FEMA Records
16
Below median
North Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Stark County, ND
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1966-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 14
- Major disasters
- 37
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Stark County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 16 declarations, more than 27% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 38% below the North Dakota county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 37%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 37%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 16
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 30
- 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 38089 · Stark County 16 declarations · rank 2295/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-HEAVY · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 16
- MAJOR-HEAVY 88%
- RANK-LOWER #2,295
- PHOTO-FINISH Greene
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -38%
Nearest declaration peer: Greene, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · North Dakota state profile
Stark County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among this county and nearest peers
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Frontier · near 16
Frontier · near
16 declarations
- Greene · near 16
Greene · near
16 declarations
- Stark · this county 16
Stark · this county
16 declarations
- Terrell · near 16
Terrell · near
16 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Stark County carries 16 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2295 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How does Stark County compare?
Stark County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
16 27th percentile higher than 27% 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
Stark County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Stark County is led by Cold Wave (about $5.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Winter Weather carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very 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 Stark County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 37.3/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $14.5M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very Low) and community resilience (Relatively High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Winter Weather stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 18 times per year here, based on 337 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 30 claims and $91.8K 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 North Dakota county averages 25.9 federal declaration records, while Stark County has 16. The gap is 38% 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.
55 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Stark County, ND · 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
12/30
16 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.8x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
8/25
16 declarations (0.6x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
14 of 16 declarations are major disasters (88%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Stark County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Stark 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
88%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
37
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Stark 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 | Very High | an average of 18 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 13 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 31 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 3,685 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 19 modeled event-days per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 10,870 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 7
Severe Storm 5
Biological 2
Snowstorm 1
Coastal Storm 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Stark County's record, 44% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
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 - 14 87.5%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 2 12.5%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1970 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
| 1966 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 16 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 16 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4509 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-01 |
| 3477 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4128 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-07-12 |
| 1879 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-02-26 |
| 1829 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-03-24 |
| 1616 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND RECORD AND/OR NEAR RECORD SNOW | DR | Snowstorm | 2005-11-21 |
| 3247 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-13 |
| 1597 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-07-22 |
| 1174 | SEVERE FLOODING,SEVERE WINTER STORMS, SNOWMELT, SPRING RAINS | DR | Flood | 1997-04-07 |
| 1157 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-12 |
| 1001 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-26 |
| 554 | STORMS, ICE JAMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1978-04-17 |
| 335 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-06-10 |
| 287 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1970-06-05 |
| 256 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-18 |
| 220 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1966-07-09 |
Storm Events in North Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Stark County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 2,705 | 0 | 2 | $116.1M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 2,459 | 2 | 10 | $67.0M |
| High Wind | 1,184 | 1 | 1 | $2.9M |
| Heavy Snow | 925 | 0 | 3 | $650.0K |
| Blizzard | 905 | 2 | 2 | $60.0M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
30
Total Paid
$91.8K
Avg Per Claim
$3.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 37.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$14.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Very High
Hail Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Very Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Landslide Very 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: 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 Stark County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. 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
Stark County's closest FEMA peer: Worth County, IA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Stark County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Stark County shows 16 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Stark County: 14 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Stark County: NRI composite 37.3 (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 Stark County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Stark 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: 37.3 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 16. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 16 FEMA declarations, Stark 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 Stark County?
The most common disaster type in Stark County is Flood, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (5), Biological (2), Snowstorm (1).
How does Stark County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Dakota average?
The typical North Dakota county has 25.9 FEMA declaration records; Stark County has 16, or 38% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 23% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Stark County received?
Stark County has received 14 major disaster declarations, representing 88% of all 16 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Stark County filed?
Stark County has 30 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $91.8K in payments, with an average of $3.1K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Stark County?
No. In Stark County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $5.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Stark County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Stark County was 1997, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1966 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Stark County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Stark County, North Dakota has an overall risk score of 37.3 out of 100 (Very Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very Low, while community resilience comes in at Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $14.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Stark County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Stark County is Winter Weather (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Hail (Relatively Moderate) and Cold Wave (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 18 times per year, drawn from 337 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.
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 2026-08-25. 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
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.