FEMA Records
22
Above median
North Carolina · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Wilkes County, NC
22 FEMA disaster declarations (1977-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Hurricane.
- 22
- FEMA declarations
- 11
- Major disasters
- 83
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Hurricane
- Top hazard
The verdict
Wilkes County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 22 declarations, more than 57% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 8% below the North Carolina county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 17%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 17%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 22
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 34
- 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 37193 · Wilkes County 22 declarations · rank 1368/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-MID · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-HEAVY 22
- MAJOR-MID 50%
- RANK-LOWER #1,368
- PHOTO-FINISH Hardy
- NRI-MID 83
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Hurricane
- VS-ST-BELOW -8%
Nearest declaration peer: Hardy, WV (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · North Carolina state profile
Wilkes County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Wilkes County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Hardy · near 22
Hardy · near
22 declarations
- Prairie · near 22
Prairie · near
22 declarations
- St. Francis · near 22
St. Francis · near
22 declarations
- Wilkes · this county 22
Wilkes · this county
22 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Wilkes County carries 22 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1368 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Wilkes County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Wilkes County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Wilkes County
22 Top 43% higher than 57% 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
Wilkes County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Wilkes County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $25.5M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Ice Storm 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 Wilkes County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 82.6/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $33.1M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very High and community resilience Relatively Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Ice Storm stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 1.1 times per year here, based on 77 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 34 claims and $1.4M 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 North Carolina county averages 24.0 federal declaration records, while Wilkes County has 22. The gap is 8% 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.
60 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Wilkes County, NC · 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
16/30
22 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.1x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
22 declarations (0.9x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
11 of 22 declarations are major disasters (50%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
20/20
8 different disaster types declared in Wilkes County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Wilkes 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
50%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
83
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Wilkes 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.6 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | an average of 2 times per year |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 24 years |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 651 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 50 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 24 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 4.7 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 3,049 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 7.7 times per year |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.3 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Hurricane 8
Tropical Storm 3
Flood 3
Snowstorm 3
Biological 2
Winter Storm 1
Severe Storm 1
Drought 1
What Hurricane declarations mean here
Hurricane is the most frequent declaration type on Wilkes County's federal record, 36% 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).
Emergency - 11 50.0%
of all 22 declarations
Major Disaster - 11 50.0%
of all 22 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 3 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 2 | |
| 1996 | 3 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1989 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 22 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 22 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3637 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4827 | TROPICAL STORM HELENE | DR | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-28 |
| 3617 | HURRICANE HELENE | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-09-26 |
| 3608 | TROPICAL STORM DEBBY | EM | Tropical Storm | 2024-08-06 |
| 3586 | HURRICANE IAN | EM | Hurricane | 2022-10-01 |
| 4588 | TROPICAL STORM ETA | DR | Severe Storm | 2021-03-03 |
| 3534 | HURRICANE ISAIAS | EM | Hurricane | 2020-08-02 |
| 4487 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-25 |
| 3471 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3423 | HURRICANE DORIAN | EM | Hurricane | 2019-09-03 |
| 3401 | HURRICANE FLORENCE | EM | Hurricane | 2018-09-10 |
| 4153 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-10-29 |
| 3222 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1553 | HURRICANE IVAN | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-18 |
| 1546 | TROPICAL STORM FRANCES | DR | Hurricane | 2004-09-10 |
| 1103 | WINTER STORM | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-02-23 |
| 1087 | BLIZZARD OF 96 | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 1073 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, HIGH WINDS | DR | Flood | 1995-10-23 |
| 3110 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
| 844 | HURRICANE HUGO | DR | Hurricane | 1989-09-25 |
Show 2 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 542 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1977-11-09 |
| 3049 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-08-11 |
Storm Events in North Carolina
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Wilkes County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 7,123 | 11 | 60 | $62.9M |
| Flash Flood | 1,881 | 105 | 6 | $2.3B |
| Hail | 1,623 | 0 | 0 | $122.5M |
| Winter Weather | 1,272 | 6 | 2 | $425.0K |
| Winter Storm | 743 | 7 | 0 | $10.7M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
34
Total Paid
$1.4M
Avg Per Claim
$40.6K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 82.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$33.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Relatively Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Ice Storm Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Hurricane Relatively Low
Earthquake Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Heat Wave 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: Ice Storm
Ice storms load power lines and tree limbs with accumulating freezing rain until they fail. The characteristic cost is infrastructure and multi-day power loss across a wide area rather than structural damage to buildings, which is why their consequences often outlast the weather that caused them.
Worth noting for Wilkes County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Ice Storm carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Hurricane. 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
Wilkes County's closest FEMA peer: Taylor County, TX
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Wilkes County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Wilkes County shows 22 FEMA declarations, led by Hurricane.
Similar Major-disaster share
Wilkes County: 11 of 22 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Wilkes County: NRI composite 82.6 (Relatively Moderate).
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 Wilkes County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Wilkes 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: 82.6 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 22. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 22 FEMA declarations, Wilkes 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 Wilkes County?
The most common disaster type in Wilkes County is Hurricane, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Tropical Storm (3), Flood (3), Snowstorm (3).
How does Wilkes County's FEMA declaration record compare with the North Carolina average?
The typical North Carolina county has 24.0 FEMA declaration records; Wilkes County has 22, or 8% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 6% higher. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Wilkes County received?
Wilkes County has received 11 major disaster declarations, representing 50% of all 22 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Wilkes County filed?
Wilkes County has 34 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.4M in payments, with an average of $40.6K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Wilkes County?
No. In Wilkes County, Ice Storm has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $25.5M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Wilkes County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Wilkes County was 1996, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1977 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Wilkes County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Wilkes County, North Carolina has an overall risk score of 82.6 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). On social vulnerability the county rates Very High; on community resilience, Relatively Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $33.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Wilkes County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Wilkes County as of the latest release is Ice Storm (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate) and Strong Wind (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts ice storm here at an average of 1.1 times per year, drawn from 77 historical events on record. FEMA derives these ratings from historical event frequency, the assets exposed, and the community's vulnerability profile.
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 Wilkes County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · North Carolina profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events