FEMA Records
16
Below median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Oglala Lakota County, SD
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2023). Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 46113 · Oglala Lakota County 16 declarations · rank 2342/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-UNK · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 16
- MAJOR-MID 75%
- RANK-LOWER #2,342
- PHOTO-FINISH Greene
- NRI-UNK NRI n/a
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -16%
Nearest declaration peer: Greene, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Dakota state profile
Oglala Lakota County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Oglala Lakota County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Frontier · near 16
Frontier · near
16 declarations
- Greene · near 16
Greene · near
16 declarations
- Oglala Lakota · this county 16
Oglala Lakota · this county
16 declarations
- Terrell · near 16
Terrell · near
16 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Oglala Lakota County carries 16 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2342 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Oglala Lakota County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Oglala Lakota County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Oglala Lakota County
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 · 2026-08-25
What does Oglala Lakota County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
No paid-claim row for this county appears in the NFIP county table used by PlainHazard. That absence is not evidence that flooding never occurred: the register observes claims under federal flood-insurance policies, not uninsured losses, emergency reports, or every flood outside the program. The FEMA declaration history below is therefore the available federal-action record on this page.
Start with the state benchmark: a South Dakota county averages 19.0 federal declaration records, while Oglala Lakota County has 16. The gap is 16% 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.
62 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Oglala Lakota County, SD · 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 Moderate
11/25
16 declarations (0.8x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
12 of 16 declarations are major disasters (75%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
9 different disaster types declared in Oglala Lakota County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Oglala Lakota 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
County FIPS
46113
SD state code
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 6
Biological 2
Flood 2
Winter Storm 1
Fire 1
Snowstorm 1
Coastal Storm 1
Tornado 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Oglala Lakota County's record, 38% 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 75.0%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 3 18.8%
of all 16 declarations
Fire Management - 1 6.3%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1976 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4689 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Winter Storm | 2023-02-27 |
| 4527 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3475 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4440 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-07 |
| 4233 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-07-30 |
| 4155 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-11-08 |
| 4115 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-05-10 |
| 5010 | WELLNITZ FIRE | FM | Fire | 2012-09-01 |
| 1886 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-09 |
| 1811 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Snowstorm | 2008-12-12 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 1330 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-05-19 |
| 1280 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1999-06-09 |
| 1173 | SEVERE FLOODING, SEVER WINTER STORMS,HEAVY RAINS HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1156 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-10 |
| 3015 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
Storm Events in South Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Oglala Lakota County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,388 | 7 | 21 | $10.7M |
| Hail | 4,801 | 0 | 3 | $4.5M |
| High Wind | 2,277 | 0 | 1 | $35.0K |
| Winter Weather | 2,125 | 20 | 50 | $133.0K |
| Flood | 1,523 | 5 | 0 | $196.2M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
Data-matched county comparisons
Oglala Lakota County's closest FEMA peer: Columbia County, WA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields for Oglala Lakota County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Oglala Lakota County shows 16 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Oglala Lakota County: 12 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
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 Oglala Lakota County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Oglala Lakota 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 declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 16. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 16 FEMA declarations, Oglala Lakota 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 Oglala Lakota County?
The most common disaster type in Oglala Lakota County is Severe Storm, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Flood (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Oglala Lakota County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
The typical South Dakota county has 19.0 FEMA declaration records; Oglala Lakota County has 16, or 16% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 23% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Oglala Lakota County received?
Oglala Lakota County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 75% of all 16 disaster declarations.
What was the worst year for disasters in Oglala Lakota County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Oglala Lakota County was 1997, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2023.
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.
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 Oglala Lakota County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Dakota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events