FEMA Records
6
Low volume
Arizona · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Yuma County, AZ
6 FEMA disaster declarations (1983-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Biological.
- 6
- FEMA declarations
- 4
- Major disasters
- 93
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Biological
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Yuma County: 6 FEMA declaration records are 64% below the Arizona county mean, even though the count is higher than 3% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks in the riskiest 7%.
- Riskiest 7%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 6
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 123
- 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 Yuma County compare?
Yuma County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
6 3rd percentile higher than 3% 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
Yuma County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the Arizona county average
What does Yuma County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 123 paid claims, totaling $1.0M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $8.5K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a Arizona county averages 16.7 federal declaration records, while Yuma County has 6. The gap is 64% 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 92.6/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $91.5M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively High and community resilience Very Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Earthquake stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 11 years here.
Declaration frequency
The state comparison is the clearest context for Yuma County's moderate federal record. Its 6 declarations sit 64% below the Arizona county mean, with 4 Major Disaster entries among them. 2 records concern Biological, the file's most frequent incident type. Spread across 37 years, the registry rate is 0.2 per year. FEMA reports authorized programs separately from the DR, EM, and FM codes.
36 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Yuma County, AZ · 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) Low
4/30
6 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density Low
5/25
6 declarations (0.4x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share High
17/25
4 of 6 declarations are major disasters (67%)
Hazard Diversity High
10/20
4 different disaster types declared in Yuma County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
Moderate
vs. Arizona Avg
-64%
State avg: 16.7
vs. National Avg
-71%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.2
Over 37 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Yuma 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
93
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Yuma 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively High | roughly once every 11 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively High | 16 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.3 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 40 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 1,838 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | an average of 3.7 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 20 times per year |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 41 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 28 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 14 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | roughly once every 118,111 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Biological 2
Flood 2
Hurricane 1
Severe Storm 1
What Biological declarations mean here
Biological is the most frequent declaration type on Yuma County's record, 33% of its declarations. In practice this category is dominated by the COVID-19 declarations of 2020, which were issued across every US state and territory rather than in response to any local hazard event.
This has a direct consequence for how Yuma County's number should be read. Because those declarations reached essentially every county in the country, they raise every county's total by a similar amount and tell you nothing about local hazard exposure. A county whose record is led by Biological declarations is, in most cases, a county with a genuinely quiet weather-hazard history, the pandemic records are simply the largest thing in an otherwise short list.
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 - 4 66.7%
of all 6 declarations
Emergency - 2 33.3%
of all 6 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 6 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 6 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4524 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3442 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3241 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-12 |
| 977 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-01-19 |
| 730 | HEAVY RAIN & HIGH WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1985-01-15 |
| 686 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1983-07-01 |
Storm Events in Arizona
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Yuma County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | 2,094 | 45 | 18 | $149.9M |
| Excessive Heat | 1,812 | 1,497 | 120 | $0 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,680 | 3 | 19 | $75.9M |
| Heat | 727 | 1,206 | 39 | $0 |
| High Wind | 446 | 0 | 0 | $734.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
123
Total Paid
$1.0M
Avg Per Claim
$8.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 92.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$91.5M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Wildfire Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Hurricane Very Low
Hail Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Cold Wave 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: Earthquake
Earthquake is the model's clearest example of a hazard with no season and no warning. Its expected loss is driven less by how often shaking occurs than by how much of the building stock predates modern seismic codes, so exposure can be high in places where nothing has happened for a long time.
Worth noting for Yuma County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Biological. 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
Yuma County's closest FEMA peer: St. Charles County, MO
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Yuma County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Yuma County: NRI composite 92.6 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar Major-disaster share
Yuma County: 4 of 6 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Yuma County shows 6 FEMA declarations, led by Biological.
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 Yuma County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Yuma County's NFIP claims file (123 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 Yuma County?
The most common disaster type in Yuma County is Biological, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (2), Hurricane (1), Severe Storm (1).
How does Yuma County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Arizona average?
The typical Arizona county has 16.7 FEMA declaration records; Yuma County has 6, or 64% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 71% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Yuma County received?
Yuma County has received 4 major disaster declarations, representing 67% of all 6 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Yuma County filed?
Yuma County has 123 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $1.0M in payments, with an average of $8.5K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Yuma County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Yuma County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1983 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Yuma County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Yuma County, Arizona has an overall risk score of 92.6 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively High, while community resilience comes in at Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $91.5M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Yuma County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Yuma County is Earthquake (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Heat Wave (Relatively High) and Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 11 years. 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.
What this means for Yuma County
Against a Arizona county mean of 17 declarations, Yuma County, AZ records 6, or 64% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as moderate activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (4 of 6) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. Arizona overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 3% of recorded county totals, but its own Arizona benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. 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
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
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.