FEMA Records
16
Below median
Indiana · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Starke County, IN
16 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Snowstorm.
- 16
- FEMA declarations
- 9
- Major disasters
- 25
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Snowstorm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Starke 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 7% below the Indiana county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 25%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 25%
- 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
- 22
- 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 18149 · Starke County 16 declarations · rank 2340/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 16
- MAJOR-MID 56%
- RANK-LOWER #2,340
- PHOTO-FINISH Greene
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Snowstorm
- VS-ST-BELOW -7%
Nearest declaration peer: Greene, GA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Indiana state profile
Starke County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Starke County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Frontier · near 16
Frontier · near
16 declarations
- Greene · near 16
Greene · near
16 declarations
- Starke · this county 16
Starke · this county
16 declarations
- Terrell · near 16
Terrell · near
16 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Starke County carries 16 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2340 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Starke County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Starke County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Starke County
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
Starke County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Starke County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $3.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Cold Wave 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 Starke County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 24.9/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $8.3M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability score and Relatively High community-resilience score. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Cold Wave carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3.9 times per year here, based on 75 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 22 claims and $357.2K 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 Indiana county averages 17.1 federal declaration records, while Starke County has 16. The gap is 7% 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.
56 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Starke County, IN · 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
12/25
16 declarations (0.9x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
9 of 16 declarations are major disasters (56%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Starke County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Starke 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
56%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
25
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Starke 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.9 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.1 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 789 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 4.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 13 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 43 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 20 years |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 65 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 10,542 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 4
Snowstorm 4
Flood 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Hurricane 1
Tornado 1
What Snowstorm declarations mean here
Snowstorm is the most frequent declaration type on Starke County's record, 25% of its declarations. Snow-related declarations work on a narrower basis than most other hazards: they are generally issued to reimburse the cost of snow removal and emergency protective measures, rather than to repair destroyed property.
The qualifying test is unusual too. FEMA assesses snowfall against record levels for the affected area, so the same storm total can qualify in a county where it is historically extreme and not qualify a few hundred miles north where it is an ordinary winter. A low snowstorm declaration count is therefore not evidence of mild winters.
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 - 9 56.3%
of all 16 declarations
Emergency - 7 43.8%
of all 16 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1982 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3641 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4515 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-03 |
| 3456 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4363 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2018-05-04 |
| 1997 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-06-23 |
| 1740 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-01-30 |
| 3274 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-03-12 |
| 3238 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1573 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-01-21 |
| 3162 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-01-24 |
| 3135 | IN-WINTER STORM 12/23/98 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-15 |
| 1217 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-05-08 |
| 891 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1991-01-05 |
| 652 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1982-03-20 |
| 3028 | SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-02-02 |
| 189 | TORNADOES & SEVERE STORMS | DR | Tornado | 1965-04-14 |
Storm Events in Indiana
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Starke County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 4,886 | 16 | 73 | $57.6M |
| Hail | 1,643 | 0 | 0 | $1.7M |
| Winter Weather | 1,166 | 32 | 80 | $2.5M |
| Flood | 850 | 13 | 3 | $16.0M |
| Flash Flood | 648 | 14 | 5 | $97.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
22
Total Paid
$357.2K
Avg Per Claim
$16.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 24.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$8.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Hail Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Drought No Rating
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: Cold Wave
Cold Wave measures exposure to extreme cold rather than to snow. Its harm is concentrated in health effects, burst infrastructure and energy demand spikes, and it falls hardest where the building stock and the grid were not built with sustained cold in mind.
For Starke County the two measures on this page point the same way: Cold Wave is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Moderate), and Snowstorm 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
Starke County's closest FEMA peer: Greene County, OH
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Starke County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Starke County shows 16 FEMA declarations, led by Snowstorm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Starke County: 9 of 16 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Starke County: NRI composite 24.9 (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 Starke County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Starke 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: 24.9 (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, Starke 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 Starke County?
The most common disaster type in Starke County is Snowstorm, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (4), Flood (3), Biological (2).
How does Starke County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Indiana average?
The typical Indiana county has 17.1 FEMA declaration records; Starke County has 16, or 7% 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 Starke County received?
Starke County has received 9 major disaster declarations, representing 56% of all 16 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Starke County filed?
Starke County has 22 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $357.2K in payments, with an average of $16.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Starke County?
No. In Starke County, Cold Wave has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $3.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Starke County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Starke County was 2005, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Starke County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Starke County, Indiana has an overall risk score of 24.9 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $8.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Starke County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Starke County is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively Low) and Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 3.9 times per year, drawn from 75 historical events on record. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against 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 Starke County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Indiana profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events