Other disasters in the United States

How common are Other disasters in the U.S.?

FEMA has issued 35 federal disaster declarations classified as other between 1954 and 2026, affecting 21 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 2003, with 6 other 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 2026, with 1 declarations. Trends over the 72+ 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 other declarations on record are AK (4 declarations), DC (3 declarations), TX (3 declarations), largely explained by regional exposure rather than population size alone. States with the fewest declarations, including PR (1), RI (1), TN (1), a sign that most local events here never crossed the federal declaration threshold.