FEMA Records
26
High volume
Maine · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Washington County, ME
26 FEMA disaster declarations (1970-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 26
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- Major disasters
- 48
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Washington 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 12% below the Maine county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county safer than 48%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Safer than 48%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 26
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 30
- 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 23029 · Washington County 26 declarations · rank 712/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 26
- MAJOR-MID 65%
- RANK-MID #712
- PHOTO-FINISH Hunterdon
- NRI-LOW 48
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -12%
Nearest declaration peer: Hunterdon, NJ (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Maine state profile
Washington County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Washington County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Hunterdon · near 26
Hunterdon · near
26 declarations
- Pierce · near 26
Pierce · near
26 declarations
- San Sebastián · near 26
San Sebastián · near
26 declarations
- Washington · this county 26
Washington · this county
26 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Washington County carries 26 FEMA declaration records, ranked 712 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Washington County ranks in the national declaration registry
Washington County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Washington County
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 · 2026-08-25
Washington County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Washington County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $3.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), while Winter Weather carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively 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 Washington County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 47.6/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $10.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Very High) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Winter Weather stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 23 times per year here, based on 371 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 30 claims and $85.8K 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 Maine county averages 29.4 federal declaration records, while Washington County has 26. The gap is 12% 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.
64 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Washington County, ME · 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
11/25
26 declarations (0.9x state county average of 29)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
17 of 26 declarations are major disasters (65%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 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
65%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
48
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 23 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1 time per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 10 years |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 11 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 13 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 3 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 4.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 682 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1 time per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 4,267 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 24 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | 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
Severe Storm 10
Snowstorm 5
Flood 4
Hurricane 2
Biological 2
Fishing Losses 2
Freezing 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Washington 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 - 17 65.4%
of all 26 declarations
Emergency - 9 34.6%
of all 26 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 3 | |
| 2004 | 2 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 2 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 1 | |
Show 4 earlier declaration years
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 2 | |
| 1970 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4764 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-03-20 |
| 4754 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2024-01-30 |
| 3598 | HURRICANE LEE | EM | Hurricane | 2023-09-14 |
| 4522 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3444 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4108 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-03-25 |
| 1953 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-02-01 |
| 1852 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-07-30 |
| 1693 | SEVERE STORMS AND INLAND AND COASTAL FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-04-25 |
| 3256 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-19 |
| 1591 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, SNOW MELT, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-06-29 |
| 3206 | RECORD AND/OR NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2005-03-14 |
| 3194 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2004-01-26 |
| 3190 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2004-01-15 |
| 1468 | SEVERE WINTER COLD AND FROST | DR | Freezing | 2003-05-14 |
| 1371 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-05-16 |
| 3164 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2001-03-20 |
| 1326 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND ICE JAMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-04-28 |
| 1198 | SEVERE ICE STORMS, RAINS AND HIGH WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-01-13 |
| 3099 | BLIZZARDS, SEVERE WINDS & SNOWFALL, COASTAL STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-15 |
Show 6 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3082 | RED TIDE-TOXIC ALGAE | EM | Fishing Losses | 1980-09-20 |
| 550 | HIGH WINDS, TIDAL SURGE & COASTAL FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1978-02-17 |
| 384 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-05-23 |
| 356 | TOXIC ALGAE IN COASTAL WATERS | DR | Fishing Losses | 1972-09-28 |
| 326 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-03-07 |
| 284 | SEVERE STORMS, ICE JAMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1970-02-27 |
Storm Events in Maine
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Washington County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 972 | 3 | 0 | $821.0K |
| Heavy Snow | 817 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 672 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Weather | 540 | 0 | 52 | $0 |
| High Wind | 261 | 3 | 0 | $40.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
30
Total Paid
$85.8K
Avg Per Claim
$2.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 47.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Relatively High
Ice Storm Relatively High
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Coastal Flooding Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Hail 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: Winter Weather
Winter Weather in the model means the accumulation of snow and cold that disrupts rather than destroys: road closures, roof loads, burst pipes and lost heating. Its costs land heavily on transport and on households least able to absorb an interruption.
Worth noting for Washington County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Severe Storm. 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: Ashe County, NC
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 26 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
Similar Major-disaster share
Washington County: 17 of 26 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Washington County: NRI composite 47.6 (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: 47.6 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 26. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 26 FEMA declarations, Washington 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 Washington County?
The most common disaster type in Washington County is Severe Storm, with 10 declarations. Other disaster types include Snowstorm (5), Flood (4), Hurricane (2).
How does Washington County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Maine average?
The typical Maine county has 29.4 FEMA declaration records; Washington County has 26, or 12% 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 Washington County received?
Washington County has received 17 major disaster declarations, representing 65% of all 26 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Washington County filed?
Washington County has 30 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $85.8K in payments, with an average of $2.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Washington County?
No. In Washington County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $3.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Washington County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Washington County was 2005, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1970 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Washington County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Washington County, Maine has an overall risk score of 47.6 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.8M 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 Winter Weather (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Ice Storm (Relatively High) and Hurricane (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 23 times per year, drawn from 371 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 Washington County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Maine profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events