FEMA Records
29
High volume
Oklahoma · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Noble County, OK
29 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2021), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 29
- FEMA declarations
- 20
- Major disasters
- 44
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Noble County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 29 declarations, more than 85% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 10% below the Oklahoma county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 44%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 44%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 29
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 4
- 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 40103 · Noble County 29 declarations · rank 481/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 29
- MAJOR-MID 69%
- RANK-MID #481
- PHOTO-FINISH Bath
- NRI-LOW 44
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -10%
Nearest declaration peer: Bath, KY (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Oklahoma state profile
Noble County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Noble County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bath · near 29
Bath · near
29 declarations
- Lenoir · near 29
Lenoir · near
29 declarations
- Noble · this county 29
Noble · this county
29 declarations
- Walthall · near 29
Walthall · near
29 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Noble County carries 29 FEMA declaration records, ranked 481 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Noble County ranks in the national declaration registry
Noble County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Noble County
29 Top 15% higher than 85% 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
Noble County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Noble County is led by Cold Wave (about $2.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Drought 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 Noble County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 44.0/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $9.7M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Relatively Moderate) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Drought carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 55 modeled event-days per year here, based on 1,603 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 4 claims and $22.3K 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.
Start with the state benchmark: a Oklahoma county averages 32.2 federal declaration records, while Noble County has 29. The gap is 10% 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.
67 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Noble County, OK · 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
21/30
29 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
29 declarations (0.9x state county average of 32)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
20 of 29 declarations are major disasters (69%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Noble County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Noble 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
69%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
44
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Noble 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 55 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 9.6 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 333 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 18 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 978 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 9.2 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 5.9 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 138 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 51 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 12
Severe Ice Storm 7
Flood 3
Biological 2
Fire 2
Tornado 2
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Noble County's record, 41% 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 - 20 69.0%
of all 29 declarations
Emergency - 8 27.6%
of all 29 declarations
Fire Management - 1 3.4%
of all 29 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 3 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 3 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 3 | |
| 2006 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
Show 4 earlier declaration years
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 29 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 29 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4587 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-24 |
| 3555 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-17 |
| 4575 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2020-12-21 |
| 4530 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3462 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4453 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-07-12 |
| 4438 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-06-01 |
| 3411 | FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2019-05-25 |
| 4256 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-02-10 |
| 4222 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-05-26 |
| 4109 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-04-08 |
| 3316 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2011-02-02 |
| 1917 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-05-24 |
| 1876 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-25 |
| 3308 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2010-01-30 |
| 3280 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-12-10 |
| 1712 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-07-07 |
| 1707 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-06-07 |
| 3272 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-01-14 |
| 2623 | NORTH STILLWATER FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-01-19 |
Show 9 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1623 | EXTREME WILDFIRE THREAT | DR | Fire | 2006-01-10 |
| 3219 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1452 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2003-02-04 |
| 1401 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2002-02-01 |
| 1272 | OK, TORNADOES 5/3/99 | DR | Tornado | 1999-05-04 |
| 991 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-05-12 |
| 905 | SEVERE STORMS & TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1991-05-08 |
| 778 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-10-14 |
| 404 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-10-13 |
Storm Events in Oklahoma
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Noble County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 5,894 | 0 | 1 | $19.8M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,592 | 6 | 36 | $199.5M |
| Drought | 2,935 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 2,134 | 7 | 428 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 1,771 | 2 | 401 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
4
Total Paid
$22.3K
Avg Per Claim
$5.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 44.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$9.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Lightning 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: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for Noble County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought 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
Noble County's closest FEMA peer: Montgomery County, PA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Noble County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Noble County shows 29 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Noble County: 20 of 29 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Noble County: NRI composite 44.0 (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 Noble County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Noble 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: 44.0 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 29. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 29 FEMA declarations, Noble 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 Noble County?
The most common disaster type in Noble County is Severe Storm, with 12 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Ice Storm (7), Flood (3), Biological (2).
How does Noble County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Oklahoma average?
The typical Oklahoma county has 32.2 FEMA declaration records; Noble County has 29, or 10% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 40% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Noble County received?
Noble County has received 20 major disaster declarations, representing 69% of all 29 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Noble County filed?
Noble County has 4 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $22.3K in payments, with an average of $5.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Noble County?
No. In Noble County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Noble County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Noble County was 2007, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2021.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Noble County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Noble County, Oklahoma has an overall risk score of 44.0 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very High; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $9.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Noble County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Noble County is Drought (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively High) and Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 55 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 1,603 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Noble County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Oklahoma profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events