FEMA disaster type · OpenFEMA declarations
Coastal Storm disasters in the United States
FEMA disaster declarations classified as "Coastal Storm" from 1972 to 2022 - which states are hit most often and how the count has changed over time.
- 31
- FEMA declarations
- 17
- States affected
- 1972
- Earliest year
- 2022
- Latest year
The verdict
According to FEMA's disaster declaration history, coastal storm ranks #15 of the 27 distinct disaster types the agency has declared, accounting for 0.6% of all 5,218 declarations on record. It is rarer than 54% of the other declaration types FEMA tracks, based on total historical volume.
- #15 of 27
- FEMA disaster types, by declaration volume
- 0.6%
- share of all 5,218 FEMA declarations
- 31
- coastal storm declarations, 1972–2022
Ranking reflects the count of Presidentially declared federal disasters per OpenFEMA, not event severity or economic loss; a rare declaration type can still be individually catastrophic.
How does Coastal Storm compare?
Coastal Storm vs. every FEMA declaration type
Declaration volume across all tracked incident types
31 44th percentile higher than 44% of 27 disaster types
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more disaster types. 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 OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-03
What shapes the coastal storm record?
States with the most coastal storm declarations
Wider bars = more FEMA declarations of this type
- Louisiana
Louisiana
5 declarations
- Maine
Maine
3 declarations
- New Hampshire
New Hampshire
3 declarations
- Alaska
Alaska
2 declarations
- California
California
2 declarations
- Florida
Florida
2 declarations
- Massachusetts
Massachusetts
2 declarations
- New Jersey
New Jersey
2 declarations
- Texas
Texas
2 declarations
- Colorado 1
Colorado
1 declarations
What this shows Louisiana leads with 5 coastal storm declarations among the states shown.
Coastal Storm declarations by year
Federal declaration cadence for this incident type across the OpenFEMA record.
Peak year in this series: 2005 (6 declarations). A declaration is a federal assistance trigger, not a raw event count.
How common are Coastal Storm disasters in the U.S.?
FEMA has issued 31 federal disaster declarations classified as coastal storm between 1972 and 2022, affecting 17 states and territories. Each declaration represents a formal federal recognition that an event exceeded state and local response capacity, unlocking Public Assistance, Individual Assistance, or Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding depending on the declaration class (DR, EM, or FM). Raw declaration counts therefore measure the federal response footprint, which is a lagging and thresholded indicator: smaller events handled entirely at the state level never appear, and declaration thresholds have been recalibrated over the dataset's multi-decade history.
Annual declaration counts move in fits and starts rather than a smooth trend. The peak year on record was 2005, with 6 coastal storm declarations issued that single year, a clustering driven by major multi-state events and the federal government's declaration cadence. The most recent year on record is 2022, with 1 declarations. Trends over the 50+ year history reflect a mix of policy recalibration and genuine year-to-year hazard variability.
Where these declarations land varies widely by state. The three states with the most coastal storm declarations on record are LA (5 declarations), ME (3 declarations), NH (3 declarations), largely explained by regional exposure rather than population size alone. States with the fewest declarations, including SD (1), UT (1), WA (1), a sign that most local events here never crossed the federal declaration threshold.
Which federal declaration does coastal storm actually get?
This type splits across two federal instruments rather than favouring one: 65% Major Disaster declarations and 35% Emergencies across 31 declarations. That mix usually indicates a hazard with warning time -- an Emergency can be declared before or during landfall to fund evacuation and protective measures, and a Major Disaster follows afterwards once damage is assessed. The two counts describe different moments in the same response, not competing tallies of the same events.
