FEMA Records
31
High volume
Oklahoma · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Sequoyah County, OK
31 FEMA disaster declarations (1972-2021), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 31
- FEMA declarations
- 22
- Major disasters
- 79
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Sequoyah County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 31 declarations, more than 88% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 4% below the Oklahoma county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 21%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 21%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 31
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 46
- 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.
How does Sequoyah County compare?
Sequoyah County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
31 Top 12% higher than 88% 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 · 2026-08-03
Sequoyah County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Oklahoma county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Sequoyah County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $8.9M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Wildfire 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 Sequoyah County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 79.1/100 (Relatively Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $23.5M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very High and community resilience Very Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Wildfire carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 69 years here.
Declaration frequency
Nationally, Sequoyah County's 31 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within Oklahoma, however, the count is 4% below the county mean. 22 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Severe Storm, appearing 15 times. The full 49-year record averages 0.6 declarations annually. A DR label alone does not say whether Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both followed.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 46 claims and $1.2M 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 Oklahoma county averages 32.2 federal declaration records, while Sequoyah County has 31. The gap is 4% 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.
67 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Sequoyah County, OK · 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
22/30
31 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
31 declarations (1.0x state county average of 32)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
22 of 31 declarations are major disasters (71%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Sequoyah County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Oklahoma Avg
-4%
State avg: 32.2
vs. National Avg
+50%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.6
Over 49 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Sequoyah 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
71%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
79
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Sequoyah 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 69 years |
| Ice Storm | Very High | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 24 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 60 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 15 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 6 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 7.3 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 542 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 7.5 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 78 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 15
Severe Ice Storm 7
Flood 5
Biological 2
Fire 1
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Sequoyah County's record, 48% 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 - 22 71.0%
of all 31 declarations
Emergency - 9 29.0%
of all 31 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 3 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 3 | |
| 2007 | 3 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
Show 5 earlier declaration years
| 1990 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 31 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 31 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4587 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-24 |
| 3555 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-17 |
| 4530 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3462 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4438 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-06-01 |
| 3411 | FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2019-05-25 |
| 4315 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-05-26 |
| 4256 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2016-02-10 |
| 4222 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-05-26 |
| 1988 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-05-27 |
| 3316 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2011-02-02 |
| 1883 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2010-03-05 |
| 1876 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-25 |
| 3308 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Storm | 2010-01-30 |
| 1823 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-02-17 |
| 1754 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2008-05-09 |
| 1752 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-05-05 |
| 3280 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-12-10 |
| 1712 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-07-07 |
| 1678 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-02-01 |
Show 11 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3272 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2007-01-14 |
| 1623 | EXTREME WILDFIRE THREAT | DR | Fire | 2006-01-10 |
| 3219 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1355 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2001-01-05 |
| 3158 | SEVERE WINTER AND ICE STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2000-12-28 |
| 991 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1993-05-12 |
| 866 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1990-05-18 |
| 778 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-10-14 |
| 409 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-12-10 |
| 392 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, & TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1973-06-13 |
| 317 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-01-14 |
Storm Events in Oklahoma
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Sequoyah County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 5,894 | 0 | 1 | $19.8M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,592 | 6 | 36 | $199.5M |
| Drought | 2,935 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 2,134 | 7 | 428 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 1,771 | 2 | 401 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
46
Total Paid
$1.2M
Avg Per Claim
$25.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 79.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$23.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Very High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
Worth noting for Sequoyah County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Wildfire carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Sequoyah County's closest FEMA peer: Jefferson County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Sequoyah County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Sequoyah County shows 31 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Sequoyah County: 22 of 31 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Sequoyah County: NRI composite 79.1 (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 Sequoyah County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 31 FEMA declarations, Sequoyah 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Sequoyah County?
The most common disaster type in Sequoyah County is Severe Storm, with 15 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Ice Storm (7), Flood (5), Biological (2).
How does Sequoyah County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Oklahoma average?
The typical Oklahoma county has 32.2 FEMA declaration records; Sequoyah County has 31, or 4% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 50% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Sequoyah County received?
Sequoyah County has received 22 major disaster declarations, representing 71% of all 31 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Sequoyah County filed?
Sequoyah County has 46 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.2M in payments, with an average of $25.5K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Sequoyah County?
No. In Sequoyah County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $8.9M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Sequoyah County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Sequoyah County was 2007, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1972 to 2021.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Sequoyah County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma has an overall risk score of 79.1 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $23.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Sequoyah County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Sequoyah County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Very High) and Heat Wave (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 69 years. 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.
What this means for Sequoyah County
Against a Oklahoma county mean of 32 declarations, Sequoyah County, OK records 31, or 4% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (22 of 31) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Oklahoma overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 88% of recorded county totals, but its own Oklahoma benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- A short NFIP claims file cannot establish low flood exposure; the data guide explains the limits of each federal measure. Disaster-data guide
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.