FEMA Records
15
Below median
Kentucky · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Scott County, KY
15 FEMA disaster declarations (1974-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 15
- FEMA declarations
- 8
- Major disasters
- 56
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Scott County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 15 declarations, more than 23% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 47% below the Kentucky county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 44%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 44%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 15
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 79
- 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 21209 · Scott County 15 declarations · rank 2403/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 15
- MAJOR-MID 53%
- RANK-LOWER #2,403
- PHOTO-FINISH Polk
- NRI-LOW 56
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -47%
Nearest declaration peer: Polk, OR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Kentucky state profile
Scott County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Scott County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Flathead · near 15
Flathead · near
15 declarations
- Murray · near 15
Murray · near
15 declarations
- Polk · near 15
Polk · near
15 declarations
- Scott · this county 15
Scott · this county
15 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Scott County carries 15 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2403 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Scott County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Scott County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Scott County
15 23rd percentile higher than 23% 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
Scott County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Scott County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $9.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Strong Wind carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High). 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 Scott County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 79 paid claims, totaling $1.9M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $23.4K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Kentucky county averages 28.1 federal declaration records, while Scott County has 15. The gap is 47% 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, 56.1/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $20.6M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Strong Wind stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 5.7 times per year here, based on 216 historical events on record.
51 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Scott County, KY · 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
11/30
15 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
7/25
15 declarations (0.5x state county average of 28)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
8 of 15 declarations are major disasters (53%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Scott County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Scott 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
53%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
56
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Scott 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 5.7 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 6 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 501 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 51 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 11 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.2 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 66 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 2.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 44,149 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 5
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Snowstorm 2
Winter Storm 1
Flood 1
Hurricane 1
Tornado 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Scott County's record, 33% 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 - 8 53.3%
of all 15 declarations
Emergency - 7 46.7%
of all 15 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 15 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 15 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3633 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 3626 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-04-03 |
| 3624 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-02-16 |
| 4497 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3469 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4217 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2015-05-01 |
| 1818 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-02-05 |
| 3302 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-01-28 |
| 3231 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1523 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-06-10 |
| 1454 | SEVERE WINTER ICE AND SNOW STORMS, HEAVY RAIN, FLOODING, TORNADOES, AND MUD AND | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-03-14 |
| 1163 | SEVERE STORM, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-03-04 |
| 1089 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3104 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-16 |
| 420 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1974-04-04 |
Storm Events in Kentucky
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Scott County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,702 | 9 | 56 | $55.2M |
| Flash Flood | 1,757 | 65 | 16 | $42.6M |
| Flood | 1,646 | 31 | 6 | $37.1M |
| Hail | 1,534 | 1 | 0 | $4.7M |
| Winter Weather | 1,079 | 14 | 54 | $655.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
79
Total Paid
$1.9M
Avg Per Claim
$23.4K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 56.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$20.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Strong Wind Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Drought Very Low
Wildfire 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: Strong Wind
Strong Wind covers damaging non-thunderstorm, non-tornadic wind, the kind produced by steep pressure gradients and downslope events. It is a broad, frequent, low-drama hazard: roofs, signage, power lines and high-profile vehicles, spread across a wide area rather than concentrated on a path.
For Scott County the two measures on this page point the same way: Strong Wind is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively High), and Severe Storm 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
Scott County's closest FEMA peer: Borden County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Scott County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Scott County shows 15 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Scott County: 8 of 15 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Scott County: NRI composite 56.1 (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 Scott County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Scott 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: 56.1 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 15. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Scott County's NFIP claims file (79 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 Scott County?
The most common disaster type in Scott County is Severe Storm, with 5 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Severe Ice Storm (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Scott County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Kentucky average?
The typical Kentucky county has 28.1 FEMA declaration records; Scott County has 15, or 47% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 28% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Scott County received?
Scott County has received 8 major disaster declarations, representing 53% of all 15 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Scott County filed?
Scott County has 79 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.9M in payments, with an average of $23.4K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Scott County?
No. In Scott County, Strong Wind has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $9.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Scott County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Scott County was 2009, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1974 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Scott County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Scott County, Kentucky has an overall risk score of 56.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $20.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Scott County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Scott County is Strong Wind (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively Moderate) and Earthquake (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts strong wind here at an average of 5.7 times per year, drawn from 216 historical events on record. 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 Scott County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Kentucky profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events