FEMA Records
12
Low volume
Indiana · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Steuben County, IN
12 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Snowstorm.
- 12
- FEMA declarations
- 5
- Major disasters
- 27
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Snowstorm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Steuben County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 12 declarations, more than 14% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 30% below the Indiana county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 27%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 27%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 12
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 55
- 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 18151 · Steuben County 12 declarations · rank 2802/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 12
- MAJOR-LIGHT 42%
- RANK-LOWER #2,802
- PHOTO-FINISH Johnson
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Snowstorm
- VS-ST-BELOW -30%
Nearest declaration peer: Johnson, KS (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Indiana state profile
Steuben County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Steuben County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Crane · near 12
Crane · near
12 declarations
- Johnson · near 12
Johnson · near
12 declarations
- Seward · near 12
Seward · near
12 declarations
- Steuben · this county 12
Steuben · this county
12 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Steuben County carries 12 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2802 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Steuben County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Steuben County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Steuben County
12 14th percentile higher than 14% 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
Steuben County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Steuben County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $5.1M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Hail carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low). 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 Steuben County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 55 paid claims, totaling $151.4K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $2.8K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Indiana county averages 17.1 federal declaration records, while Steuben County has 12. The gap is 30% 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's FEMA National Risk Index composite lands at 27.2/100 (Very Low), a modest reading against the rest of the country. Expected Annual Loss is rated Very Low (roughly $10.0M in annualized losses), tempered or compounded by a Relatively Low social-vulnerability score and Relatively High community-resilience score. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Hail, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3.1 times per year here, based on 117 historical events on record.
46 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Steuben 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
9/30
12 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.6x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
12 declarations (0.7x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
10/25
5 of 12 declarations are major disasters (42%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Steuben County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Steuben 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
42%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
27
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Steuben 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 Low | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.3 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 10 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 1.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 867 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 3.3 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | an average of 1.5 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 38 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 58 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 3.8 modeled event-days per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 12 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 75,434 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Snowstorm 4
Biological 2
Tornado 2
Winter Storm 1
Hurricane 1
Severe Storm 1
Flood 1
What Snowstorm declarations mean here
Snowstorm is the most frequent declaration type on Steuben County's record, 33% 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).
Emergency - 7 58.3%
of all 12 declarations
Major Disaster - 5 41.7%
of all 12 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 12 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 12 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 |
| 3274 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-03-12 |
| 3238 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 3162 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-01-24 |
| 3135 | IN-WINTER STORM 12/23/98 | EM | Snowstorm | 1999-01-15 |
| 1125 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-07-03 |
| 891 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1991-01-05 |
| 3028 | SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-02-02 |
| 423 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1974-04-04 |
| 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 Steuben 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
55
Total Paid
$151.4K
Avg Per Claim
$2.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 27.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.0M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Landslide Very Low
Drought Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Wildfire 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.
Worth noting for Steuben County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Hail carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Low), while the county's declaration history is led by Snowstorm. 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
Steuben County's closest FEMA peer: Schley County, GA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Steuben County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Steuben County shows 12 FEMA declarations, led by Snowstorm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Steuben County: 5 of 12 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Steuben County: NRI composite 27.2 (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 Steuben County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Steuben 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: 27.2 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 12. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Steuben County's NFIP claims file (55 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 Steuben County?
The most common disaster type in Steuben County is Snowstorm, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Tornado (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Steuben County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Indiana average?
The typical Indiana county has 17.1 FEMA declaration records; Steuben County has 12, or 30% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 42% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Steuben County received?
Steuben County has received 5 major disaster declarations, representing 42% of all 12 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Steuben County filed?
Steuben County has 55 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $151.4K in payments, with an average of $2.8K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Steuben County?
No. In Steuben County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $5.1M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Steuben County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Steuben County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Steuben County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Steuben County, Indiana has an overall risk score of 27.2 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.0M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Steuben County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Steuben County is Hail (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate) and Tornado (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 3.1 times per year, drawn from 117 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 Steuben County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Indiana profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events