FEMA Records
16
Below median
Ohio · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Morrow County, OH
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 24
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Morrow County. Its 16 FEMA declarations are 9% above the Ohio county mean and exceed the count for 27% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 24%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 24%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 16
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 9
- 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 Morrow County compare?
Morrow County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
16 27th percentile higher than 27% 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
Morrow County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Ohio county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Morrow County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $6.0M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Ice Storm 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 Morrow County's hazard record show?
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 16 entries for Morrow County, including 10 Major Disaster records, 9% above the Ohio county mean. Across the 55-year span, that works out to 0.3 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 8 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 24.4/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $8.8M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively Low social-vulnerability score and Relatively Moderate community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Ice Storm carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 3 years here, based on 21 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 9 claims and $71.3K 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.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Morrow County's 16 federal records stand 9% above the Ohio county mean of 14.6. 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.
57 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Morrow County, OH · 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
12/30
16 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.8x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
16 declarations (1.1x state county average of 15)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
10 of 16 declarations are major disasters (63%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Morrow County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Ohio Avg
+9%
State avg: 14.6
vs. National Avg
-23%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.3
Over 55 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Morrow 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
63%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
24
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Morrow 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.6 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 9.1 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 12 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 868 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 42 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 2.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 174 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | an average of 4.2 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 19,597 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
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Flood 1
Tornado 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Morrow County's record, 50% 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 62.5%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 6 37.5%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1981 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 16 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 16 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4507 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-31 |
| 3457 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4077 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-08-20 |
| 3346 | SEVERE STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2012-06-30 |
| 1805 | SEVERE WIND STORM ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL DEPRESSION IKE | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-10-24 |
| 3286 | RECORD SNOW AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2008-04-24 |
| 3250 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1580 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-02-15 |
| 3198 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-01-11 |
| 1556 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-19 |
| 1227 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-06-30 |
| 870 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-06-06 |
| 796 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1987-07-17 |
| 642 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING & TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1981-06-30 |
| 3055 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-26 |
| 191 | TORNADOES & SEVERE STORMS | DR | Tornado | 1965-04-14 |
Storm Events in Ohio
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Morrow County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,938 | 6 | 39 | $60.4M |
| Winter Weather | 2,101 | 7 | 42 | $3.3M |
| Hail | 1,749 | 0 | 0 | $673.5K |
| Flood | 1,607 | 9 | 0 | $84.5M |
| Flash Flood | 1,089 | 9 | 7 | $112.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
9
Total Paid
$71.3K
Avg Per Claim
$7.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 24.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$8.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Wildfire 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: Ice Storm
Ice storms load power lines and tree limbs with accumulating freezing rain until they fail. The characteristic cost is infrastructure and multi-day power loss across a wide area rather than structural damage to buildings, which is why their consequences often outlast the weather that caused them.
Worth noting for Morrow County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Ice Storm carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Severe Storm. 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
Morrow County's closest FEMA peer: Hockley County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Morrow County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Morrow County shows 16 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Morrow County: 10 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Morrow County: NRI composite 24.4 (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 Morrow County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 16 FEMA declarations, Morrow 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Morrow County?
The most common disaster type in Morrow County is Severe Storm, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Snowstorm (3), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Morrow County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Ohio average?
FEMA lists 16 declaration records for Morrow County. That is 9% above the Ohio county mean of 14.6. Its count is also 23% below 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 Morrow County received?
Morrow County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 63% of all 16 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Morrow County filed?
Morrow County has 9 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $71.3K in payments, with an average of $7.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Morrow County?
No. In Morrow County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $6.0M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Morrow County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Morrow County was 2005, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Morrow County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Morrow County, Ohio has an overall risk score of 24.4 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $8.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Morrow County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Morrow County is Ice Storm (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Hail (Relatively Low) and Winter Weather (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at roughly once every 3 years, drawn from 21 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 Morrow County
Morrow County, OH has 16 federal declaration records, 9% more than the Ohio county mean of 15; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 10 of 16 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Ohio overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Ohio mean and the totals for 27% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- A short NFIP claims file cannot establish low flood exposure; the data guide explains the limits of each federal measure. 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.