FEMA Records
29
High volume
New York · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Putnam County, NY
29 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 29
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 40
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Putnam County. Its 29 FEMA declarations are 18% above the New York county mean and exceed the count for 85% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 40%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 40%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 29
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 371
- 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 36079 · Putnam County 29 declarations · rank 486/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 29
- MAJOR-MID 59%
- RANK-MID #486
- PHOTO-FINISH Bath
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +18%
Nearest declaration peer: Bath, KY (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · New York state profile
Putnam County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Putnam County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bath · near 29
Bath · near
29 declarations
- Lenoir · near 29
Lenoir · near
29 declarations
- Putnam · this county 29
Putnam · this county
29 declarations
- Walthall · near 29
Walthall · near
29 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Putnam County carries 29 FEMA declaration records, ranked 486 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Putnam County ranks in the national declaration registry
Putnam County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Putnam County
29 Top 15% higher than 85% 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
Putnam County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Putnam County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $13.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Landslide 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 Putnam County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 371 paid claims, totaling $5.4M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $14.6K 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. Putnam County's 29 federal records stand 18% above the New York county mean of 24.5. 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
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 39.8/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Relatively Low (roughly $20.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very Low) and community resilience (Very High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Landslide, 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 2 years here.
71 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Putnam County, NY · 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
21/30
29 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
15/25
29 declarations (1.2x state county average of 25)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
17 of 29 declarations are major disasters (59%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Putnam County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Putnam 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
59%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
40
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Putnam 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 8 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 756 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.4 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 15 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 5.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 29 times per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Very Low | an average of 3.7 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 13 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 5,398 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 1.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2.7 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 11
Severe Storm 5
Snowstorm 4
Flood 3
Biological 2
Other 2
Fire 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Putnam County's federal record, 38% 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).
Major Disaster - 17 58.6%
of all 29 declarations
Emergency - 12 41.4%
of all 29 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 4 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 2 | |
| 2001 | 2 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1988 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1971 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 29 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 29 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4723 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-07-22 |
| 4615 | REMNANTS OF HURRICANE IDA | DR | Hurricane | 2021-09-05 |
| 3572 | REMNANTS OF HURRICANE IDA | EM | Hurricane | 2021-09-02 |
| 3565 | HURRICANE HENRI | EM | Hurricane | 2021-08-22 |
| 4567 | TROPICAL STORM ISAIAS | DR | Hurricane | 2020-10-02 |
| 4480 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-20 |
| 3434 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4085 | HURRICANE SANDY | DR | Hurricane | 2012-10-30 |
| 3351 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-28 |
| 4020 | HURRICANE IRENE | DR | Hurricane | 2011-08-31 |
| 3328 | HURRICANE IRENE | EM | Hurricane | 2011-08-26 |
| 3299 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2008-12-18 |
| 1692 | SEVERE STORMS AND INLAND AND COASTAL FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-04-24 |
| 3262 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-30 |
| 1589 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-04-19 |
| 1534 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-08-03 |
| 3186 | POWER OUTAGE | EM | Other | 2003-08-23 |
| 3184 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2003-03-27 |
| 1391 | FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS | DR | Fire | 2001-09-11 |
| 3155 | WEST NILE VIRUS | EM | Other | 2000-10-11 |
Show 9 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1296 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-19 |
| 3149 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-18 |
| 1095 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-01-24 |
| 1083 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-12 |
| 3107 | SEVERE BLIZZARD | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
| 801 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Snowstorm | 1987-11-10 |
| 487 | STORMS, RAINS, LANDSLIDES & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-10-02 |
| 311 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1971-09-13 |
| 204 | WATER SHORTAGE | DR | Drought | 1965-08-18 |
Storm Events in New York
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Putnam County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 8,295 | 6 | 45 | $45.0M |
| Winter Weather | 2,261 | 7 | 17 | $705.5K |
| Flash Flood | 1,775 | 23 | 3 | $674.3M |
| Strong Wind | 1,399 | 2 | 12 | $9.2M |
| Winter Storm | 1,228 | 13 | 2 | $4.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
371
Total Paid
$5.4M
Avg Per Claim
$14.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 39.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$20.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Landslide Relatively Low
Hurricane Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Coastal Flooding Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Drought Very Low
Hail 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: Landslide
Landslide risk is a function of slope, soil and water, so it is usually a SECOND-ORDER hazard: it is triggered by the rainfall, snowmelt, wildfire burn scars or seismic shaking that came first. That is why a county can carry high landslide exposure whose realized damage is recorded under a flood or storm declaration instead.
Worth noting for Putnam County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Landslide carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), 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
Putnam County's closest FEMA peer: Ellis County, OK
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Putnam County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Putnam County shows 29 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Putnam County: 17 of 29 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Putnam County: NRI composite 39.8 (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 Putnam County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Putnam 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: 39.8 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 29. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Putnam County's NFIP claims file (371 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 Putnam County?
The most common disaster type in Putnam County is Hurricane, with 11 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (5), Snowstorm (4), Flood (3).
How does Putnam County's FEMA declaration record compare with the New York average?
FEMA lists 29 declaration records for Putnam County. That is 18% above the New York county mean of 24.5. Its count is also 40% 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 Putnam County received?
Putnam County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 59% of all 29 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Putnam County filed?
Putnam County has 371 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $5.4M in payments, with an average of $14.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Putnam County?
No. In Putnam County, Landslide has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $13.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Putnam County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Putnam County was 2021, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Putnam County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Putnam County, New York has an overall risk score of 39.8 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very Low and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $20.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Putnam County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Putnam County as of the latest release is Landslide (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Hurricane (Relatively Low) and Ice Storm (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts landslide here at roughly once every 2 years. 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.
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 Putnam County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · New York profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events