FEMA Records
28
High volume
North Dakota · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Towner County, ND
28 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 28
- FEMA declarations
- 25
- Major disasters
- 2
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Towner County. Its 28 FEMA declarations are 8% above the North Dakota county mean and exceed the count for 81% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 2%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 2%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 28
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 26
- 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 Towner County compare?
Towner County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
28 Top 19% higher than 81% 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
Towner County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the North Dakota county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Towner County is led by Cold Wave (about $1.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Ice Storm 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 Towner County's hazard record show?
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 28 entries for Towner County, including 25 Major Disaster records, 8% above the North Dakota county mean. Across the 54-year span, that works out to 0.5 declarations a year. Flood leads the file with 13 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits at the very bottom of FEMA's National Risk Index nationally, a composite score of 2.0/100 (rated Very Low). Projected losses are minimal, Expected Annual Loss reads Very Low (roughly $2.7M in annualized losses), and the county's exposure is shaped by a Very Low social-vulnerability profile and Relatively Low community resilience. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Ice Storm carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 2 years here, based on 33 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 26 claims and $374.1K 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.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Towner County's 28 federal records stand 8% above the North Dakota county mean of 25.9. That comparison describes how often federal action was recorded, including any Major Disaster, Emergency, and Fire Management entries shown on this page; it does not convert the count into future probability.
71 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Towner 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) High
20/30
28 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
28 declarations (1.1x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share Very High
22/25
25 of 28 declarations are major disasters (89%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Towner County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. North Dakota Avg
+8%
State avg: 25.9
vs. National Avg
+35%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.5
Over 54 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Towner 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
89%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
2
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Towner 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 24 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 469 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 20 times per year |
| Drought | Very Low | 12 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 11 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Very Low | an average of 26 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 12,346 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 13
Severe Storm 10
Biological 2
Snowstorm 1
Coastal Storm 1
Tornado 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Towner County's record, 46% 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 - 25 89.3%
of all 28 declarations
Emergency - 3 10.7%
of all 28 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 2 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 2 | |
Show 6 earlier declaration years
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 28 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 28 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4717 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2023-07-05 |
| 4660 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2022-07-13 |
| 4509 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-01 |
| 3477 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4323 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2017-07-12 |
| 4128 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-07-12 |
| 4118 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2013-05-29 |
| 1981 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2011-05-10 |
| 3318 | FLOODING | EM | Flood | 2011-04-07 |
| 1829 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-03-24 |
| 1645 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-06-05 |
| 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 |
| 1515 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-05-05 |
| 1376 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, & GROUND SATURATION | DR | Flood | 2001-05-28 |
| 1353 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2000-12-29 |
| 1334 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-06-27 |
| 1279 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, SNOW, ICE, GROUND SATURATION, LANSLIDES, MUDSLIDES, AND TOR | DR | Flood | 1999-06-08 |
| 1220 | FLOODING, GROUND SATURATION,SEVERE STORMS | DR | Flood | 1998-06-15 |
Show 8 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 1050 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND GROUND SATURATION | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-05-16 |
| 1032 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-07-01 |
| 1001 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-07-26 |
| 581 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-04-26 |
| 434 | HEAVY RAINS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-05-14 |
| 256 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-04-18 |
Storm Events in North Dakota
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Towner 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 NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
26
Total Paid
$374.1K
Avg Per Claim
$14.4K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 2.0/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$2.7M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Hail Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Lightning Very Low
Riverine Flooding Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Ice Storm
Ice storms load power lines and tree limbs with accumulating freezing rain until they fail. The characteristic cost is infrastructure and multi-day power loss across a wide area rather than structural damage to buildings, which is why their consequences often outlast the weather that caused them.
Worth noting for Towner County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Ice Storm carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Towner County's closest FEMA peer: Pawnee County, KS
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Towner County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Towner County shows 28 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Towner County: 25 of 28 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Towner County: NRI composite 2.0 (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 Towner County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 28 FEMA declarations, Towner 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Towner County?
The most common disaster type in Towner County is Flood, with 13 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (10), Biological (2), Snowstorm (1).
How does Towner County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Dakota average?
FEMA lists 28 declaration records for Towner County. That is 8% above the North Dakota county mean of 25.9. Its count is also 35% above the national county mean of 20.7. A larger declaration history records more federal actions; it is not a forecast of the county's next hazard.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Towner County received?
Towner County has received 25 major disaster declarations, representing 89% of all 28 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Towner County filed?
Towner County has 26 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $374.1K in payments, with an average of $14.4K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Towner County?
No. In Towner County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Cold Wave leads Expected Annual Loss at about $1.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Towner County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Towner County was 1997, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Towner County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Towner County, North Dakota has an overall risk score of 2.0 out of 100 (Very Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $2.7M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Towner County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Towner County is Ice Storm (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Cold Wave (Relatively Low) and Wildfire (Very Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at roughly once every 2 years, drawn from 33 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 Towner County
Towner County, ND has 28 federal declaration records, 8% more than the North Dakota county mean of 26; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 25 of 28 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. North Dakota overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the North Dakota mean and the totals for 81% of 3,266 U.S. counties. Most-disaster rankings
- A short NFIP claims file cannot establish low flood exposure; the data guide explains the limits of each federal measure. Disaster-data guide
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
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.