FEMA Records
31
High volume
Mississippi · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Wayne County, MS
31 FEMA disaster declarations (1969-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 31
- FEMA declarations
- 21
- Major disasters
- 56
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Wayne County. Its 31 FEMA declarations are 20% above the Mississippi county mean and exceed the count for 88% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 44%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 44%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 31
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 53
- 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 Wayne County compare?
Wayne County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
31 Top 12% higher than 88% 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
Wayne County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Mississippi county average
What does Wayne County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 53 paid claims, totaling $849.9K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $16.0K 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. Wayne County's 31 federal records stand 20% above the Mississippi county mean of 25.9. 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, 55.7/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Very Low (roughly $12.9M in annualized losses), and a Very High social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Hurricane carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 6 years here, based on 56 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
The FEMA register is busy by both local and national comparisons. It contains 31 entries for Wayne County, including 21 Major Disaster records, 20% above the Mississippi county mean. Across the 57-year span, that works out to 0.5 declarations a year. Hurricane leads the file with 16 entries. Declaration type records the federal action taken, not every assistance program approved.
69 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Wayne County, MS · 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
22/30
31 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
15/25
31 declarations (1.2x state county average of 26)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
21 of 31 declarations are major disasters (68%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in Wayne County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. Mississippi Avg
+20%
State avg: 25.9
vs. National Avg
+50%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.5
Over 57 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Wayne 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
68%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
56
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Wayne 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 6 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 77 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 600 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 8.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 656 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 11 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 3.2 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.7 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 1.4 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 16
Severe Storm 8
Winter Storm 2
Biological 2
Flood 2
Snowstorm 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Wayne County's federal record, 52% 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).
Major Disaster - 21 67.7%
of all 31 declarations
Emergency - 10 32.3%
of all 31 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 5 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
Show 7 earlier declaration years
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1974 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1969 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 31 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 31 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4899 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Winter Storm | 2026-02-06 |
| 3640 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4727 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES. | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-08-12 |
| 4626 | HURRICANE IDA | DR | Hurricane | 2021-10-22 |
| 3569 | HURRICANE IDA | EM | Hurricane | 2021-08-28 |
| 4576 | HURRICANE ZETA | DR | Hurricane | 2020-12-31 |
| 3550 | HURRICANE ZETA | EM | Hurricane | 2020-10-28 |
| 3544 | HURRICANE SALLY | EM | Hurricane | 2020-09-14 |
| 3539 | HURRICANE MARCO AND TROPICAL STORM LAURA | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-23 |
| 4551 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2020-07-09 |
| 4528 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3474 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4415 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADO | DR | Severe Storm | 2019-02-14 |
| 4268 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2016-03-25 |
| 4175 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-04-30 |
| 4101 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-02-13 |
| 4081 | HURRICANE ISAAC | DR | Hurricane | 2012-08-29 |
| 3348 | TROPICAL STORM ISAAC | EM | Hurricane | 2012-08-28 |
| 1837 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Severe Storm | 2009-05-12 |
| 3291 | HURRICANE GUSTAV | EM | Hurricane | 2008-08-30 |
Show 11 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1604 | HURRICANE KATRINA | DR | Hurricane | 2005-08-29 |
| 1594 | HURRICANE DENNIS | DR | Hurricane | 2005-07-10 |
| 1550 | HURRICANE IVAN | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-15 |
| 1459 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODS | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-04-24 |
| 1251 | HURRICANE GEORGES | DR | Hurricane | 1998-10-01 |
| 3132 | HURRICANE GEORGES | EM | Hurricane | 1998-09-28 |
| 599 | HURRICANE FREDERIC | DR | Hurricane | 1979-09-13 |
| 3032 | DROUGHT & FREEZING | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-02-22 |
| 430 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1974-04-18 |
| 368 | HEAVY RAINS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1973-03-27 |
| 271 | HURRICANE CAMILLE | DR | Hurricane | 1969-08-18 |
Storm Events in Mississippi
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Wayne County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 5,557 | 17 | 60 | $93.9M |
| Flash Flood | 1,551 | 6 | 9 | $83.6M |
| Hail | 1,411 | 0 | 0 | $90.1M |
| Heat | 1,340 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 1,097 | 68 | 610 | $562.0M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
53
Total Paid
$849.9K
Avg Per Claim
$16.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 55.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$12.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Drought Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Hurricane
Hurricane exposure in the model bundles the three ways a tropical system does harm, which arrive on different timescales and are insured differently: wind, storm surge on the coast, and rainfall flooding that can reach far inland well after landfall.
For Wayne County the two measures on this page point the same way: Hurricane is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Moderate), and Hurricane 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
Wayne County's closest FEMA peer: Chenango County, NY
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Wayne County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Wayne County shows 31 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Wayne County: 21 of 31 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Wayne County: NRI composite 55.7 (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 Wayne County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Wayne County's NFIP claims file (53 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 Wayne County?
The most common disaster type in Wayne County is Hurricane, with 16 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (8), Winter Storm (2), Biological (2).
How does Wayne County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Mississippi average?
FEMA lists 31 declaration records for Wayne County. That is 20% above the Mississippi county mean of 25.9. Its count is also 50% above 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 Wayne County received?
Wayne County has received 21 major disaster declarations, representing 68% of all 31 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Wayne County filed?
Wayne County has 53 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $849.9K in payments, with an average of $16.0K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Wayne County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Wayne County was 2020, with 5 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1969 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Wayne County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Wayne County, Mississippi has an overall risk score of 55.7 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $12.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Wayne County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Wayne County as of the latest release is Hurricane (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Tornado (Relatively Moderate) and Cold Wave (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 6 years, drawn from 56 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 Wayne County
Wayne County, MS has 31 federal declaration records, 20% more than the Mississippi county mean of 26; its history sits in PlainHazard's high activity band.
- Within this above-state-average declaration file, major disaster leads with 21 of 31 records; the category describes past federal action, not the next likely hazard. Mississippi overview
- The state benchmark and national rank point the same way: this count tops the Mississippi mean and the totals for 88% of 3,266 U.S. counties. 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
An above-average declaration count records past federal responses; it does not predict the next event. Current warnings come from the National Weather Service and local emergency officials.
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.