FEMA Records
9
Low volume
Illinois · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Washington County, IL
9 FEMA disaster declarations (2002-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Tornado.
- 9
- FEMA declarations
- 7
- Major disasters
- 55
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Tornado
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Washington County: 9 FEMA declaration records are 30% below the Illinois county mean, even though the count is higher than 8% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks in the riskiest 45%.
- Riskiest 45%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 9
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 8
- 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 17189 · Washington County 9 declarations · rank 2959/3,266
DECL-LIGHT · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-MODERATE · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-LIGHT 9
- MAJOR-MID 78%
- RANK-LOWER #2,959
- PHOTO-FINISH Fulton
- NRI-LOW 55
- ACT-MODERATE Moderate
- TYPE-LEAD Tornado
- VS-ST-BELOW -30%
Nearest declaration peer: Fulton, OH (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Illinois state profile
Washington County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Washington County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Fulton · near 9
Fulton · near
9 declarations
- Gallatin · near 9
Gallatin · near
9 declarations
- Hillsdale · near 9
Hillsdale · near
9 declarations
- Washington · this county 9
Washington · this county
9 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Washington County carries 9 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2959 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Washington County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Washington County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Washington County
9 8th percentile higher than 8% 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
Washington County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Washington County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 55.2/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $18.4M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Earthquake carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 148 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 8 claims and $174.3K 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 Illinois county averages 12.9 federal declaration records, while Washington County has 9. 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.
50 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Washington County, IL · 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) Low
7/30
9 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
9 declarations (0.7x state county average of 13)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
7 of 9 declarations are major disasters (78%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Washington County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Washington 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
78%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
55
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Washington 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 148 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 11 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.5 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 52 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 1.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.5 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 8.3 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 58 years |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 45,343 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 2
Biological 2
Tornado 2
Flood 1
Snowstorm 1
Hurricane 1
What Tornado declarations mean here
Tornado is the most frequent declaration type on Washington County's record, 22% of its declarations, which is unusual: most counties file tornado damage under the broader Severe Storm category, so a tornado-led record generally means one or more damage paths severe enough to be named in their own right. Tornado damage is the most spatially concentrated of any hazard class here - total destruction along a narrow corridor with undamaged property either side, so county-level totals understate how severe the local impact was for the households actually in the path.
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 - 7 77.8%
of all 9 declarations
Emergency - 2 22.2%
of all 9 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 9 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 9 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4819 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODNG | DR | Flood | 2024-09-20 |
| 4728 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-08-15 |
| 4489 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-26 |
| 3435 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4157 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | DR | Tornado | 2013-11-26 |
| 1991 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-06-07 |
| 1960 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2011-03-17 |
| 3230 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1416 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 2002-05-21 |
Storm Events in Illinois
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Washington County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,218 | 9 | 67 | $46.0M |
| Hail | 3,195 | 0 | 0 | $27.1M |
| Winter Weather | 1,363 | 14 | 49 | $1.8M |
| Flood | 1,221 | 14 | 11 | $84.3M |
| Flash Flood | 1,133 | 11 | 3 | $1.1B |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
8
Total Paid
$174.3K
Avg Per Claim
$21.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 55.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$18.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Ice Storm 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: Earthquake
Earthquake is the model's clearest example of a hazard with no season and no warning. Its expected loss is driven less by how often shaking occurs than by how much of the building stock predates modern seismic codes, so exposure can be high in places where nothing has happened for a long time.
Worth noting for Washington County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), while the county's declaration history is led by Tornado. 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
Washington County's closest FEMA peer: Judith Basin County, MT
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Washington County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Washington County shows 9 FEMA declarations, led by Tornado.
Similar Major-disaster share
Washington County: 7 of 9 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Washington County: NRI composite 55.2 (Relatively 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 Washington County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Washington 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: 55.2 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 9. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Earthquake as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively Moderate); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
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 Washington County?
The most common disaster type in Washington County is Tornado, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (2), Biological (2), Flood (1).
How does Washington County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Illinois average?
The typical Illinois county has 12.9 FEMA declaration records; Washington County has 9, or 30% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 57% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Washington County received?
Washington County has received 7 major disaster declarations, representing 78% of all 9 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Washington County filed?
Washington County has 8 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $174.3K in payments, with an average of $21.8K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Washington County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Washington County was 2011, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 2002 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Washington County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Washington County, Illinois has an overall risk score of 55.2 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $18.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Washington County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Washington County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Heat Wave (Relatively Moderate) and Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 148 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 Washington County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Illinois profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events