FEMA Records
23
Above median
Minnesota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Red Lake County, MN
23 FEMA disaster declarations (1966-2022), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 23
- FEMA declarations
- 20
- Major disasters
- 2
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Red Lake County. Its 23 FEMA declarations are 30% above the Minnesota county mean and exceed the count for 62% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 2%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 2%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 23
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 2
- 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 27125 · Red Lake County 23 declarations · rank 1109/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 23
- MAJOR-HEAVY 87%
- RANK-LOWER #1,109
- PHOTO-FINISH Roanoke
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +30%
Nearest declaration peer: Roanoke, VA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Minnesota state profile
Red Lake County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Red Lake County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Amherst · near 23
Amherst · near
23 declarations
- Red Lake · this county 23
Red Lake · this county
23 declarations
- Roanoke · near 23
Roanoke · near
23 declarations
- Vance · near 23
Vance · near
23 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Red Lake County carries 23 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1109 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Red Lake County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Red Lake County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Red Lake County
23 Top 38% higher than 62% 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
Red Lake County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Red Lake County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $1.8M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Drought 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 Red Lake 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 2.2/100 (rated Very Low). Projected losses are minimal, Expected Annual Loss reads Very Low (roughly $3.3M in annualized losses), and the county's exposure is shaped by a Very Low social-vulnerability profile and Very High community resilience. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Drought, 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 14 modeled event-days per year here, based on 385 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 2 claims and $8.2K 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. Red Lake County's 23 federal records stand 30% above the Minnesota county mean of 17.7. 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.
70 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Red Lake County, MN · 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
17/30
23 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
16/25
23 declarations (1.3x state county average of 18)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
20 of 23 declarations are major disasters (87%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Red Lake County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Red Lake 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
87%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
2
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Red Lake 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively Low | 14 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 156 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 20 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 21 times per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 3.2 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 23 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | an average of 1.7 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 27 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 12,500 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 14
Severe Storm 4
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Red Lake County's record, 61% 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 - 20 87.0%
of all 23 declarations
Emergency - 3 13.0%
of all 23 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
Show 6 earlier declaration years
| 1976 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1970 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
| 1966 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 23 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 23 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4659 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2022-07-13 |
| 4531 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-07 |
| 3453 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4442 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-06-12 |
| 1982 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-10 |
| 1900 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2010-04-19 |
| 1830 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-04-09 |
| 1648 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2006-06-05 |
| 3242 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1419 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2002-06-14 |
| 1370 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Flood | 2001-05-16 |
| 1288 | SEVERE ICE STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 1999-08-26 |
| 1175 | SEVERE FLOODING, HIGH WINDS,SEVERE STORMS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-08 |
| 1158 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-16 |
| 1116 | FLOODING AND SEVERE STORMS | DR | Flood | 1996-06-01 |
| 582 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-04-30 |
| 555 | STORMS, ICE JAMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1978-04-22 |
| 3013 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
| 476 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1975-07-17 |
| 440 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-06-10 |
Show 3 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 291 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1970-07-22 |
| 255 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-18 |
| 215 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1966-03-22 |
Storm Events in Minnesota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Red Lake County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,420 | 13 | 25 | $68.2M |
| Hail | 4,203 | 0 | 0 | $34.5M |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 1,789 | 7 | 4 | $55.0K |
| Winter Storm | 1,695 | 2 | 17 | $10.0M |
| Heavy Snow | 1,190 | 9 | 14 | $1.0M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
2
Total Paid
$8.2K
Avg Per Claim
$4.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 2.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$3.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Earthquake 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: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for Red Lake County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), 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
Red Lake County's closest FEMA peer: Vernon County, WI
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Red Lake County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Red Lake County shows 23 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Red Lake County: 20 of 23 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Red Lake County: NRI composite 2.2 (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 Red Lake County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Red Lake 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: 2.2 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 23. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 23 FEMA declarations, Red Lake 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 Red Lake County?
The most common disaster type in Red Lake County is Flood, with 14 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (4), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Red Lake County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Minnesota average?
FEMA lists 23 declaration records for Red Lake County. That is 30% above the Minnesota county mean of 17.7. Its count is also 11% 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 Red Lake County received?
Red Lake County has received 20 major disaster declarations, representing 87% of all 23 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Red Lake County filed?
Red Lake County has 2 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $8.2K in payments, with an average of $4.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Red Lake County?
No. In Red Lake County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $1.8M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Red Lake County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Red Lake County was 1997, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1966 to 2022.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Red Lake County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Red Lake County, Minnesota has an overall risk score of 2.2 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $3.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Red Lake County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Red Lake County as of the latest release is Drought (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Wildfire (Very Low) and Ice Storm (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 14 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 385 historical events on record. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, 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 Red Lake County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Minnesota profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events