FEMA Records
20
Above median
Kentucky · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Shelby County, KY
20 FEMA disaster declarations (1996-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 20
- FEMA declarations
- 13
- Major disasters
- 62
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Shelby County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 20 declarations, more than 46% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 29% below the Kentucky county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 38%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 38%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 20
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 31
- 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 21211 · Shelby County 20 declarations · rank 1629/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 20
- MAJOR-MID 65%
- RANK-LOWER #1,629
- PHOTO-FINISH Monona
- NRI-LOW 62
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -29%
Nearest declaration peer: Monona, IA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Kentucky state profile
Shelby County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Shelby County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Cleveland · near 20
Cleveland · near
20 declarations
- Monona · near 20
Monona · near
20 declarations
- Shelby · this county 20
Shelby · this county
20 declarations
- Tallapoosa · near 20
Tallapoosa · near
20 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Shelby County carries 20 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1629 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Shelby County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Shelby County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Shelby County
20 46th percentile higher than 46% 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
Shelby County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Shelby County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $9.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), 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 Shelby County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 61.9/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $21.5M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively 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 6.6 times per year here, based on 250 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 31 claims and $368.5K 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 Kentucky county averages 28.1 federal declaration records, while Shelby County has 20. The gap is 29% 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.
57 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Shelby 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
14/30
20 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
20 declarations (0.7x state county average of 28)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
13 of 20 declarations are major disasters (65%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Shelby County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Shelby 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
65%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
62
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Shelby 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 6.6 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 51 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 487 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 4.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 10 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 2.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 3.4 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 38,587 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 106 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 10
Tornado 2
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Snowstorm 2
Winter Storm 1
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Shelby County's record, 50% 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 - 13 65.0%
of all 20 declarations
Emergency - 7 35.0%
of all 20 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 3 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 2 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 20 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 20 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 |
| 4702 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-04-10 |
| 4630 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2021-12-12 |
| 3575 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | EM | Tornado | 2021-12-11 |
| 4497 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3469 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1925 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-07-23 |
| 1818 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-02-05 |
| 3302 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-01-28 |
| 1802 | SEVERE WIND STORM ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL DEPRESSION IKE | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-10-09 |
| 1746 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-02-21 |
| 3231 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1578 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD SNOW | DR | Snowstorm | 2005-02-08 |
| 1537 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-08-06 |
| 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 |
Storm Events in Kentucky
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Shelby 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
31
Total Paid
$368.5K
Avg Per Claim
$11.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 61.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$21.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Strong Wind Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought Relatively Low
Hail Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Hurricane 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 Shelby 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
Shelby County's closest FEMA peer: Harford County, MD
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Shelby County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Shelby County shows 20 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Shelby County: 13 of 20 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Shelby County: NRI composite 61.9 (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 Shelby County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Shelby 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: 61.9 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 20. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 20 FEMA declarations, Shelby 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 Shelby County?
The most common disaster type in Shelby County is Severe Storm, with 10 declarations. Other disaster types include Tornado (2), Biological (2), Severe Ice Storm (2).
How does Shelby County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Kentucky average?
The typical Kentucky county has 28.1 FEMA declaration records; Shelby County has 20, or 29% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 3% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Shelby County received?
Shelby County has received 13 major disaster declarations, representing 65% of all 20 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Shelby County filed?
Shelby County has 31 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $368.5K in payments, with an average of $11.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Shelby County?
No. In Shelby County, Strong Wind has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $9.1M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Shelby County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Shelby County was 2009, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1996 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Shelby County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Shelby County, Kentucky has an overall risk score of 61.9 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $21.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Shelby County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Shelby County as of the latest release is Strong Wind (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively Moderate) and Lightning (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts strong wind here at an average of 6.6 times per year, drawn from 250 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 Shelby County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Kentucky profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events