FEMA Records
13
Low volume
Michigan · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Oceana County, MI
13 FEMA disaster declarations (1975-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 13
- FEMA declarations
- 7
- Major disasters
- 34
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Oceana County. Its 13 FEMA declarations are 30% above the Michigan county mean and exceed the count for 17% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 34%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 34%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 13
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 30
- 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 26127 · Oceana County 13 declarations · rank 2646/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 13
- MAJOR-MID 54%
- RANK-LOWER #2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH Clarke
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +30%
Nearest declaration peer: Clarke, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Michigan state profile
Oceana County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Oceana County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bristol (city) · near 13
Bristol (city) · near
13 declarations
- Clarke · near 13
Clarke · near
13 declarations
- Douglas · near 13
Douglas · near
13 declarations
- Oceana · this county 13
Oceana · this county
13 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Oceana County carries 13 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2646 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Oceana County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Oceana County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Oceana County
13 17th percentile higher than 17% 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
Oceana County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Oceana County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $5.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Strong Wind carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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 Oceana County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 33.7/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $10.0M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Relatively Moderate) and community resilience (Very High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Strong Wind stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 1.3 times per year here, based on 23 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 30 claims and $183.5K 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. Oceana County's 13 federal records stand 30% above the Michigan county mean of 10.0. 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.
53 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Oceana County, MI · 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
13 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
13 declarations (1.3x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
7 of 13 declarations are major disasters (54%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Oceana County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Oceana 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
54%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
34
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Oceana 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 29 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 7,949 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 30 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 72 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 125 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,883 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 4
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Oceana County's record, 31% 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 - 7 53.8%
of all 13 declarations
Emergency - 6 46.2%
of all 13 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 2 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 13 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 13 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4925 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4494 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3455 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3225 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 3137 | MI - SEVERE WEATHER 1/2 /99 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-27 |
| 1226 | SEVERE STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-06-24 |
| 774 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-09-18 |
| 744 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1985-09-18 |
| 3057 | BLIZZARDS & SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1978-01-27 |
| 3035 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-03-02 |
| 3030 | SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-02-05 |
| 495 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, ICING & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1976-03-19 |
| 486 | SEVERE STORMS, HIGH WINDS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-09-30 |
Storm Events in Michigan
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Oceana County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,010 | 10 | 18 | $173.8M |
| Winter Storm | 1,486 | 3 | 11 | $41.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,254 | 21 | 38 | $892.0K |
| Hail | 962 | 0 | 0 | $77.1M |
| High Wind | 389 | 3 | 2 | $668.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
30
Total Paid
$183.5K
Avg Per Claim
$6.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 33.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Strong Wind Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Landslide Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Hail Very Low
Earthquake 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: Strong Wind
Strong Wind covers damaging non-thunderstorm, non-tornadic wind, the kind produced by steep pressure gradients and downslope events. It is a broad, frequent, low-drama hazard: roofs, signage, power lines and high-profile vehicles, spread across a wide area rather than concentrated on a path.
Worth noting for Oceana County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Strong Wind carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively 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
Oceana County's closest FEMA peer: Martinsville (city), VA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Oceana County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Oceana County shows 13 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Oceana County: 7 of 13 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Oceana County: NRI composite 33.7 (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 Oceana County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Oceana 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: 33.7 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 13. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 13 FEMA declarations, Oceana 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 Oceana County?
The most common disaster type in Oceana County is Flood, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Snowstorm (3), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Oceana County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Michigan average?
FEMA lists 13 declaration records for Oceana County. That is 30% above the Michigan county mean of 10.0. Its count is also 37% 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 Oceana County received?
Oceana County has received 7 major disaster declarations, representing 54% of all 13 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Oceana County filed?
Oceana County has 30 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $183.5K in payments, with an average of $6.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Oceana County?
No. In Oceana County, Strong Wind has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $5.1M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Oceana County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Oceana County was 1977, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1975 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Oceana County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Oceana County, Michigan has an overall risk score of 33.7 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Oceana County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Oceana County as of the latest release is Strong Wind (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively High) and Landslide (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts strong wind here at an average of 1.3 times per year, drawn from 23 historical events on record. 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 Oceana County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Michigan profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events