FEMA Records
25
High volume
Pennsylvania · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Wayne County, PA
25 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 25
- FEMA declarations
- 19
- Major disasters
- 56
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Wayne County. Its 25 FEMA declarations are 35% above the Pennsylvania county mean and exceed the count for 71% 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
- 25
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 221
- 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 42127 · Wayne County 25 declarations · rank 891/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-HEAVY 25
- MAJOR-MID 76%
- RANK-LOWER #891
- PHOTO-FINISH Jefferson
- NRI-LOW 56
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-ABOVE +35%
Nearest declaration peer: Jefferson, AR (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Pennsylvania state profile
Wayne County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Wayne County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Benton · near 25
Benton · near
25 declarations
- Jefferson · near 25
Jefferson · near
25 declarations
- Lafayette · near 25
Lafayette · near
25 declarations
- Wayne · this county 25
Wayne · this county
25 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Wayne County carries 25 FEMA declaration records, ranked 891 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Wayne County ranks in the national declaration registry
Wayne County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Wayne County
25 Top 29% higher than 71% 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
Wayne County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Wayne County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $12.7M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Hurricane carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low). 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 Wayne County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 221 paid claims, totaling $4.7M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $21.4K 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 25 federal records stand 35% above the Pennsylvania county mean of 18.6. 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, 56.3/100, rated Relatively Low. Its Expected Annual Loss rating is Relatively Low (roughly $17.2M in annualized losses), and a Relatively Moderate social-vulnerability profile combined with Relatively Low community resilience shapes how much of that raw exposure becomes realized harm. Even the county's top-rated hazard, Hurricane, only reaches Relatively Low on FEMA's scale, none of the 18 modeled hazards stand out here. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 33 years here, based on 10 historical events on record.
72 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Wayne County, PA · 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
18/30
25 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.2x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
17/25
25 declarations (1.3x state county average of 19)
Major Disaster Share Very High
19/25
19 of 25 declarations are major disasters (76%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Wayne County
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
76%
Mostly major
NRI risk score
56
Relatively Low
Source: 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 Low | roughly once every 33 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | an average of 3.4 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 17 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 31 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,185 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 1.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 6,115 years |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 6
Hurricane 6
Flood 6
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Tropical Storm 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Wayne County's federal record, 24% 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 - 19 76.0%
of all 25 declarations
Emergency - 6 24.0%
of all 25 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 3 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2004 | 2 | |
| 2003 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 2 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
Show 3 earlier declaration years
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 25 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 25 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4815 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-11 |
| 4506 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-30 |
| 3441 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4149 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2013-10-01 |
| 3356 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 4030 | TROPICAL STORM LEE | DR | Flood | 2011-09-12 |
| 4025 | HURRICANE IRENE | DR | Hurricane | 2011-09-03 |
| 3339 | HURRICANE IRENE | EM | Hurricane | 2011-08-29 |
| 1684 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2007-02-23 |
| 1649 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-06-30 |
| 3235 | HURRICANE KATRINA | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-10 |
| 1587 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-04-14 |
| 1557 | TROPICAL DEPRESSION IVAN | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-19 |
| 1555 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL DEPRESSION FRANCES | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-19 |
| 1485 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2003-08-23 |
| 1093 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-01-21 |
| 1085 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3105 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-16 |
| 745 | HURRICANE GLORIA | DR | Hurricane | 1985-10-08 |
| 3026 | SNOWSTORMS | EM | Snowstorm | 1977-01-29 |
Show 5 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 523 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1976-10-20 |
| 485 | SEVERE STORMS, HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1975-09-26 |
| 400 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-07-17 |
| 340 | TROPICAL STORM AGNES | DR | Flood | 1972-06-23 |
| 206 | WATER SHORTAGE | DR | Drought | 1965-08-18 |
Storm Events in Pennsylvania
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Wayne County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 9,976 | 18 | 114 | $115.5M |
| Flash Flood | 2,288 | 23 | 8 | $463.2M |
| Winter Weather | 1,670 | 23 | 268 | $566.0K |
| Hail | 1,400 | 0 | 0 | $2.6M |
| Winter Storm | 881 | 14 | 17 | $2.9M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
221
Total Paid
$4.7M
Avg Per Claim
$21.4K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 56.3/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$17.2M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Hurricane Relatively Low
Landslide Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Hail Very Low
Drought No Rating
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: 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 Low), 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: Adair County, MO
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 25 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Wayne County: 19 of 25 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Wayne County: NRI composite 56.3 (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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Wayne 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: 56.3 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 25. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Wayne County's NFIP claims file (221 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 Wayne County?
The most common disaster type in Wayne County is Hurricane, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Severe Storm (6), Flood (6), Snowstorm (3).
How does Wayne County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Pennsylvania average?
FEMA lists 25 declaration records for Wayne County. That is 35% above the Pennsylvania county mean of 18.6. Its count is also 21% 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 19 major disaster declarations, representing 76% of all 25 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Wayne County filed?
Wayne County has 221 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.7M in payments, with an average of $21.4K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Wayne County?
No. In Wayne County, Hurricane has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Low), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $12.7M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Wayne County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Wayne County was 2011, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Wayne County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Wayne County, Pennsylvania has an overall risk score of 56.3 out of 100 (Relatively Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $17.2M 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 is Hurricane (risk rating: Relatively Low). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Low) and Riverine Flooding (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts hurricane here at roughly once every 33 years, drawn from 10 historical events on record. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against 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 Wayne County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Pennsylvania profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events