FEMA Records
22
Above median
California · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Tuolumne County, CA
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 15
- Major disasters
- 85
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Tuolumne County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 22 declarations, more than 57% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 23% below the California county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 15%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 15%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 20
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 06109 · Tuolumne County 22 declarations · rank 1250/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-MID 68%
- RANK-LOWER #1,250
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-MID 85
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -23%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · California state profile
Tuolumne County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Tuolumne County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Hardy · near 22
Hardy · near
22 declarations
- Prairie · near 22
Prairie · near
22 declarations
- St. Francis · near 22
St. Francis · near
22 declarations
- Tuolumne · this county 22
Tuolumne · this county
22 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Tuolumne County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1250 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Tuolumne County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Tuolumne County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Tuolumne County
22 Top 43% higher than 57% 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
Tuolumne County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Tuolumne County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 85.2/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $50.6M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Relatively Moderate, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Wildfire stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 81 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 20 claims and $308.8K 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 California county averages 28.5 federal declaration records, while Tuolumne County has 22. The gap is 23% 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.
58 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Tuolumne County, CA · 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
16/30
22 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
10/25
22 declarations (0.8x state county average of 29)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
15 of 22 declarations are major disasters (68%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Tuolumne County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Tuolumne 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
68%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
85
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Tuolumne 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively High | roughly once every 81 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.4 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 3.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 91 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 20 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 58 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 33 times per year |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 1,429 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 30 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 20 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 8 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 6
Fire 5
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Tuolumne County's record, 32% 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 - 15 68.2%
of all 22 declarations
Emergency - 5 22.7%
of all 22 declarations
Fire Management - 2 9.1%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 3 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Show 1 earlier declaration years
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 22 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 22 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5652 | DOVE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2026-07-26 |
| 4699 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-04-03 |
| 3592 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2023-03-10 |
| 4683 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2023-01-14 |
| 4558 | WILDFIRES | DR | Fire | 2020-08-22 |
| 4482 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-22 |
| 3428 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4434 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-05-17 |
| 4308 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2017-04-01 |
| 4305 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2017-03-16 |
| 4301 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2017-02-14 |
| 4158 | RIM FIRE | DR | Fire | 2013-12-13 |
| 5049 | RIM FIRE | FM | Fire | 2013-08-23 |
| 1646 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-06-05 |
| 3248 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 3140 | CA-WILDFIRES-08/25/1999 | EM | Fire | 1999-09-01 |
| 1155 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-04 |
| 1046 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING LANDSLIDES, MUD FLOW | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-03-12 |
| 758 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-02-21 |
| 3023 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-01-20 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 253 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-01-26 |
| 183 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1964-12-24 |
Storm Events in California
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Tuolumne County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 4,070 | 13 | 27 | $228.2M |
| Flood | 3,132 | 26 | 25 | $985.1M |
| Heavy Snow | 1,814 | 6 | 0 | $1.6M |
| Dense Fog | 1,605 | 52 | 148 | $2.8M |
| Drought | 1,421 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
20
Total Paid
$308.8K
Avg Per Claim
$15.4K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 85.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$50.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively High
Landslide Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Avalanche Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Hail Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Cold Wave 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: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
Worth noting for Tuolumne County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Wildfire carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively 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
Tuolumne County's closest FEMA peer: Bath County, VA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Tuolumne County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Tuolumne County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Tuolumne County: 15 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Tuolumne County: NRI composite 85.2 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Tuolumne County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Tuolumne 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: 85.2 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 22. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 22 FEMA declarations, Tuolumne 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 Tuolumne County?
The most common disaster type in Tuolumne County is Flood, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (6), Fire (5), Biological (2).
How does Tuolumne County's FEMA declaration record compare with the California average?
The typical California county has 28.5 FEMA declaration records; Tuolumne County has 22, or 23% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 6% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Tuolumne County received?
Tuolumne County has received 15 major disaster declarations, representing 68% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Tuolumne County filed?
Tuolumne County has 20 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $308.8K in payments, with an average of $15.4K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Tuolumne County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Tuolumne County was 2017, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Tuolumne County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Tuolumne County, California has an overall risk score of 85.2 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $50.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Tuolumne County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Tuolumne County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Moderate) and Heat Wave (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 81 years. 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 Tuolumne County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · California profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events