FEMA Records
14
Low volume
Michigan · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Osceola County, MI
14 FEMA disaster declarations (1975-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 14
- FEMA declarations
- 8
- Major disasters
- 24
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Osceola County. Its 14 FEMA declarations are 40% above the Michigan county mean and exceed the count for 20% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 24%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 24%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 14
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 66
- 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 26133 · Osceola County 14 declarations · rank 2536/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 14
- MAJOR-MID 57%
- RANK-LOWER #2,536
- PHOTO-FINISH Pulaski
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +40%
Nearest declaration peer: Pulaski, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Michigan state profile
Osceola County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Osceola County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Franklin (city) · near 14
Franklin (city) · near
14 declarations
- Harris · near 14
Harris · near
14 declarations
- Osceola · this county 14
Osceola · this county
14 declarations
- Pulaski · near 14
Pulaski · near
14 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Osceola County carries 14 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2536 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Osceola County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Osceola County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Osceola County
14 20th percentile higher than 20% 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
Osceola County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Osceola County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $3.4M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Winter Weather 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 Osceola County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 66 paid claims, totaling $1.7M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $25.3K 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. Osceola County's 14 federal records stand 40% 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 23.9/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $6.4M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively High social-vulnerability score and Relatively High community-resilience score. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Winter Weather stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 19 times per year here, based on 369 historical events on record.
57 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Osceola 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
10/30
14 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
18/25
14 declarations (1.4x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
8 of 14 declarations are major disasters (57%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Osceola County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Osceola 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
57%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
24
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Osceola 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 19 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 2 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 29 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 7 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 13,839 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,193 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 5
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Osceola County's record, 36% 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 - 8 57.1%
of all 14 declarations
Emergency - 6 42.9%
of all 14 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 14 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 14 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 |
| 4121 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2013-06-18 |
| 1777 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-14 |
| 3225 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 3160 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-01-10 |
| 3137 | MI - SEVERE WEATHER 1/2 /99 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-27 |
| 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 |
| 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 Osceola 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
66
Total Paid
$1.7M
Avg Per Claim
$25.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 23.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$6.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Relatively High
Landslide Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Hurricane 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: Winter Weather
Winter Weather in the model means the accumulation of snow and cold that disrupts rather than destroys: road closures, roof loads, burst pipes and lost heating. Its costs land heavily on transport and on households least able to absorb an interruption.
Worth noting for Osceola County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather 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
Osceola County's closest FEMA peer: Washington County, PA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Osceola County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Osceola County shows 14 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Osceola County: 8 of 14 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Osceola County: NRI composite 23.9 (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 Osceola County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Osceola 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: 23.9 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 14. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Osceola County's NFIP claims file (66 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 Osceola County?
The most common disaster type in Osceola County is Flood, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Snowstorm (3), Biological (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Osceola County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Michigan average?
FEMA lists 14 declaration records for Osceola County. That is 40% above the Michigan county mean of 10.0. Its count is also 32% 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 Osceola County received?
Osceola County has received 8 major disaster declarations, representing 57% of all 14 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Osceola County filed?
Osceola County has 66 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.7M in payments, with an average of $25.3K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Osceola County?
No. In Osceola County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $3.4M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Osceola County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Osceola County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1975 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Osceola County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Osceola County, Michigan has an overall risk score of 23.9 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively High, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $6.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Osceola County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Osceola County as of the latest release is Winter Weather (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Low) and Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 19 times per year, drawn from 369 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 Osceola County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Michigan profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events