FEMA Records
18
Below median
West Virginia · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Wood County, WV
18 FEMA disaster declarations (1967-2026), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 18
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 80
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Wood County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 18 declarations, more than 37% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 26% below the West Virginia county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 20%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 20%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 18
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 947
- 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 54107 · Wood County 18 declarations · rank 2011/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 18
- MAJOR-MID 67%
- RANK-LOWER #2,011
- PHOTO-FINISH Monroe
- NRI-LOW 80
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-BELOW -26%
Nearest declaration peer: Monroe, TN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · West Virginia state profile
Wood County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Wood County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Brooke · near 18
Brooke · near
18 declarations
- Mecklenburg · near 18
Mecklenburg · near
18 declarations
- Monroe · near 18
Monroe · near
18 declarations
- Wood · this county 18
Wood · this county
18 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Wood County carries 18 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2011 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Wood County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Wood County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Wood County
18 37th percentile higher than 37% 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
Wood County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Wood County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 947 claims and $13.2M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $14.0K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
Start with the state benchmark: a West Virginia county averages 24.2 federal declaration records, while Wood County has 18. The gap is 26% 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.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 79.8/100 (Relatively Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $36.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Riverine Flooding carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 1.9 times per year here, based on 53 historical events on record.
57 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Wood County, WV · 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
13/30
18 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.9x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
9/25
18 declarations (0.7x state county average of 24)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
12 of 18 declarations are major disasters (67%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Wood County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Wood 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
67%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
80
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Wood 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.9 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 47 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 3.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | roughly once every 35 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | an average of 2.6 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,274 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 8.3 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 17 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 3 modeled event-days per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 18,755 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | an average of 1.3 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
Flood 4
Biological 2
Hurricane 2
Snowstorm 2
Winter Storm 1
Mud/Landslide 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Wood County's record, 33% 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 - 12 66.7%
of all 18 declarations
Emergency - 6 33.3%
of all 18 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2018 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1967 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 18 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 18 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3639 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM | Winter Storm | 2026-01-24 |
| 4787 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2024-05-24 |
| 4517 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-03 |
| 3450 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4359 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Mud/Landslide | 2018-04-17 |
| 4236 | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-08-07 |
| 4210 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2015-03-31 |
| 3358 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-29 |
| 4071 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-07-23 |
| 3345 | SEVERE STORMS | EM | Severe Storm | 2012-06-30 |
| 3221 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-05 |
| 1558 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-09-20 |
| 1229 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-07-01 |
| 1168 | HEAVY & WIND DRIVEN RAIN, HIGH WINDS,FLOODING,SLIDES | DR | Flood | 1997-03-07 |
| 1096 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1996-01-25 |
| 1084 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Snowstorm | 1996-01-13 |
| 3109 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
| 224 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1967-03-13 |
Storm Events in West Virginia
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Wood County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 3,644 | 4 | 9 | $16.4M |
| Winter Weather | 1,939 | 0 | 22 | $1.3M |
| Flood | 1,127 | 13 | 0 | $109.0M |
| Flash Flood | 1,003 | 33 | 1 | $141.5M |
| Hail | 757 | 1 | 0 | $6.5M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
947
Total Paid
$13.2M
Avg Per Claim
$14.0K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 79.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$36.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Hurricane Relatively Low
Hail Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Drought Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Cold 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: Riverine Flooding
Riverine Flooding is the model's measure of a watershed draining more water than its channel can carry. Unlike flash flooding it usually builds over days and is forecast in advance, which makes it the hazard where warning time most reliably converts into reduced harm.
Worth noting for Wood County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Riverine Flooding carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively Moderate), 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
Wood County's closest FEMA peer: Kay County, OK
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Wood County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Wood County: NRI composite 79.8 (Relatively Low).
Similar Major-disaster share
Wood County: 12 of 18 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Wood County shows 18 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
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 Wood County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Wood 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: 79.8 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 18. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Wood County's NFIP claims file (947 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 Wood County?
The most common disaster type in Wood County is Severe Storm, with 6 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (4), Biological (2), Hurricane (2).
How does Wood County's FEMA declaration record compare with the West Virginia average?
The typical West Virginia county has 24.2 FEMA declaration records; Wood County has 18, or 26% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 13% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Wood County received?
Wood County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 67% of all 18 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Wood County filed?
Wood County has 947 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $13.2M in payments, with an average of $14.0K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Wood County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Wood County was 1996, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1967 to 2026.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Wood County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Wood County, West Virginia has an overall risk score of 79.8 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Relatively Moderate; on community resilience, Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $36.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Wood County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Wood County is Riverine Flooding (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Low) and Lightning (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts riverine flooding here at an average of 1.9 times per year, drawn from 53 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 Wood County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · West Virginia profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events