FEMA Records
26
High volume
Kentucky · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Warren County, KY
26 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 26
- FEMA declarations
- 18
- Major disasters
- 88
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Warren County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 26 declarations, more than 75% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 7% below the Kentucky county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 12%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 12%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 26
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 124
- 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 Warren County compare?
Warren County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
26 Top 25% higher than 75% 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
Warren County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Kentucky county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Warren County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $32.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Hail 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 Warren County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 124 paid claims, totaling $2.4M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $19.3K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Kentucky county averages 28.1 federal declaration records, while Warren County has 26. 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 88.5/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $79.9M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Relatively High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Hail stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 3.1 times per year here, based on 119 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
Nationally, Warren County's 26 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within Kentucky, however, the count is 7% below the county mean. 18 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Severe Storm, appearing 10 times. The full 57-year record averages 0.5 declarations annually. A DR label alone does not say whether Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both followed.
68 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Warren County, KY · 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
19/30
26 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
12/25
26 declarations (0.9x state county average of 28)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
18 of 26 declarations are major disasters (69%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Warren County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Kentucky Avg
-7%
State avg: 28.1
vs. National Avg
+25%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.5
Over 57 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Warren 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
69%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
88
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Warren 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 | Very High | an average of 3.1 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 294 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 6.1 modeled event-days per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 6.1 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 55 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 7 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 99 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 2.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 14,826 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 10
Tornado 4
Flood 3
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Severe Ice Storm 2
Winter Storm 1
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Warren County's record, 38% of its declarations. In FEMA's vocabulary this covers convective weather: thunderstorm straight-line winds, large hail, and the multi-day outbreaks that often carry embedded tornadoes. Activity is heaviest in spring and summer, though the season varies by region.
These events behave differently from a hurricane on paper. Damage tends to be distributed along a storm track rather than concentrated on a coastline, and a declaration typically follows an outbreak that crossed several counties over a few days, not a single point of impact. Because the qualifying threshold is the cost of uninsured public and individual losses rather than storm intensity, two similar storms can produce a declaration in one year and none in another.
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 - 18 69.2%
of all 26 declarations
Emergency - 8 30.8%
of all 26 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 4 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 2 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | |
| 1994 | 1 | |
Show 5 earlier declaration years
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1971 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 26 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 26 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3633 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4875 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-05-23 |
| 4864 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2025-04-24 |
| 3626 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-04-03 |
| 3624 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | EM | Severe Storm | 2025-02-16 |
| 4804 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-07-23 |
| 4702 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-04-10 |
| 4630 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2021-12-12 |
| 3575 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | EM | Tornado | 2021-12-11 |
| 4595 | SEVERE, STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2021-04-23 |
| 4497 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3469 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1912 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-05-11 |
| 1818 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-02-05 |
| 3302 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Severe Ice Storm | 2009-01-28 |
| 3231 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1537 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-08-06 |
| 1216 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES,AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-04-29 |
| 1163 | SEVERE STORM, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-03-04 |
| 1089 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
Show 6 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1018 | SEVERE WEATHER, FREEZING RAIN, SLEET, SNW | DR | Snowstorm | 1994-03-16 |
| 3104 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-16 |
| 461 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-03-29 |
| 420 | TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 1974-04-04 |
| 305 | TORNADO | DR | Tornado | 1971-05-10 |
| 265 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1969-07-15 |
Storm Events in Kentucky
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Warren County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6,702 | 9 | 56 | $55.2M |
| Flash Flood | 1,757 | 65 | 16 | $42.6M |
| Flood | 1,646 | 31 | 6 | $37.1M |
| Hail | 1,534 | 1 | 0 | $4.7M |
| Winter Weather | 1,079 | 14 | 54 | $655.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
124
Total Paid
$2.4M
Avg Per Claim
$19.3K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 88.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$79.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Relatively High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hail Very High
Tornado Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Very Low
Drought Relatively Low
Landslide Very 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.
For Warren County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hail is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Very High), and Severe Storm 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
Warren County's closest FEMA peer: Appomattox County, VA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Warren County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Warren County shows 26 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Warren County: 18 of 26 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Warren County: NRI composite 88.5 (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 Warren County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Warren County's NFIP claims file (124 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Warren County?
The most common disaster type in Warren County is Severe Storm, with 10 declarations. Other disaster types include Tornado (4), Flood (3), Snowstorm (3).
How does Warren County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Kentucky average?
The typical Kentucky county has 28.1 FEMA declaration records; Warren County has 26, or 7% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 25% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Warren County received?
Warren County has received 18 major disaster declarations, representing 69% of all 26 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Warren County filed?
Warren County has 124 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $2.4M in payments, with an average of $19.3K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Warren County?
No. In Warren County, Hail has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $32.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Warren County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Warren County was 2025, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Warren County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Warren County, Kentucky has an overall risk score of 88.5 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Low; on community resilience, Relatively High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $79.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Warren County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Warren County is Hail (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively High) and Earthquake (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hail here at an average of 3.1 times per year, drawn from 119 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 Warren County
Against a Kentucky county mean of 28 declarations, Warren County, KY records 26, or 7% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (18 of 26) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Kentucky overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 75% of recorded county totals, but its own Kentucky benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- Use the data guide to separate this mid-volume insurance-claims file from declaration counts and modeled NRI risk. Disaster-data guide
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
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.