FEMA Records
20
Above median
Georgia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Newton County, GA
20 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 20
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 51
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Newton County. Its 20 FEMA declarations are 15% above the Georgia county mean and exceed the count for 46% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 49%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 49%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 20
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 45
- 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 13217 · Newton County 20 declarations · rank 1730/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 20
- MAJOR-MID 60%
- RANK-LOWER #1,730
- PHOTO-FINISH Monona
- NRI-LOW 51
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-ABOVE +15%
Nearest declaration peer: Monona, IA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Georgia state profile
Newton County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Newton County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Cleveland · near 20
Cleveland · near
20 declarations
- Monona · near 20
Monona · near
20 declarations
- Newton · this county 20
Newton · this county
20 declarations
- Tallapoosa · near 20
Tallapoosa · near
20 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Newton County carries 20 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1730 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Newton County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Newton County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Newton County
20 46th percentile higher than 46% 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
Newton County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Newton County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $13.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), 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 Newton County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 50.6/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $22.8M in annualized losses), and a Very Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Moderate community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. 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 an average of 1.3 times per year here, based on 90 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 45 claims and $736.3K 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. Newton County's 20 federal records stand 15% 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.
63 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Newton 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) Moderate
14/30
20 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
20 declarations (1.2x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
12 of 20 declarations are major disasters (60%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
9 different disaster types declared in Newton County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Newton 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
60%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
51
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Newton 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 | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 6 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 5 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 549 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 3.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 59 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 19 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 44 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 4,096 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 1.6 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 7
Hurricane 4
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Winter Storm 1
Tropical Storm 1
Tornado 1
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Newton County's record, 35% 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 - 12 60.0%
of all 20 declarations
Emergency - 8 40.0%
of all 20 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 20 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 20 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 |
| 4685 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-01-16 |
| 4501 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-29 |
| 3464 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4338 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-09-15 |
| 3387 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-08 |
| 4259 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-02-26 |
| 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 |
| 1858 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-09-24 |
| 3218 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 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 |
| 857 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNAODES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-02-23 |
| 3044 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-07-20 |
Storm Events in Georgia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Newton 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
45
Total Paid
$736.3K
Avg Per Claim
$16.4K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 50.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$22.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Very Low
Drought Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Landslide 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: 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 Newton 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
Newton County's closest FEMA peer: Accomack County, VA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Newton County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Newton County shows 20 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Newton County: 12 of 20 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Newton County: NRI composite 50.6 (Relatively 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 Newton County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Newton 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: 50.6 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 20. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 20 FEMA declarations, Newton 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 Newton County?
The most common disaster type in Newton County is Severe Storm, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Hurricane (4), Biological (2), Severe Ice Storm (2).
How does Newton County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Georgia average?
FEMA lists 20 declaration records for Newton County. That is 15% above the Georgia county mean of 17.4. Its count is also 3% 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 Newton County received?
Newton County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 60% of all 20 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Newton County filed?
Newton County has 45 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $736.3K in payments, with an average of $16.4K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Newton County?
No. In Newton County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $13.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Newton County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Newton County was 2014, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Newton County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Newton County, Georgia has an overall risk score of 50.6 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very Low and community resilience is Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $22.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Newton County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Newton County is Ice Storm (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively Moderate) and Hail (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at an average of 1.3 times per year, drawn from 90 historical events on record. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, 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 Newton County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Georgia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events