FEMA Records
21
Above median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Perkins County, SD
21 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 21
- FEMA declarations
- 18
- Major disasters
- 3
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Perkins County. Its 21 FEMA declarations are 11% above the South Dakota county mean and exceed the count for 52% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 3%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 3%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 21
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 11
- severe storm declarations, the most common hazard here
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.
How does Perkins County compare?
Perkins County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
21 Top 48% higher than 52% 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 · 2026-08-03
Perkins County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the South Dakota county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Perkins County is led by Cold Wave (about $1.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Wildfire carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low). 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 Perkins County's hazard record show?
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 21 entries for Perkins County, including 18 Major Disaster records, 11% above the South Dakota county mean. Across the 44-year span, that works out to 0.5 declarations a year. Severe Storm leads the file with 11 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits at the very bottom of FEMA's National Risk Index nationally, a composite score of 2.6/100 (rated Very Low). Projected losses are minimal, Expected Annual Loss reads Very Low (roughly $3.1M in annualized losses), and the county's exposure is shaped by a Very Low social-vulnerability profile and Very Low community resilience. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Wildfire, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 834 years here.
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.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Perkins County's 21 federal records stand 11% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. 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.
65 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Perkins 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) High
15/30
21 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
21 declarations (1.1x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
21/25
18 of 21 declarations are major disasters (86%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Perkins County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. South Dakota Avg
+11%
State avg: 19.0
vs. National Avg
+1%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.5
Over 44 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Perkins 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
86%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
3
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Perkins 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 834 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 16 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 8.6 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.7 times per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 52 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 5,181 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 33 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 11
Flood 4
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Coastal Storm 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Perkins County's record, 52% 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 - 18 85.7%
of all 21 declarations
Emergency - 3 14.3%
of all 21 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 4 | |
| 2009 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 3 | |
| 1976 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 21 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 21 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 4298 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-02-01 |
| 4186 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2014-07-28 |
| 4155 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-11-08 |
| 1984 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-13 |
| 1929 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-07-29 |
| 1914 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-05-13 |
| 1887 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-10 |
| 1886 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-09 |
| 1844 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-06-16 |
| 1811 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Snowstorm | 2008-12-12 |
| 1774 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-07-09 |
| 1759 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Snowstorm | 2008-05-22 |
| 1647 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-06-05 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 1173 | SEVERE FLOODING, SEVER WINTER STORMS,HEAVY RAINS HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1161 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-02-28 |
| 1156 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-10 |
Show 1 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 Perkins 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
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 2.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$3.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Riverine Flooding 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: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
Worth noting for Perkins County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Wildfire carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), 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
Perkins County's closest FEMA peer: Burke County, ND
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Perkins County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Perkins County shows 21 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Perkins County: 18 of 21 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Perkins County: NRI composite 2.6 (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 Perkins County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 21 FEMA declarations, Perkins 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Perkins County?
The most common disaster type in Perkins County is Severe Storm, with 11 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Biological (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Perkins County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
FEMA lists 21 declaration records for Perkins County. That is 11% above the South Dakota county mean of 19.0. Its count is also 1% 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 Perkins County received?
Perkins County has received 18 major disaster declarations, representing 86% of all 21 disaster declarations.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Perkins County?
No. In Perkins County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $1.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Perkins County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Perkins County was 2010, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Perkins County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Perkins County, South Dakota has an overall risk score of 2.6 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very Low and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $3.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Perkins County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Perkins County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively Low) and Cold Wave (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 834 years. 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.
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.
What this means for Perkins County
Perkins County, SD has 21 federal declaration records, 11% more than the South Dakota county mean of 19; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 18 of 21 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. South Dakota overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the South Dakota mean and the totals for 52% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- With no NFIP county row, the declaration register and modeled NRI remain distinct evidence rather than substitutes for a claims history. Disaster-data guide
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.