Original research, PlainHazard editorial
Top 10 FEMA Incident Types by Declaration Frequency
PlainHazard ranks FEMA incident types by the total number of disaster declarations attributed to each type, computed directly from the current declaration totals.
Research period:
Research question
Across the full OpenFEMA disaster declaration registry, which incident types, severe storms, hurricanes, fires, floods, biological events, account for the largest number of federal disaster declarations, and how broadly distributed are these incident types across US states?
Methodology
We ranked FEMA incident types by total declarations, along with the number of states affected and the years each type has been recorded, then took the top 10. Every number on this page reflects the current data; no figure is hardcoded, and the ranking updates whenever the underlying FEMA dataset is refreshed.
FEMA classifies every declaration by a single primary incident type, the hazard that triggered the federal response. Broad categories like "Severe Storm" and "Flood" dominate the count because they recur across many states and seasons and frequently combine (a severe storm system that produces both tornadoes and flooding is typically logged under one incident type). Rarer categories - "Earthquake", "Volcanic Eruption", "Tsunami" - appear far down the list not because they are mild, but because they strike infrequently and in a limited geography, so they generate few separate declarations.
Reading frequency alone can mislead: a category with many declarations is not necessarily the costliest or deadliest. A single hurricane or wildfire complex can cause more loss than years of routine severe-storm declarations. To weigh severity rather than count, pair this ranking with the per-state damage and fatality data and with the FEMA National Risk Index expected-annual-loss estimates. The state-count column also matters, an incident type spread across many states reflects a nationwide hazard, while one concentrated in a few states points to a regional risk.
See the methodology page for the source vintage and how the figures are derived.
Top 10 FEMA Incident Types by Declaration Frequency
Current data, updated as FEMA publishes new declarations
- Fire
Fire
668 records
- Severe Storm 157
Severe Storm
157 records
- Flood 90
Flood
90 records
- Hurricane 65
Hurricane
65 records
- Tropical Storm 39
Tropical Storm
39 records
- Winter Storm 36
Winter Storm
36 records
- Biological 17
Biological
17 records
- Severe Ice Storm 13
Severe Ice Storm
13 records
- Tornado 13
Tornado
13 records
- Other 9
Other
9 records
The ranked top 10
The 10 rows below reflect the current data and update automatically as FEMA publishes new declarations.
| # | Incident type | Total declarations | States affected | Earliest year | Latest year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fire | 668 | 32 | 2012 | 2026 |
| 2 | Severe Storm | 157 | 41 | 2016 | 2026 |
| 3 | Flood | 90 | 37 | 1973 | 2026 |
| 4 | Hurricane | 65 | 22 | 2021 | 2026 |
| 5 | Tropical Storm | 39 | 17 | 2023 | 2026 |
| 6 | Winter Storm | 36 | 26 | 2023 | 2026 |
| 7 | Biological | 17 | 15 | 2020 | 2021 |
| 8 | Severe Ice Storm | 13 | 9 | 2021 | 2025 |
| 9 | Tornado | 13 | 8 | 2020 | 2024 |
| 10 | Other | 9 | 7 | 2021 | 2026 |
Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency, OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries V2 (incident type aggregates). Values reflect the current data on this site, refreshed as FEMA updates the underlying dataset. Federal Emergency Management Agency, OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries V2 (incident type aggregates). Values reflect the current data on this site, refreshed as FEMA updates the underlying dataset.
Findings
Top entity in the ranking
The top-ranked incident type is Fire, with 668 total declarations. The full top-10 is shown in the table above; no number is hardcoded. When Federal Emergency Management Agency publishes a revision, the ranking and the surrounding text update to match.
Distribution shape
The gap between the top-ranked record (668) and the 10th-ranked record (9) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.
Aggregate context
Across the full population behind this ranking, here are the summary statistics: how many records exist in total, the sum of the ranking metric across all qualifying records, and the mean per-record value. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied (records with null or zero values on the ranking metric are excluded). This aggregate row is computed from the same dataset that powers the ranking above.
Source provenance
The records in this ranking come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries V2 (incident type aggregates). PlainHazard keeps this page in sync with the source data, so there is no stale static export sitting behind the numbers, a new FEMA release propagates to this page within hours. The methodology page documents the source URL, the vintage date, and how the figures are derived.
Why this ranking matters
Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.
What this analysis cannot tell us
FEMA's incident type taxonomy has evolved over time, categories like 'Severe Storm(s)' and 'Severe Ice Storm' overlap in many declarations and the same physical event may be coded differently in different years. The NOAA Storm Events Database uses a separate taxonomy (e.g. 'Thunderstorm Wind', 'Hail', 'Tornado') that does not directly map to FEMA's incident types. Counts here reflect distinct declarations, not the total cost, lives lost, or geographic footprint of each event; a single major hurricane declaration may affect dozens of counties and impose billions in damage, while a smaller emergency declaration may affect a single jurisdiction. Readers comparing hazard categories should consult the methodology page for the full code mapping and the agency-published documentation.
Secondary cut from the same source
Top 10 NOAA Storm Events Database event types by raw event count (separate dataset from FEMA declarations)
- Thunderstorm Wind
Thunderstorm Wind
234,600 records
- Hail
Hail
113,479 records
- Flash Flood 54,405
Flash Flood
54,405 records
- High Wind 50,942
High Wind
50,942 records
- Winter Weather 50,010
Winter Weather
50,010 records
- Drought 44,239
Drought
44,239 records
- Winter Storm 37,855
Winter Storm
37,855 records
- Flood 35,032
Flood
35,032 records
- Marine Thunderstorm Wind 30,549
Marine Thunderstorm Wind
30,549 records
- Heavy Snow 27,977
Heavy Snow
27,977 records
Sources
- FEMA, OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations - https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/disaster-declarations-summaries-v2
- NOAA, Storm Events Database - https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/