FEMA Records
22
Above median
West Virginia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Randolph County, WV
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1967-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 16
- Major disasters
- 57
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Randolph County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 22 declarations, more than 57% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 9% below the West Virginia county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 43%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 43%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 536
- 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 54083 · Randolph County 22 declarations · rank 1281/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-MID 73%
- RANK-LOWER #1,281
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-LOW 57
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -9%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · West Virginia state profile
Randolph County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Randolph County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Hardy · near 22
Hardy · near
22 declarations
- Prairie · near 22
Prairie · near
22 declarations
- Randolph · this county 22
Randolph · this county
22 declarations
- St. Francis · near 22
St. Francis · near
22 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Randolph County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1281 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Randolph County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Randolph County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Randolph County
22 Top 43% higher than 57% 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
Randolph County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Randolph County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $17.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Landslide 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 Randolph County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 536 claims and $4.7M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $8.8K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
Start with the state benchmark: a West Virginia county averages 24.2 federal declaration records, while Randolph County has 22. The gap is 9% 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, 57.1/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $18.7M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Moderate community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Landslide carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 2.4 times per year here.
63 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Randolph County, WV · 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
16/30
22 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
22 declarations (0.9x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
16 of 22 declarations are major disasters (73%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Randolph County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Randolph 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
73%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
57
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Randolph 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 Moderate | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2 times per year |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 22 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 79 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 43 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 1.7 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,642 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 5.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | an average of 5.4 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 3,948 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 11 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 7
Severe Storm 4
Hurricane 4
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Fire 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Randolph County's record, 32% 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 - 16 72.7%
of all 22 declarations
Emergency - 6 27.3%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 5 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1967 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 22 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 22 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3639 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4517 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-03 |
| 3450 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4455 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2019-08-02 |
| 4331 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-08-18 |
| 4273 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2016-06-25 |
| 4093 | HURRICANE SANDY | DR | Hurricane | 2012-11-27 |
| 3358 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 4071 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-07-23 |
| 3345 | SEVERE STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2012-06-30 |
| 1881 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2010-03-02 |
| 3221 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1496 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-23 |
| 1319 | FLOODING, SEVERE STORMS, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2000-02-28 |
| 1137 | HURRICANE FRAN AND ASSOCIATED HEAVY RAINS,FLOODING HIGHWIND | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-09-11 |
| 1132 | HEAVY RAINS, HIGH WINDS, FLOODING, AND SLIDES | DR | Fire | 1996-08-14 |
| 1115 | FLOODING, HEAVY WINDS | DR | Flood | 1996-05-23 |
| 1096 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-01-25 |
| 1084 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3109 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 753 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1985-11-07 |
| 224 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1967-03-13 |
Storm Events in West Virginia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Randolph County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,644 | 4 | 9 | $16.4M |
| Winter Weather | 1,939 | 0 | 22 | $1.3M |
| Flood | 1,127 | 13 | 0 | $109.0M |
| Flash Flood | 1,003 | 33 | 1 | $141.5M |
| Hail | 757 | 1 | 0 | $6.5M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
536
Total Paid
$4.7M
Avg Per Claim
$8.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 57.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$18.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Avalanche Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Drought Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Heat Wave 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 Randolph County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Landslide 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
Randolph County's closest FEMA peer: Trimble County, KY
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Randolph County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Randolph County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Randolph County: 16 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Randolph County: NRI composite 57.1 (Relatively 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 Randolph County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Randolph 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: 57.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 22. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Randolph County's NFIP claims file (536 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 Randolph County?
The most common disaster type in Randolph County is Flood, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (4), Hurricane (4), Snowstorm (3).
How does Randolph County's FEMA declaration record compare with the West Virginia average?
The typical West Virginia county has 24.2 FEMA declaration records; Randolph County has 22, or 9% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 6% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Randolph County received?
Randolph County has received 16 major disaster declarations, representing 73% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Randolph County filed?
Randolph County has 536 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.7M in payments, with an average of $8.8K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Randolph County?
No. In Randolph County, Landslide has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $17.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Randolph County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Randolph County was 1996, with 5 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1967 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Randolph County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Randolph County, West Virginia has an overall risk score of 57.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $18.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Randolph County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Randolph County is Landslide (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate) and Avalanche (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts landslide here at an average of 2.4 times per year. 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 Randolph County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · West Virginia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events