FEMA Records
8
Low volume
Montana · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Roosevelt County, MT
8 FEMA disaster declarations (1997-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 8
- FEMA declarations
- 6
- Major disasters
- 54
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Roosevelt County: 8 FEMA declaration records are 27% below the Montana county mean, even though the count is higher than 6% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks in the riskiest 46%.
- Riskiest 46%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 8
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 9
- 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 30085 · Roosevelt County 8 declarations · rank 3030/3,266
DECL-LIGHT · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-MODERATE · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-LIGHT 8
- MAJOR-MID 75%
- RANK-LOWER #3,030
- PHOTO-FINISH Marion
- NRI-LOW 54
- ACT-MODERATE Moderate
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -27%
Nearest declaration peer: Marion, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Montana state profile
Roosevelt County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Roosevelt County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Kane · near 8
Kane · near
8 declarations
- Marion · near 8
Marion · near
8 declarations
- Mesa · near 8
Mesa · near
8 declarations
- Roosevelt · this county 8
Roosevelt · this county
8 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Roosevelt County carries 8 FEMA declaration records, ranked 3030 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Roosevelt County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Roosevelt County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Roosevelt County
8 6th percentile higher than 6% 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
Roosevelt County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Roosevelt County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 54.5/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Very Low (roughly $10.1M in annualized losses), and a Very High social-vulnerability profile combined with Very Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Cold Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 19 times per year here, based on 356 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 9 claims and $65.1K 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.
Start with the state benchmark: a Montana county averages 11.0 federal declaration records, while Roosevelt County has 8. The gap is 27% 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.
47 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Roosevelt 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) Low
6/30
8 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
8 declarations (0.7x state county average of 11)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
6 of 8 declarations are major disasters (75%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Roosevelt County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Roosevelt 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
75%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
54
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Roosevelt 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 High | an average of 19 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 19 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 527 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 37 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 11 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 26 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 4,149 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 3
Biological 2
Flood 1
Other 1
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Roosevelt County's record, 38% of its declarations. In FEMA's vocabulary this covers convective weather: thunderstorm straight-line winds, large hail, and the multi-day outbreaks that often carry embedded tornadoes. Activity is heaviest in spring and summer, though the season varies by region.
These events behave differently from a hurricane on paper. Damage tends to be distributed along a storm track rather than concentrated on a coastline, and a declaration typically follows an outbreak that crossed several counties over a few days, not a single point of impact. Because the qualifying threshold is the cost of uninsured public and individual losses rather than storm intensity, two similar storms can produce a declaration in one year and none in another.
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 - 6 75.0%
of all 8 declarations
Emergency - 2 25.0%
of all 8 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 8 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 8 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4726 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-08-12 |
| 4608 | STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Other | 2021-08-13 |
| 4508 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-31 |
| 3476 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1996 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-06-17 |
| 3253 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1350 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-12-06 |
| 1183 | SEVERE STORMS,ICE JAMS, SNOW MELT, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-07-25 |
Storm Events in Montana
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Roosevelt 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
9
Total Paid
$65.1K
Avg Per Claim
$7.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 54.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Landslide 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: 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 Roosevelt County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Severe Storm. 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
Roosevelt County's closest FEMA peer: Wayne County, IL
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Roosevelt County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Roosevelt County shows 8 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Roosevelt County: 6 of 8 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Roosevelt County: NRI composite 54.5 (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 Roosevelt County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Roosevelt 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: 54.5 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 8. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Cold Wave as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively High); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
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 Roosevelt County?
The most common disaster type in Roosevelt County is Severe Storm, with 3 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Flood (1), Other (1).
How does Roosevelt County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Montana average?
The typical Montana county has 11.0 FEMA declaration records; Roosevelt County has 8, or 27% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 61% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Roosevelt County received?
Roosevelt County has received 6 major disaster declarations, representing 75% of all 8 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Roosevelt County filed?
Roosevelt County has 9 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $65.1K in payments, with an average of $7.2K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Roosevelt County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Roosevelt County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1997 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Roosevelt County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Roosevelt County, Montana has an overall risk score of 54.5 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Roosevelt County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Roosevelt County is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively High) and Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 19 times per year, drawn from 356 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 Roosevelt County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Montana profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events