FEMA Records
15
Below median
Iowa · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Sioux County, IA
15 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 15
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 52
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Sioux 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 22% below the Iowa county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 48%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 48%
- 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
- 43
- 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 19167 · Sioux County 15 declarations · rank 2375/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 15
- MAJOR-HEAVY 80%
- RANK-LOWER #2,375
- PHOTO-FINISH Polk
- NRI-LOW 52
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -22%
Nearest declaration peer: Polk, OR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Iowa state profile
Sioux County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Sioux 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
- Sioux · this county 15
Sioux · this county
15 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Sioux County carries 15 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2375 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Sioux County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Sioux County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Sioux 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
Sioux County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Sioux County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $11.4M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Hail 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 Sioux County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 52.4/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $29.8M in annualized losses), and a Very 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, Hail stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 6.5 times per year here, based on 246 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 43 claims and $4.0M 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 Iowa county averages 19.3 federal declaration records, while Sioux County has 15. The gap is 22% 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.
54 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Sioux County, IA · 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
10/25
15 declarations (0.8x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
20/25
12 of 15 declarations are major disasters (80%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Sioux County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Sioux 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
80%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
52
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Sioux 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hail | Relatively High | an average of 6.5 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 17 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 24 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 7.5 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 3.3 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 4.4 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 5.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 2,480 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 12 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 39 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,387 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 6
Flood 5
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Sioux County's record, 40% 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 - 12 80.0%
of all 15 declarations
Emergency - 3 20.0%
of all 15 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4796 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-06-24 |
| 4483 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-23 |
| 3480 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4421 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2019-03-23 |
| 4386 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2018-08-20 |
| 4184 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2014-07-24 |
| 4126 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-07-02 |
| 4114 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-05-06 |
| 1930 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-07-29 |
| 1877 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-25 |
| 3239 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 996 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-09 |
| 3036 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-03-31 |
| 259 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-25 |
| 193 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-04-22 |
Storm Events in Iowa
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Sioux County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,928 | 6 | 227 | $40.5M |
| Hail | 3,736 | 0 | 0 | $4.3M |
| Heavy Rain | 2,394 | 0 | 0 | $292.0K |
| Drought | 1,556 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 1,543 | 3 | 4 | $2.8M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
43
Total Paid
$4.0M
Avg Per Claim
$92.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 52.4/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$29.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Lightning Relatively 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: Hail
Hail is among the most expensive hazards in the model relative to how little it threatens life. It concentrates on roofs, vehicles and crops, and a single severe storm can generate an insurance loss across a metropolitan area without a single injury.
For Sioux County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hail 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
Sioux County's closest FEMA peer: Davison County, SD
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Sioux County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Sioux County shows 15 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Sioux County: 12 of 15 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Sioux County: NRI composite 52.4 (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 Sioux County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Sioux 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: 52.4 (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
Most disaster-prone counties
With 15 FEMA declarations, Sioux 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 Sioux County?
The most common disaster type in Sioux County is Severe Storm, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (5), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does Sioux County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Iowa average?
The typical Iowa county has 19.3 FEMA declaration records; Sioux County has 15, or 22% 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 Sioux County received?
Sioux County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 80% of all 15 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Sioux County filed?
Sioux County has 43 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.0M in payments, with an average of $92.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Sioux County?
No. In Sioux County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $11.4M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Sioux County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Sioux County was 2010, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Sioux County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Sioux County, Iowa has an overall risk score of 52.4 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very Low, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $29.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Sioux County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Sioux County as of the latest release is Hail (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively High) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 6.5 times per year, drawn from 246 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 Sioux County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Iowa profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events