery, IN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Georgia state profile
Monroe County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Monroe County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Atascosa · near 21
Atascosa · near
21 declarations
- Mason · near 21
Mason · near
21 declarations
- Monroe · this county 21
Monroe · this county
21 declarations
- Montgomery · near 21
Montgomery · near
21 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Monroe County carries 21 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1423 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Monroe County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Monroe County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Monroe County
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 · 2026-08-25
Monroe County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Monroe County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $3.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Hurricane carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low). 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 Monroe County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 61 paid claims, totaling $3.0M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $49.0K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Monroe County's 21 federal records stand 21% above the Georgia county mean of 17.4. 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's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 18.7/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $6.8M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability score and Relatively Moderate community-resilience score. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Hurricane, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 15 years here, based on 18 historical events on record.
64 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Monroe County, GA · 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
15/25
21 declarations (1.2x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
12 of 21 declarations are major disasters (57%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
9 different disaster types declared in Monroe County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Monroe 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
57%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
19
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Monroe 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 15 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 6.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,082 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 56 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 631 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.9 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 62 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 6
Severe Storm 5
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Tornado 2
Winter Storm 1
Tropical Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Monroe County's federal record, 29% of its declarations. Atlantic tropical systems run on a defined season, 1 June to 30 November, with most activity concentrated between August and October; Pacific and territorial basins run on their own calendars. A single named storm routinely produces one declaration number covering a long corridor of counties at once, well inland as well as on the coast, which is why an affected county's count can jump by several in one year without several separate events having occurred.
One practical distinction matters when reading these records: a tropical declaration usually bundles wind, storm surge and inland rainfall flooding under a single incident, but the insurance behind them is split. Wind damage falls to property insurers, while flood and surge damage is covered only under a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. That is why a county can show heavy declaration activity and a comparatively small NFIP claims record, or the reverse.
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 - 12 57.1%
of all 21 declarations
Emergency - 9 42.9%
of all 21 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 2 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1977 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3642 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4830 | HURRICANE HELENE | DR | Hurricane | 2024-09-30 |
| 3616 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 4501 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-29 |
| 3464 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3406 | HURRICANE MICHAEL | EM | Hurricane | 2018-10-10 |
| 4338 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-09-15 |
| 3387 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-08 |
| 4165 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-03-06 |
| 3368 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-02-11 |
| 1973 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND ASSOCIATED FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-04-29 |
| 1833 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-04-23 |
| 3218 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1560 | TROPICAL STORM FRANCES | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-24 |
| 1311 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-01-28 |
| 1209 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-03-11 |
| 1033 | TORNADOES, FLOODING TORRENTIAL RAIN(TROP STORM ALBERTO) | DR | Tornado | 1994-07-07 |
| 3097 | SEVERE SNOWFALL, WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-15 |
| 969 | HIGH WINDS, HEAVY RAINS & TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1992-12-01 |
| 857 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNAODES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-02-23 |
Show 1 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3044 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-07-20 |
Storm Events in Georgia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Monroe County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 9,617 | 15 | 75 | $65.4M |
| Drought | 1,363 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Hail | 1,257 | 0 | 0 | $61.8M |
| Flash Flood | 1,154 | 0 | 3 | $29.3M |
| Tropical Storm | 655 | 28 | 19 | $855.3M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
61
Total Paid
$3.0M
Avg Per Claim
$49.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 18.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$6.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Drought Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Winter Weather 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: Hurricane
Hurricane exposure in the model bundles the three ways a tropical system does harm, which arrive on different timescales and are insured differently: wind, storm surge on the coast, and rainfall flooding that can reach far inland well after landfall.
For Monroe County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Low), and Hurricane 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
Monroe County's closest FEMA peer: Navajo County, AZ
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Monroe County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Monroe County shows 21 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Monroe County: 12 of 21 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Monroe County: NRI composite 18.7 (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 Monroe County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Monroe 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: 18.7 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 21. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Monroe County's NFIP claims file (61 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 Monroe County?
The most common disaster type in Monroe County is Hurricane, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (5), Biological (2), Severe Ice Storm (2).
How does Monroe County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Georgia average?
FEMA lists 21 declaration records for Monroe County. That is 21% above the Georgia county mean of 17.4. 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 Monroe County received?
Monroe County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 57% of all 21 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Monroe County filed?
Monroe County has 61 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $3.0M in payments, with an average of $49.0K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Monroe County?
No. In Monroe County, Hurricane has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $3.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Monroe County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Monroe County was 1993, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Monroe County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Monroe County, Georgia has an overall risk score of 18.7 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $6.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Monroe County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Monroe County as of the latest release is Hurricane (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Heat Wave (Relatively Low) and Wildfire (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 15 years, drawn from 18 historical events on record. FEMA derives these ratings from historical event frequency, the assets exposed, and the community's vulnerability profile.
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 Monroe County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Georgia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events