Declarations by State
| # | State | Declarations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisiana LA | 5 |
| 2 | Maine ME | 3 |
| 3 | New Hampshire NH | 3 |
| 4 | Alaska AK | 2 |
| 5 | California CA | 2 |
| 6 | Florida FL | 2 |
| 7 | Massachusetts MA | 2 |
| 8 | New Jersey NJ | 2 |
| 9 | Texas TX | 2 |
| 10 | Colorado CO | 1 |
| 11 | Delaware DE | 1 |
| 12 | Marshall Islands MH | 1 |
| 13 | North Dakota ND | 1 |
| 14 | Oregon OR | 1 |
| 15 | South Dakota SD | 1 |
| 16 | Utah UT | 1 |
| 17 | Washington WA | 1 |
Declarations by Year
| Year | Declarations |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2005 | 6 |
| 2002 | 1 |
| 2001 | 3 |
| 1998 | 1 |
| 1995 | 1 |
| 1993 | 2 |
| 1992 | 3 |
| 1983 | 1 |
| 1980 | 1 |
| 1975 | 1 |
| 1972 | 2 |
Recent Coastal Storm Declarations
Download all 31 declarations as CSV . Source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0. The table below lists the 30 most recent; the file carries every one.
| DR# | Title | State | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4647 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | ME | DR | 2022-03-15 |
| 3574 | TROPICAL STORM NICHOLAS | LA | EM | 2021-09-13 |
| 3527 | TROPICAL STORM CRISTOBAL | LA | EM | 2020-06-07 |
| 3416 | TROPICAL STORM BARRY | LA | EM | 2019-07-11 |
| 4370 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | NH | DR | 2018-06-08 |
| 4369 | SEVERE STORM | AK | DR | 2018-06-08 |
| 4367 | SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING | ME | DR | 2018-05-30 |
| 4244 | SEVERE STORM | AK | DR | 2015-10-30 |
| 4041 | TROPICAL STORM LEE | LA | DR | 2011-10-28 |
| 3247 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | ND | EM | 2005-09-13 |
| 3234 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | SD | EM | 2005-09-10 |
| 3227 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | WA | EM | 2005-09-07 |
| 3228 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | OR | EM | 2005-09-07 |
| 3223 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | UT | EM | 2005-09-05 |
| 3224 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | CO | EM | 2005-09-05 |
| 1434 | TROPICAL STORM FAY | TX | DR | 2002-09-26 |
| 1393 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES AND FLOODING ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL STORM GABRIELLE | FL | DR | 2001-09-28 |
| 1380 | TROPICAL STORM ALLISON | LA | DR | 2001-06-11 |
| 1379 | TX-TROPICAL STORM ALLISON-06-06-2001 | TX | DR | 2001-06-09 |
| 1206 | SEVERE WINTER COASTAL STORM, HIGH WINDS, FLOODING | NJ | DR | 1998-03-03 |
| 1040 | HIGH SURF AND WAVE ACTION | MH | DR | 1994-10-06 |
| 976 | SEVERE COASTAL STORM & FLOODING | DE | DR | 1993-01-15 |
| 975 | WINTER COASTAL STORM | MA | DR | 1992-12-21 |
| 923 | COASTAL STORM | NH | DR | 1991-11-13 |
| 921 | COASTAL STORM | ME | DR | 1991-11-07 |
| 920 | COASTAL STORM | MA | DR | 1991-11-04 |
| 677 | COASTAL STORMS, FLOODS, SLIDES & TORNADOES | CA | DR | 1983-02-09 |
| 3078 | TORRENTIAL RAIN, HIGH TIDE & WINDS | CA | EM | 1980-02-01 |
| 3005 | SEVERE STORMS, HIGH WINDS & HIGH TIDES | NJ | EM | 1974-12-24 |
| 337 | TROPICAL STORM AGNES | FL | DR | 1972-06-23 |
What this means for Coastal Storm declarations
Coastal Storm is rarer than 54% of the other declaration types FEMA tracks, with 31 FEMA declaration records; Louisiana leads with 5.
- Louisiana accounts for the largest share of coastal storm declarations in this corpus. Louisiana profile
- See how states compare on raw FEMA declaration volume across all incident types. Most disasters ranking
- Learn what a FEMA declaration does and does not measure relative to NOAA storm events. Disaster-data guide
A federal declaration is a legal assistance trigger, not a count of every storm event or a forecast. For current threats follow the National Weather Service and local officials; in an emergency call 911.
Related Guides
Preparing for Natural Disasters
Essential steps to prepare your household for common natural hazards.
Understanding Disaster Data
How to interpret FEMA declarations, storm events, and risk scores.
Climate Change & Disasters
How climate trends are changing the frequency and severity of natural disasters.
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 For informational purposes only
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Verify declarations with FEMA → Verify storm-event context 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.