FEMA Records
31
High volume
South Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Orangeburg County, SC
31 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 31
- FEMA declarations
- 16
- Major disasters
- 88
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Orangeburg County. Its 31 FEMA declarations are 21% above the South Carolina county mean and exceed the count for 88% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 12%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 12%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 31
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 122
- 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 45075 · Orangeburg County 31 declarations · rank 380/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 31
- MAJOR-MID 52%
- RANK-MID #380
- PHOTO-FINISH Galveston
- NRI-MID 88
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +21%
Nearest declaration peer: Galveston, TX (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · South Carolina state profile
Orangeburg County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Orangeburg County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Galveston · near 31
Galveston · near
31 declarations
- Orange · near 31
Orange · near
31 declarations
- Orangeburg · this county 31
Orangeburg · this county
31 declarations
- Woodward · near 31
Woodward · near
31 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Orangeburg County carries 31 FEMA declaration records, ranked 380 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Orangeburg County ranks in the national declaration registry
Orangeburg County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Orangeburg County
31 Top 12% higher than 88% 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
Orangeburg County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Orangeburg County is led by Hurricane (about $14.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Earthquake 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 Orangeburg County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 122 paid claims, totaling $3.5M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $28.5K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Orangeburg County's 31 federal records stand 21% above the South Carolina county mean of 25.6. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 87.7/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $44.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very High and community resilience Relatively Moderate, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Earthquake carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 203 years here.
70 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Orangeburg County, SC · 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
22/30
31 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
15/25
31 declarations (1.2x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
16 of 31 declarations are major disasters (52%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Orangeburg County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Orangeburg 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
52%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
88
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Orangeburg 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 Moderate | roughly once every 203 years |
| Hurricane | Relatively High | roughly once every 4 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 4.7 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 63 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 5 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 979 years |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.5 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 14 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 5 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 15
Flood 3
Tropical Storm 3
Severe Storm 3
Severe Ice Storm 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Orangeburg County's federal record, 48% of its declarations. Atlantic tropical systems run on a defined season, 1 June to 30 November, with most activity concentrated between August and October; Pacific and territorial basins run on their own calendars. A single named storm routinely produces one declaration number covering a long corridor of counties at once, well inland as well as on the coast, which is why an affected county's count can jump by several in one year without several separate events having occurred.
One practical distinction matters when reading these records: a tropical declaration usually bundles wind, storm surge and inland rainfall flooding under a single incident, but the insurance behind them is split. Wind damage falls to property insurers, while flood and surge damage is covered only under a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. That is why a county can show heavy declaration activity and a comparatively small NFIP claims record, or the reverse.
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 - 16 51.6%
of all 31 declarations
Emergency - 15 48.4%
of all 31 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 4 | |
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 3 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1989 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 31 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 31 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3632 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-23 |
| 4858 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2025-01-10 |
| 4835 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-29 |
| 4829 | HURRICANE HELENE | DR | Hurricane | 2024-09-29 |
| 3619 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3606 | HURRICANE DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-05 |
| 3597 | HURRICANE IDALIA | EM | Hurricane | 2023-08-31 |
| 4677 | HURRICANE IAN | DR | Hurricane | 2022-11-21 |
| 3585 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-09-29 |
| 4542 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2020-05-01 |
| 4492 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-27 |
| 3470 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3421 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-01 |
| 4394 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | DR | Hurricane | 2018-09-16 |
| 3400 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4346 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-10-16 |
| 3386 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-07 |
| 4286 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | DR | Hurricane | 2016-10-11 |
| 3378 | HURRICANE MATTHEW | EM | Hurricane | 2016-10-06 |
| 4241 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2015-10-05 |
Show 11 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3373 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2015-10-03 |
| 4166 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-03-12 |
| 3369 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-02-12 |
| 3233 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1509 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2004-02-13 |
| 1313 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-01-31 |
| 1299 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-21 |
| 3145 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-15 |
| 881 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1990-10-22 |
| 843 | HURRICANE HUGO | DR | Hurricane | 1989-09-22 |
| 3047 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-08-04 |
Storm Events in South Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Orangeburg County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,845 | 11 | 40 | $11.4M |
| Hail | 1,207 | 0 | 0 | $25.1M |
| Flash Flood | 954 | 20 | 35 | $150.4M |
| Strong Wind | 395 | 4 | 13 | $711.8K |
| Tornado | 320 | 9 | 110 | $127.1M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
122
Total Paid
$3.5M
Avg Per Claim
$28.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 87.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$44.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Lightning Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Landslide 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 Orangeburg County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
Orangeburg County's closest FEMA peer: Hawaii County, HI
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Orangeburg County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Orangeburg County shows 31 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Orangeburg County: 16 of 31 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Orangeburg County: NRI composite 87.7 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Orangeburg County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Orangeburg 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: 87.7 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 31. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Orangeburg County's NFIP claims file (122 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 Orangeburg County?
The most common disaster type in Orangeburg County is Hurricane, with 15 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (3), Tropical Storm (3), Severe Storm (3).
How does Orangeburg County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Carolina average?
FEMA lists 31 declaration records for Orangeburg County. That is 21% above the South Carolina county mean of 25.6. Its count is also 50% above 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 Orangeburg County received?
Orangeburg County has received 16 major disaster declarations, representing 52% of all 31 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Orangeburg County filed?
Orangeburg County has 122 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $3.5M in payments, with an average of $28.5K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Orangeburg County?
No. In Orangeburg County, Earthquake has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Hurricane leads Expected Annual Loss at about $14.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Orangeburg County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Orangeburg County was 2024, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Orangeburg County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Orangeburg County, South Carolina has an overall risk score of 87.7 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $44.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Orangeburg County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Orangeburg County is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Hurricane (Relatively High) and Strong Wind (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 203 years. 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 Orangeburg County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events