FEMA Records
17
Below median
Georgia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Polk County, GA
17 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 17
- FEMA declarations
- 8
- Major disasters
- 64
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Polk County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 17 declarations, more than 32% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 2% below the Georgia county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 36%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 36%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 17
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 143
- 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 13233 · Polk County 17 declarations · rank 2212/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 17
- MAJOR-LIGHT 47%
- RANK-LOWER #2,212
- PHOTO-FINISH Curry
- NRI-LOW 64
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -2%
Nearest declaration peer: Curry, OR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Georgia state profile
Polk County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Polk County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Curry · near 17
Curry · near
17 declarations
- Murray · near 17
Murray · near
17 declarations
- Polk · this county 17
Polk · this county
17 declarations
- Washington · near 17
Washington · near
17 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Polk County carries 17 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2212 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Polk County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Polk County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Polk County
17 32nd percentile higher than 32% 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
Polk County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Polk County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $7.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Tornado 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 Polk County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 143 paid claims, totaling $981.2K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $6.9K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Georgia county averages 17.4 federal declaration records, while Polk County has 17. The gap is 2% 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 64.1/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $15.3M in annualized losses), and a Very High social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Tornado carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 4 years here, based on 14 historical events on record.
56 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Polk County, GA · 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
17 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.8x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
17 declarations (1.0x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
8 of 17 declarations are major disasters (47%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
10 different disaster types declared in Polk County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Polk 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
47%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
64
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Polk 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 31 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.2 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 378 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 355 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 63 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 26 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 5.5 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 3 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 4
Severe Storm 3
Biological 2
Tornado 2
Winter Storm 1
Tropical Storm 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
Flood 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Polk County's federal record, 24% 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).
Emergency - 9 52.9%
of all 17 declarations
Major Disaster - 8 47.1%
of all 17 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 2 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 17 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 17 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3642 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 3616 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 4501 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-29 |
| 3464 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4338 | HURRICANE IRMA | DR | Hurricane | 2017-09-15 |
| 3387 | HURRICANE IRMA | EM | Hurricane | 2017-09-08 |
| 3368 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2014-02-11 |
| 1973 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND ASSOCIATED FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-04-29 |
| 1750 | SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-03-20 |
| 3218 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1071 | HURRICANE OPAL | DR | Hurricane | 1995-10-10 |
| 3097 | SEVERE SNOWFALL, WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-15 |
| 980 | TORNADOES, HIGH WINDS & HEAVY RAINS | DR | Tornado | 1993-03-04 |
| 857 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNAODES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-02-23 |
| 3072 | RAIN, FLOODING, MUDSLIDE | EM | Flood | 1979-03-13 |
| 3044 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-07-20 |
| 425 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1974-04-05 |
Storm Events in Georgia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Polk County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 9,617 | 15 | 75 | $65.4M |
| Drought | 1,363 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Hail | 1,257 | 0 | 0 | $61.8M |
| Flash Flood | 1,154 | 0 | 3 | $29.3M |
| Tropical Storm | 655 | 28 | 19 | $855.3M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
143
Total Paid
$981.2K
Avg Per Claim
$6.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 64.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$15.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Landslide Relatively Low
Wildfire Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Winter Weather 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: Tornado
Tornado exposure is the most spatially concentrated in the model: total destruction along a narrow corridor with intact property either side. County-level averages therefore understate severity badly for anyone actually in the path, and overstate it for everyone else.
Worth noting for Polk County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Tornado 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
Polk County's closest FEMA peer: Strafford County, NH
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Polk County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Polk County: NRI composite 64.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Polk County: 8 of 17 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Polk County shows 17 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
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 Polk County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Polk 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: 64.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 17. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Polk County's NFIP claims file (143 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 Polk County?
The most common disaster type in Polk County is Hurricane, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (3), Biological (2), Tornado (2).
How does Polk County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Georgia average?
The typical Georgia county has 17.4 FEMA declaration records; Polk County has 17, or 2% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 18% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Polk County received?
Polk County has received 8 major disaster declarations, representing 47% of all 17 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Polk County filed?
Polk County has 143 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $981.2K in payments, with an average of $6.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Polk County?
No. In Polk County, Tornado has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $7.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Polk County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Polk County was 1993, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Polk County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Polk County, Georgia has an overall risk score of 64.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $15.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Polk County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Polk County as of the latest release is Tornado (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively Moderate) and Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts tornado here at roughly once every 4 years, drawn from 14 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 Polk County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Georgia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events