FEMA Records
39
Very high volume
Louisiana · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
St. Helena Parish, LA
39 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 39
- FEMA declarations
- 21
- Major disasters
- 36
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
St. Helena Parish has a nationally busy FEMA history: 39 declarations, more than 96% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 6% below the Louisiana county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 36%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 36%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 39
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 65
- 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 St. Helena Parish compare?
St. Helena Parish vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
39 Top 4% higher than 96% 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
St. Helena Parish's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Louisiana county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for St. Helena Parish is led by Riverine Flooding (about $2.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Drought 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 St. Helena Parish's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 65 paid claims, totaling $2.6M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $39.8K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Louisiana county averages 41.4 federal declaration records, while St. Helena Parish has 39. The gap is 6% 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
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 36.3/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $6.9M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Relatively Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Drought carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 18 modeled event-days per year here, based on 504 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
Nationally, St. Helena Parish's 39 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within Louisiana, however, the count is 6% below the county mean. 21 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Hurricane, appearing 25 times. The full 61-year record averages 0.6 declarations annually. A DR label alone does not say whether Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both followed.
73 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
St. Helena Parish, LA · 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) Very High
28/30
39 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
39 declarations (0.9x state county average of 41)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
21 of 39 declarations are major disasters (54%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
9 different disaster types declared in St. Helena Parish
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Louisiana Avg
-6%
State avg: 41.4
vs. National Avg
+88%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.6
Over 61 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - St. Helena Parish
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
54%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
36
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike St. Helena Parish?
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 18 modeled event-days per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 14 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 637 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.2 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 83 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,040 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 14 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 25
Coastal Storm 4
Severe Ice Storm 2
Biological 2
Flood 2
Winter Storm 1
Severe Storm 1
Tornado 1
Snowstorm 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on St. Helena Parish's federal record, 64% of its declarations. Atlantic tropical systems run on a defined season, 1 June to 30 November, with most activity concentrated between August and October; Pacific and territorial basins run on their own calendars. A single named storm routinely produces one declaration number covering a long corridor of counties at once, well inland as well as on the coast, which is why an affected county's count can jump by several in one year without several separate events having occurred.
One practical distinction matters when reading these records: a tropical declaration usually bundles wind, storm surge and inland rainfall flooding under a single incident, but the insurance behind them is split. Wind damage falls to property insurers, while flood and surge damage is covered only under a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. That is why a county can show heavy declaration activity and a comparatively small NFIP claims record, or the reverse.
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 - 21 53.8%
of all 39 declarations
Emergency - 18 46.2%
of all 39 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2021 | 9 | |
| 2020 | 6 | |
| 2019 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 4 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1992 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1989 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 39 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 39 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3638 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4817 | HURRICANE FRANCINE | DR | Hurricane | 2024-09-16 |
| 3614 | TROPICAL STORM FRANCINE | EM | Hurricane | 2024-09-10 |
| 3574 | TROPICAL STORM NICHOLAS | EM | Coastal Storm | 2021-09-13 |
| 4611 | HURRICANE IDA | DR | Hurricane | 2021-08-29 |
| 3568 | TROPICAL STORM IDA | EM | Hurricane | 2021-08-27 |
| 4590 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-03-09 |
