FEMA Records
12
Low volume
Oregon · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Multnomah County, OR
12 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 12
- FEMA declarations
- 9
- Major disasters
- 98
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Multnomah County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 12 declarations, more than 14% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 28% below the Oregon county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 2%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 2%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 12
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 348
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 41051 · Multnomah County 12 declarations · rank 2763/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 12
- MAJOR-MID 75%
- RANK-LOWER #2,763
- PHOTO-FINISH Johnson
- NRI-HIGH 98
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -28%
Nearest declaration peer: Johnson, KS (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Oregon state profile
Multnomah County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Multnomah County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Crane · near 12
Crane · near
12 declarations
- Johnson · near 12
Johnson · near
12 declarations
- Multnomah · this county 12
Multnomah · this county
12 declarations
- Seward · near 12
Seward · near
12 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Multnomah County carries 12 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2763 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Multnomah County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Multnomah County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Multnomah County
12 14th percentile higher than 14% 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
Multnomah County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Multnomah County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 348 paid claims, totaling $4.6M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $13.3K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Oregon county averages 16.6 federal declaration records, while Multnomah County has 12. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 98.5/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $440.4M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Earthquake stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 47 years here.
50 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Multnomah County, OR · 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
12 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
12 declarations (0.7x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
9 of 12 declarations are major disasters (75%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Multnomah County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Multnomah 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
75%
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 Multnomah 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively High | roughly once every 47 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively High | 6.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 84 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 16 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3,562 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 15 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 26 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 8 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 1.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 13 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 4
Flood 3
Fire 2
Biological 2
Coastal Storm 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Multnomah County's record, 33% 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 - 9 75.0%
of all 12 declarations
Emergency - 2 16.7%
of all 12 declarations
Fire Management - 1 8.3%
of all 12 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 12 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 12 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4768 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-04-13 |
| 4562 | WILDFIRES AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Fire | 2020-09-15 |
| 4499 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3429 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 5203 | EAGLE CREEK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2017-09-03 |
| 4258 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-02-17 |
| 1824 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, RECORD AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-03-02 |
| 3228 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-07 |
| 1510 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-02-19 |
| 1099 | HIGH WINDS, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-02-09 |
| 319 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-01-21 |
| 184 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1964-12-24 |
Storm Events in Oregon
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Multnomah County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 859 | 13 | 10 | $3.2B |
| Heavy Snow | 654 | 2 | 0 | $139.2M |
| Frost/Freeze | 391 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Wildfire | 311 | 15 | 38 | $15.1M |
| Flood | 244 | 3 | 1 | $68.4M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
348
Total Paid
$4.6M
Avg Per Claim
$13.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 98.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$440.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively High
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Volcanic Activity Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Drought Very Low
Hail 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: Earthquake
Earthquake is the model's clearest example of a hazard with no season and no warning. Its expected loss is driven less by how often shaking occurs than by how much of the building stock predates modern seismic codes, so exposure can be high in places where nothing has happened for a long time.
Worth noting for Multnomah County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), 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
Multnomah County's closest FEMA peer: Orange County, FL
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Multnomah County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Multnomah County: NRI composite 98.5 (Relatively High).
Similar Major-disaster share
Multnomah County: 9 of 12 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Multnomah County shows 12 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
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 Multnomah County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Multnomah 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: 98.5 (Relatively High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 12. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Multnomah County's NFIP claims file (348 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 Multnomah County?
The most common disaster type in Multnomah County is Severe Storm, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (3), Fire (2), Biological (2).
How does Multnomah County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Oregon average?
The typical Oregon county has 16.6 FEMA declaration records; Multnomah County has 12, or 28% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 42% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Multnomah County received?
Multnomah County has received 9 major disaster declarations, representing 75% of all 12 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Multnomah County filed?
Multnomah County has 348 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.6M in payments, with an average of $13.3K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Multnomah County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Multnomah County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Multnomah County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Multnomah County, Oregon has an overall risk score of 98.5 out of 100 (Relatively High). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Low and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $440.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Multnomah County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Multnomah County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Moderate) and Heat Wave (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 47 years. 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 Multnomah County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Oregon profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events