FEMA Records
29
High volume
Maine · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Somerset County, ME
29 FEMA disaster declarations (1970-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 29
- FEMA declarations
- 20
- Major disasters
- 68
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Somerset County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 29 declarations, more than 85% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 1% below the Maine county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 32%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 32%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 29
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 138
- 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 23025 · Somerset County 29 declarations · rank 455/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 29
- MAJOR-MID 69%
- RANK-MID #455
- PHOTO-FINISH Bath
- NRI-LOW 68
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -1%
Nearest declaration peer: Bath, KY (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Maine state profile
Somerset County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Somerset County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Bath · near 29
Bath · near
29 declarations
- Lenoir · near 29
Lenoir · near
29 declarations
- Somerset · this county 29
Somerset · this county
29 declarations
- Walthall · near 29
Walthall · near
29 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Somerset County carries 29 FEMA declaration records, ranked 455 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Somerset County ranks in the national declaration registry
Somerset County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Somerset County
29 Top 15% higher than 85% 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
Somerset County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Somerset County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $9.4M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Winter Weather 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 Somerset County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 138 paid claims, totaling $2.0M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $14.7K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Maine county averages 29.4 federal declaration records, while Somerset County has 29. The gap is 1% 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, 67.9/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $26.3M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Moderate community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Winter Weather stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 25 times per year here, based on 482 historical events on record.
63 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Somerset County, ME · 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
21/30
29 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
29 declarations (1.0x state county average of 29)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
20 of 29 declarations are major disasters (69%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Somerset County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Somerset 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
69%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
68
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Somerset 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 25 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 7.1 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | roughly once every 4 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 18 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 13 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 3.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 4.1 times per year |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 382 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 95,361 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 11 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 11
Flood 7
Snowstorm 6
Hurricane 3
Biological 2
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Somerset 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 - 20 69.0%
of all 29 declarations
Emergency - 9 31.0%
of all 29 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 4 | |
| 2004 | 3 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 2 | |
| 1992 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1970 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 29 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 29 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4754 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-01-30 |
| 3598 | HURRICANE LEE | EM | Hurricane | 2023-09-14 |
| 4719 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-07-06 |
| 4696 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-03-22 |
| 4522 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3444 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4354 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2018-01-02 |
| 1852 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-07-30 |
| 1755 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2008-05-09 |
| 1693 | SEVERE STORMS AND INLAND AND COASTAL FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-04-25 |
| 3256 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-19 |
| 1591 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, SNOW MELT, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-06-29 |
| 3209 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-04-01 |
| 3206 | RECORD AND/OR NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-03-14 |
| 1508 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, SNOW MELT AND ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-02-05 |
| 3194 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2004-01-26 |
| 3190 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2004-01-15 |
| 3164 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-03-20 |
| 1326 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-04-28 |
| 1308 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-11-18 |
Show 9 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1232 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-07-02 |
| 1198 | SEVERE ICE STORMS, RAINS AND HIGH WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-01-13 |
| 1106 | SEVERE STORMS, ICE JAMS, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-03-13 |
| 988 | HEAVY RAIN, SNOWMELT, ICE JAMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-05-11 |
| 3099 | BLIZZARDS, SEVERE WINDS & SNOWFALL, COASTAL STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-15 |
| 940 | HEAVY RAINS, ICE JAMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1992-03-27 |
| 788 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1987-04-09 |
| 410 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-01-18 |
| 284 | SEVERE STORMS, ICE JAMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1970-02-27 |
Storm Events in Maine
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Somerset County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 972 | 3 | 0 | $821.0K |
| Heavy Snow | 817 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 672 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Weather | 540 | 0 | 52 | $0 |
| High Wind | 261 | 3 | 0 | $40.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
138
Total Paid
$2.0M
Avg Per Claim
$14.7K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 67.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$26.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Relatively High
Cold Wave Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Lightning Relatively High
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Tornado 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: Winter Weather
Winter Weather in the model means the accumulation of snow and cold that disrupts rather than destroys: road closures, roof loads, burst pipes and lost heating. Its costs land heavily on transport and on households least able to absorb an interruption.
Worth noting for Somerset County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather 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
Somerset County's closest FEMA peer: Montgomery County, PA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Somerset County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Somerset County shows 29 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Somerset County: 20 of 29 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Somerset County: NRI composite 67.9 (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 Somerset County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Somerset 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: 67.9 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 29. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Somerset County's NFIP claims file (138 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 Somerset County?
The most common disaster type in Somerset County is Severe Storm, with 11 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (7), Snowstorm (6), Hurricane (3).
How does Somerset County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Maine average?
The typical Maine county has 29.4 FEMA declaration records; Somerset County has 29, or 1% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 40% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Somerset County received?
Somerset County has received 20 major disaster declarations, representing 69% of all 29 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Somerset County filed?
Somerset County has 138 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $2.0M in payments, with an average of $14.7K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Somerset County?
No. In Somerset County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $9.4M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Somerset County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Somerset County was 2005, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1970 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Somerset County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Somerset County, Maine has an overall risk score of 67.9 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $26.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Somerset County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Somerset County as of the latest release is Winter Weather (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively High) and Ice Storm (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 25 times per year, drawn from 482 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 Somerset County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Maine profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events