| 3556 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2021-02-18 |
| 4577 | HURRICANE ZETA | DR | Hurricane | 2021-01-12 |
| 3549 | TROPICAL STORM ZETA | EM | Hurricane | 2020-10-27 |
| 4570 | HURRICANE DELTA | DR | Hurricane | 2020-10-16 |
| 3547 | HURRICANE DELTA | EM | Hurricane | 2020-10-07 |
| 3543 | HURRICANE SALLY | EM | Hurricane | 2020-09-14 |
| 4559 | HURRICANE LAURA | DR | Hurricane | 2020-08-28 |
| 3538 | TROPICAL STORMS LAURA AND MARCO | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-23 |
| 3527 | TROPICAL STORM CRISTOBAL | EM | Coastal Storm | 2020-06-07 |
| 4484 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-24 |
| 3459 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4458 | HURRICANE BARRY | DR | Hurricane | 2019-08-27 |
| 3416 | TROPICAL STORM BARRY | EM | Coastal Storm | 2019-07-11 |
Show 19 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3392 | TROPICAL STORM NATE | EM | Hurricane | 2017-10-06 |
| 4277 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-08-14 |
| 4263 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-03-13 |
| 4080 | HURRICANE ISAAC | DR | Hurricane | 2012-08-29 |
| 3347 | TROPICAL STORM ISAAC | EM | Hurricane | 2012-08-27 |
| 1786 | HURRICANE GUSTAV | DR | Hurricane | 2008-09-02 |
| 3289 | HURRICANE GUSTAV | EM | Hurricane | 2008-08-29 |
| 1668 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-11-02 |
| 1607 | HURRICANE RITA | DR | Hurricane | 2005-09-24 |
| 3260 | HURRICANE RITA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-21 |
| 1603 | HURRICANE KATRINA | DR | Hurricane | 2005-08-29 |
| 3212 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-08-27 |
| 1548 | HURRICANE IVAN | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-15 |
| 1437 | HURRICANE LILI | DR | Hurricane | 2002-10-03 |
| 1380 | TROPICAL STORM ALLISON | DR | Coastal Storm | 2001-06-11 |
| 956 | HURRICANE ANDREW | DR | Hurricane | 1992-08-26 |
| 833 | SEVERE STORMS & TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1989-06-16 |
| 3031 | DROUGHT & FREEZING | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-02-22 |
| 208 | HURRICANE BETSY | DR | Hurricane | 1965-09-10 |
Storm Events in Louisiana
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to St. Helena Parish.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,274 | 12 | 29 | $24.9M |
| Flash Flood | 1,516 | 20 | 17 | $3.9B |
| Hail | 1,224 | 0 | 0 | $49.3M |
| Excessive Heat | 1,183 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 1,106 | 5 | 0 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
65
Total Paid
$2.6M
Avg Per Claim
$39.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 36.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$6.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Winter Weather 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: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for St. Helena Parish: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
St. Helena Parish's closest FEMA peer: Butte County, CA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for St. Helena Parish. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
St. Helena Parish shows 39 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
St. Helena Parish: 21 of 39 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
St. Helena Parish: NRI composite 36.3 (Very 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 St. Helena Parish - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
St. Helena Parish's NFIP claims file (65 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in St. Helena Parish?
The most common disaster type in St. Helena Parish is Hurricane, with 25 declarations. Other disaster types include Coastal Storm (4), Severe Ice Storm (2), Biological (2).
How does St. Helena Parish's FEMA declaration record compare with the Louisiana average?
The typical Louisiana county has 41.4 FEMA declaration records; St. Helena Parish has 39, or 6% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 88% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has St. Helena Parish received?
St. Helena Parish has received 21 major disaster declarations, representing 54% of all 39 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has St. Helena Parish filed?
St. Helena Parish has 65 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $2.6M in payments, with an average of $39.8K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in St. Helena Parish?
No. In St. Helena Parish, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $2.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in St. Helena Parish?
The most active year for disaster declarations in St. Helena Parish was 2021, with 9 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for St. Helena Parish?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana has an overall risk score of 36.3 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $6.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to St. Helena Parish?
FEMA's NRI data points to St. Helena Parish is Drought (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Hurricane (Relatively Low) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 18 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 504 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.
What this means for St. Helena Parish
Against a Louisiana county mean of 41 declarations, St. Helena Parish, LA records 39, or 6% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (21 of 39) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Louisiana overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 96% of recorded county totals, but its own Louisiana benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- Use the data guide to separate this mid-volume insurance-claims file from declaration counts and modeled NRI risk. 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.