FEMA Records
21
Above median
North Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Union County, NC
21 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 21
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 89
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Union County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 21 declarations, more than 52% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 13% below the North Carolina county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 11%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 11%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 21
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 81
- 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 37179 · Union County 21 declarations · rank 1529/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 21
- MAJOR-LIGHT 48%
- RANK-LOWER #1,529
- PHOTO-FINISH Montgomery
- NRI-MID 89
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -13%
Nearest declaration peer: Montgomery, IN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · North Carolina state profile
Union County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Union County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Atascosa · near 21
Atascosa · near
21 declarations
- Mason · near 21
Mason · near
21 declarations
- Montgomery · near 21
Montgomery · near
21 declarations
- Union · this county 21
Union · this county
21 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Union County carries 21 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1529 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Union County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Union County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Union County
21 Top 48% higher than 52% 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
Union County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Union County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $73.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Ice Storm 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 Union County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 81 paid claims, totaling $1.4M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $17.2K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a North Carolina county averages 24.0 federal declaration records, while Union County has 21. The gap is 13% 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 sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 89.1/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $110.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very Low and community resilience Relatively Moderate, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Ice Storm stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 1.9 times per year here, based on 130 historical events on record.
58 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Union County, NC · 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
15/30
21 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
21 declarations (0.9x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
12/25
10 of 21 declarations are major disasters (48%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
9 different disaster types declared in Union County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Union 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
48%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
89
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Union 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 | Very High | an average of 1.9 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 3 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively High | an average of 2.9 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 472 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 53 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.7 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 3.3 modeled event-days per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 22 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.3 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 13,218 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 10
Tropical Storm 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Severe Ice Storm 1
Severe Storm 1
Snowstorm 1
Tornado 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Union County's federal record, 48% of its declarations. Atlantic tropical systems run on a defined season, 1 June to 30 November, with most activity concentrated between August and October; Pacific and territorial basins run on their own calendars. A single named storm routinely produces one declaration number covering a long corridor of counties at once, well inland as well as on the coast, which is why an affected county's count can jump by several in one year without several separate events having occurred.
One practical distinction matters when reading these records: a tropical declaration usually bundles wind, storm surge and inland rainfall flooding under a single incident, but the insurance behind them is split. Wind damage falls to property insurers, while flood and surge damage is covered only under a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. That is why a county can show heavy declaration activity and a comparatively small NFIP claims record, or the reverse.
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 - 11 52.4%
of all 21 declarations
Major Disaster - 10 47.6%
of all 21 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 3 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1989 | 2 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 21 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 21 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3637 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4827 | TROPICAL STORM HELENE | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-28 |
| 3617 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3608 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-06 |
| 3586 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-10-01 |
| 3534 | HURRICANE ISAIAS | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-02 |
| 4487 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3471 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3423 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-03 |
| 4393 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | DR | Hurricane | 2018-09-14 |
| 3401 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 3222 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1546 | TROPICAL STORM FRANCES | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-10 |
| 1448 | SEVERE ICE STORM | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2002-12-12 |
| 1312 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-01-31 |
| 1292 | HURRICANE FLOYD MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS | DR | Hurricane | 1999-09-16 |
| 3146 | HURRICANE FLOYD EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS | EM | Hurricane | 1999-09-15 |
| 1087 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 844 | HURRICANE HUGO | DR | Hurricane | 1989-09-25 |
| 827 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1989-05-17 |
Show 1 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3049 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-08-11 |
Storm Events in North Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Union County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,123 | 11 | 60 | $62.9M |
| Flash Flood | 1,881 | 105 | 6 | $2.3B |
| Hail | 1,623 | 0 | 0 | $122.5M |
| Winter Weather | 1,272 | 6 | 2 | $425.0K |
| Winter Storm | 743 | 7 | 0 | $10.7M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
81
Total Paid
$1.4M
Avg Per Claim
$17.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 89.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$110.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Relatively Moderate
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Very High
Tornado Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively High
Hurricane Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Landslide 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: 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 Union County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Ice Storm carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
Union County's closest FEMA peer: Tom Green County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Union County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Union County shows 21 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Union County: 10 of 21 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Union County: NRI composite 89.1 (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 Union County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Union 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: 89.1 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 21. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Union County's NFIP claims file (81 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 Union County?
The most common disaster type in Union County is Hurricane, with 10 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (3), Biological (2), Winter Storm (1).
How does Union County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Carolina average?
The typical North Carolina county has 24.0 FEMA declaration records; Union County has 21, or 13% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 1% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Union County received?
Union County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 48% of all 21 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Union County filed?
Union County has 81 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.4M in payments, with an average of $17.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Union County?
No. In Union County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $73.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Union County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Union County was 2020, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Union County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Union County, North Carolina has an overall risk score of 89.1 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Very Low; on community resilience, Relatively Moderate. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $110.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Union County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Union County as of the latest release is Ice Storm (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively High) and Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at an average of 1.9 times per year, drawn from 130 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 Union County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · North Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events