FEMA Records
14
Low volume
Wisconsin · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Washington County, WI
14 FEMA disaster declarations (1976-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 14
- FEMA declarations
- 10
- Major disasters
- 68
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Washington County. Its 14 FEMA declarations are 14% above the Wisconsin county mean and exceed the count for 20% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 32%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 32%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 14
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 78
- 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 55131 · Washington County 14 declarations · rank 2577/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 14
- MAJOR-MID 71%
- RANK-LOWER #2,577
- PHOTO-FINISH Pulaski
- NRI-LOW 68
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-ABOVE +14%
Nearest declaration peer: Pulaski, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Wisconsin 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
- Franklin (city) · near 14
Franklin (city) · near
14 declarations
- Harris · near 14
Harris · near
14 declarations
- Pulaski · near 14
Pulaski · near
14 declarations
- Washington · this county 14
Washington · this county
14 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Washington County carries 14 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2577 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
14 20th percentile higher than 20% 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 $20.0M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Cold Wave 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?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 78 paid claims, totaling $1.2M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $15.6K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Washington County's 14 federal records stand 14% above the Wisconsin county mean of 12.3. That comparison describes how often federal action was recorded, including any Major Disaster, Emergency, and Fire Management entries shown on this page; it does not convert the count into future probability.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county carries a high composite score on FEMA's National Risk Index, 68.3/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $48.4M in annualized losses), and a Very Low social-vulnerability profile combined with Very High community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Cold Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 5.4 times per year here, based on 103 historical events on record.
57 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Washington County, WI · 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) Moderate
10/30
14 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
14 declarations (1.1x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
10 of 14 declarations are major disasters (71%)
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
71%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
68
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Wave | Relatively High | an average of 5.4 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.2 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 2.7 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 16 times per year |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 9 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 34 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 3.4 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 4,550 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 0.6 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,770 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 108 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 4
Severe Storm 4
Biological 2
Snowstorm 2
Hurricane 1
Drought 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Washington County's record, 29% 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 - 10 71.4%
of all 14 declarations
Emergency - 4 28.6%
of all 14 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 2 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 14 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 14 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4923 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2026-06-30 |
| 4892 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2025-09-11 |
| 4520 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3454 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 1966 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2011-04-05 |
| 1768 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-06-14 |
| 3285 | RECORD SNOW AND NEAR RECORD SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2008-03-19 |
| 3249 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1526 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-06-18 |
| 1180 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-07-07 |
| 912 | SEVERE STORMS & HAIL | DR | Severe Storm | 1991-08-06 |
| 775 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1986-10-07 |
| 3014 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1976-06-17 |
| 496 | SEVERE STORMS, ICING, WIND & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1976-03-23 |
Storm Events in Wisconsin
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Washington County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,504 | 5 | 23 | $45.0M |
| Hail | 2,620 | 0 | 0 | $57.8M |
| Winter Weather | 1,939 | 43 | 152 | $2.1M |
| Winter Storm | 1,338 | 15 | 86 | $2.3M |
| Flood | 740 | 12 | 4 | $115.6M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
78
Total Paid
$1.2M
Avg Per Claim
$15.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 68.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$48.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very Low
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Cold Wave Relatively High
Hail Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane 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: Cold Wave
Cold Wave measures exposure to extreme cold rather than to snow. Its harm is concentrated in health effects, burst infrastructure and energy demand spikes, and it falls hardest where the building stock and the grid were not built with sustained cold in mind.
Worth noting for Washington County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Cold Wave 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
Washington County's closest FEMA peer: Greene County, NY
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Washington County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Washington County: NRI composite 68.3 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Washington County: 10 of 14 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Washington County shows 14 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
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: 68.3 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 14. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Washington County's NFIP claims file (78 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 Washington County?
The most common disaster type in Washington County is Flood, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (4), Biological (2), Snowstorm (2).
How does Washington County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Wisconsin average?
FEMA lists 14 declaration records for Washington County. That is 14% above the Wisconsin county mean of 12.3. Its count is also 32% below the national county mean of 20.7. A larger declaration history records more federal actions; it is not a forecast of the county's next hazard.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Washington County received?
Washington County has received 10 major disaster declarations, representing 71% of all 14 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Washington County filed?
Washington County has 78 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.2M in payments, with an average of $15.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Washington County?
No. In Washington County, Cold Wave has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $20.0M. 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 1976, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1976 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Washington County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Washington County, Wisconsin has an overall risk score of 68.3 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very Low, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $48.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Washington County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Washington County is Cold Wave (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Hail (Relatively Moderate) and Tornado (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts cold wave here at an average of 5.4 times per year, drawn from 103 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 · Wisconsin profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events