FEMA Records
12
Low volume
Montana · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Powder River County, MT
12 FEMA disaster declarations (1978-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 12
- FEMA declarations
- 8
- Major disasters
- 4
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Powder River County. Its 12 FEMA declarations are 9% above the Montana county mean and exceed the count for 14% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 4%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 4%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 12
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 7
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 30075 · Powder River County 12 declarations · rank 2753/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 12
- MAJOR-MID 67%
- RANK-LOWER #2,753
- PHOTO-FINISH Johnson
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-ABOVE +9%
Nearest declaration peer: Johnson, KS (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Montana state profile
Powder River County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Powder River County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Crane · near 12
Crane · near
12 declarations
- Johnson · near 12
Johnson · near
12 declarations
- Powder River · this county 12
Powder River · this county
12 declarations
- Seward · near 12
Seward · near
12 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Powder River County carries 12 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2753 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Powder River County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Powder River County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Powder River County
12 14th percentile higher than 14% 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
Powder River County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Powder River County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $1.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), 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 Powder River County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits at the very bottom of FEMA's National Risk Index nationally, a composite score of 4.0/100 (rated Very Low). Projected losses are minimal, Expected Annual Loss reads Very Low (roughly $3.4M 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 126 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 7 claims and $25.4K paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Powder River County's 12 federal records stand 9% above the Montana county mean of 11.0. 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.
55 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Powder River County, MT · 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
9/30
12 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
12 declarations (1.1x state county average of 11)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
8 of 12 declarations are major disasters (67%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Powder River County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Powder River 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
67%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
4
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Powder River 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 126 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 3 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 20 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 5.2 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,577 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 76 modeled event-days per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 2.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 34 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 4
Biological 2
Flood 2
Severe Storm 2
Straight-Line Winds 1
Hurricane 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Powder River County's record, 33% of its declarations. Wildfire is the one hazard here with its own dedicated federal instrument: the Fire Management Assistance Grant, which appears in this data as an FM record. An FMAG can be authorised while a fire is still burning, on a timescale of hours, because its purpose is to reimburse the cost of fighting a fire that threatens to become a major disaster.
That distinction matters when comparing counties. An FM declaration is not a presidential major disaster declaration and does not carry the same assistance programmes, so a fire-heavy county's total is not directly comparable with a hurricane-heavy county's total unless the declaration types are separated, which is why they are listed separately on this page.
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 66.7%
of all 12 declarations
Fire Management - 2 16.7%
of all 12 declarations
Emergency - 2 16.7%
of all 12 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 12 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 12 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4902 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Straight-Line Winds | 2026-04-07 |
| 5345 | SNIDER/RICE FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2020-09-03 |
| 4508 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-31 |
| 3476 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4437 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-05-24 |
| 4074 | WILDFIRE | DR | Fire | 2012-08-02 |
| 2989 | ASH CREEK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2012-06-27 |
| 1996 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-06-17 |
| 1767 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-13 |
| 3253 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1340 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2000-08-30 |
| 558 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1978-05-29 |
Storm Events in Montana
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Powder River County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 3,735 | 1 | 2 | $5.3M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 2,396 | 5 | 24 | $15.1M |
| Hail | 2,015 | 0 | 0 | $4.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,502 | 13 | 18 | $11.2M |
| Heavy Snow | 796 | 5 | 3 | $143.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
7
Total Paid
$25.4K
Avg Per Claim
$3.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 4.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$3.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Drought Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Avalanche 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.
For Powder River County the two measures on this page point the same way: Wildfire is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Low), and Fire declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Powder River County's closest FEMA peer: Montcalm County, MI
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Powder River County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Powder River County shows 12 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Powder River County: 8 of 12 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Powder River County: NRI composite 4.0 (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 Powder River County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Powder River 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: 4.0 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 12. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 12 FEMA declarations, Powder River 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 Powder River County?
The most common disaster type in Powder River County is Fire, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Flood (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Powder River County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Montana average?
FEMA lists 12 declaration records for Powder River County. That is 9% above the Montana county mean of 11.0. Its count is also 42% 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 Powder River County received?
Powder River County has received 8 major disaster declarations, representing 67% of all 12 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Powder River County filed?
Powder River County has 7 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $25.4K in payments, with an average of $3.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Powder River County?
No. In Powder River County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding 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 Powder River County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Powder River County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1978 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Powder River County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Powder River County, Montana has an overall risk score of 4.0 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 $3.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Powder River County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Powder River County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Very Low) and Winter Weather (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 126 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.
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 Powder River County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Montana profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events