FEMA Records
21
Above median
Pennsylvania · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Monroe County, PA
21 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 21
- FEMA declarations
- 15
- Major disasters
- 85
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Monroe County. Its 21 FEMA declarations are 13% above the Pennsylvania county mean and exceed the count for 52% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 15%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 15%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 21
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 436
- 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 Monroe County compare?
Monroe County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
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 · 2026-08-03
Monroe County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Pennsylvania county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Monroe County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $33.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Lightning carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very 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 Monroe County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 436 paid claims, totaling $14.8M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $33.9K 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 13% above the Pennsylvania county mean of 18.6. 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 85.1/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $56.9M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Lightning stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 32 times per year here, based on 165,654 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 21 entries for Monroe County, including 15 Major Disaster records, 13% above the Pennsylvania county mean. Across the 55-year span, that works out to 0.4 declarations a year. Flood leads the file with 6 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
62 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Monroe County, PA · 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
14/25
21 declarations (1.1x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
15 of 21 declarations are major disasters (71%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Monroe County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Pennsylvania Avg
+13%
State avg: 18.6
vs. National Avg
+1%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.4
Over 55 years
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
71%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
85
Relatively Moderate
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Very High | an average of 32 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 3.2 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 18 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 20 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.6 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 1.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 914 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 3,708 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Drought | No Rating | 0 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
Hurricane 6
Flood 6
Severe Storm 4
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Monroe 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).
Major Disaster - 15 71.4%
of all 21 declarations
Emergency - 6 28.6%
of all 21 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 4 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4506 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-30 |
| 3441 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4099 | HURRICANE SANDY | DR | Hurricane | 2013-01-10 |
| 3356 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 4030 | TROPICAL STORM LEE | DR | Flood | 2011-09-12 |
| 3340 | REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM LEE | EM | Flood | 2011-09-08 |
| 4025 | HURRICANE IRENE | DR | Hurricane | 2011-09-03 |
| 3339 | HURRICANE IRENE | EM | Hurricane | 2011-08-29 |
| 1649 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-06-30 |
| 3235 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1587 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-04-14 |
| 1557 | TROPICAL DEPRESSION IVAN | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-19 |
| 1555 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL DEPRESSION FRANCES | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-19 |
| 1093 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-01-21 |
| 1085 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 1015 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-03-10 |
| 3105 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-16 |
| 400 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-07-17 |
| 340 | TROPICAL STORM AGNES | DR | Flood | 1972-06-23 |
| 273 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-08-19 |
Show 1 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 206 | WATER SHORTAGE | DR | Drought | 1965-08-18 |
Storm Events in Pennsylvania
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Monroe County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 9,976 | 18 | 114 | $115.5M |
| Flash Flood | 2,288 | 23 | 8 | $463.2M |
| Winter Weather | 1,670 | 23 | 268 | $566.0K |
| Hail | 1,400 | 0 | 0 | $2.6M |
| Winter Storm | 881 | 14 | 17 | $2.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
436
Total Paid
$14.8M
Avg Per Claim
$33.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 85.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$56.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Lightning Very High
Cold Wave Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Earthquake Relatively Low
Landslide Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Very Low
Avalanche Very Low
Hail 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: 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 Monroe County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Lightning 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
Monroe County's closest FEMA peer: Amador County, CA
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 Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Monroe County: 15 of 21 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Monroe County: NRI composite 85.1 (Relatively Moderate).
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.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Monroe County's NFIP claims file (436 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 Monroe County?
The most common disaster type in Monroe County is Flood, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Hurricane (6), Severe Storm (4), Biological (2).
How does Monroe County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Pennsylvania average?
FEMA lists 21 declaration records for Monroe County. That is 13% above the Pennsylvania county mean of 18.6. 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 15 major disaster declarations, representing 71% of all 21 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Monroe County filed?
Monroe County has 436 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $14.8M in payments, with an average of $33.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Monroe County?
No. In Monroe County, Lightning has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $33.1M. 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 2011, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Monroe County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Monroe County, Pennsylvania has an overall risk score of 85.1 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Low and community resilience is Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $56.9M 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 Lightning (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively High) and Winter Weather (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts lightning here at an average of 32 times per year, drawn from 165,654 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.
What this means for Monroe County
Monroe County, PA has 21 federal declaration records, 13% more than the Pennsylvania county mean of 19; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 15 of 21 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Pennsylvania overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Pennsylvania mean and the totals for 52% of 3,266 U.S. counties. 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
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
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.