FEMA Records
16
Below median
South Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Potter County, SD
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 13
- Major disasters
- 10
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Potter County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 16 declarations, more than 27% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 16% below the South Dakota county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 10%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 10%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 16
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 6
- flood 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 46107 · Potter County 16 declarations · rank 2264/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 16
- MAJOR-HEAVY 81%
- RANK-LOWER #2,264
- PHOTO-FINISH Greene
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- 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
Potter County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Potter 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
- Potter · this county 16
Potter · this county
16 declarations
- Terrell · near 16
Terrell · near
16 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Potter County carries 16 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2264 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Potter County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Potter County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Potter 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
Potter County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Potter County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's National Risk Index places this county in the low end of the national distribution, composite score 10.0/100 (Very Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $5.4M in annualized losses). Two modifiers shape how that exposure becomes real-world harm here: social vulnerability (Relatively Low) and community resilience (Relatively Moderate). Among the 18 modeled hazards, Cold Wave carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 10 times per year here, based on 193 historical events on record.
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 Potter 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.
61 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Potter 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
20/25
13 of 16 declarations are major disasters (81%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Potter County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Potter 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
81%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
10
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Potter 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 10 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 919 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 18 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.5 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 23 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 3.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 3,861 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 32 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 6
Severe Storm 4
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Coastal Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Potter County's record, 38% 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 - 13 81.3%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 3 18.8%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1995 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4718 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-07-06 |
| 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 |
| 1984 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-13 |
| 1887 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-10 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-10 |
| 1596 | SEVERE STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-07-22 |
| 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 |
| 1052 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1995-05-26 |
| 1045 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Snowstorm | 1995-03-14 |
| 1031 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-06-21 |
| 764 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-05-03 |
| 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 Potter 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: 10.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$5.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Tornado Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Lightning 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: Cold Wave
Cold Wave measures exposure to extreme cold rather than to snow. Its harm is concentrated in health effects, burst infrastructure and energy demand spikes, and it falls hardest where the building stock and the grid were not built with sustained cold in mind.
Worth noting for Potter County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Potter County's closest FEMA peer: Kandiyohi County, MN
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Potter County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Potter County shows 16 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Potter County: 13 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Potter County: NRI composite 10.0 (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 Potter County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Potter 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: 10.0 (Very Low).
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, Potter 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 Potter County?
The most common disaster type in Potter County is Flood, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (4), Biological (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Potter County's FEMA declaration record compare with the South Dakota average?
The typical South Dakota county has 19.0 FEMA declaration records; Potter 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 Potter County received?
Potter County has received 13 major disaster declarations, representing 81% of all 16 disaster declarations.
What was the worst year for disasters in Potter County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Potter County was 1995, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Potter County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Potter County, South Dakota has an overall risk score of 10.0 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Low and community resilience is Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $5.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Potter County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Potter County as of the latest release is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Wildfire (Very Low) and Winter Weather (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 10 times per year, drawn from 193 historical events on record. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against 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.
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 Potter County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · South Dakota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events