FEMA declarations
24
Low volume
State profile · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
District of Columbia Natural Disasters
District of Columbia has one of the lighter federal disaster records in the country. 24 FEMA disaster declarations are on record, led by severe storm, with $29.2M in combined property and crop damage. A light count doesn't mean zero risk, just fewer events that crossed the federal declaration threshold. NOAA storm event data shows 452 recorded weather events resulting in 3 fatalities, a toll that informs where the state directs disaster-preparedness resources.
- 24
- FEMA declarations
- 452
- NOAA storm events
- 3
- Storm fatalities
- $29.2M
- Property + crop damage
The District of Columbia risk picture
1 of the 1 counties and county-equivalents FEMA scores, 100%, carry a FEMA "high-risk" National Risk Index rating, with riverine flooding the single largest driver of expected annual loss statewide. District of Columbia has 15 Major Disaster (DR) declarations; FEMA authorizes Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both separately for each declaration. NOAA-tracked storms have caused 11 injuries statewide.
- 100%
- of counties and county-equivalents rated high-risk by FEMA National Risk Index
- 24
- FEMA disaster declarations on record
- $29.2M
- in tracked property + crop damage
- 495
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed statewide
FEMA's National Risk Index and NOAA's Storm Events Database measure different things: modeled long-run risk vs. observed severe-weather events. Storm Events is a reported dataset, so its counts track what was observed and logged, not every event that occurred, and reporting is denser where more people live. See the methodology for how they relate.
Major Disaster share
63%
Major-heavy
NOAA storm events
452
Observed severe-weather records
How does District of Columbia compare?
District of Columbia vs. every U.S. state
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
24 7th percentile higher than 7% of 59 states and territories
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states and territories. 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
District of Columbia county risk-score spread
FEMA National Risk Index composite scores, 0–100
97.6 0th percentile higher than 0% of 1 county composite scores
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more county composite scores. 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 National Risk Index (NRI), county composite scores · 2026-08-25
The declaration chart counts past federal actions. The county score chart summarizes FEMA's modeled National Risk Index composite; it is not a forecast, and a state average does not describe every county.
Do more storms mean more federal disasters?
District of Columbia sits at the 2nd percentile of FEMA declaration volume and the 5th percentile of NOAA storm-event volume among 55 states and territories, those two ranks are not interchangeable.
FEMA declaration rank vs NOAA storm-event rank
Read the chart, every state as text
Percentiles are within this release's state/territory sample. Raw counts are the underlying FEMA and NOAA totals.
| State | FEMA decls | FEMA %ile | NOAA storms | NOAA %ile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 396 | 98 | 23,694 | 93 |
| Texas | 389 | 96 | 53,309 | 98 |
| Oklahoma | 258 | 95 | 23,896 | 95 |
| Washington | 215 | 93 | 4,408 | 22 |
| Florida | 188 | 91 | 12,838 | 55 |
| Oregon | 169 | 89 | 3,695 | 20 |
| New Mexico | 126 | 87 | 10,974 | 45 |
| Arizona | 120 | 85 | 9,541 | 38 |
| New York | 118 | 84 | 21,653 | 82 |
| Montana | 112 | 82 | 13,576 | 56 |
| Colorado | 111 | 78 | 18,340 | 73 |
| Louisiana | 111 | 78 | 11,204 | 47 |
| Nevada | 110 | 76 | 4,534 | 24 |
| Alabama | 102 | 75 | 14,583 | 64 |
| Kentucky | 98 | 71 | 19,947 | 78 |
| Mississippi | 98 | 71 | 14,100 | 62 |
| Tennessee | 97 | 69 | 16,645 | 69 |
| South Dakota | 96 | 67 | 22,759 | 87 |
| Alaska | 94 | 64 | 2,683 | 15 |
| Kansas | 94 | 64 | 25,115 | 96 |
| Arkansas | 87 | 60 | 13,637 | 58 |
| Nebraska | 87 | 60 | 20,136 | 80 |
| Missouri | 86 | 58 | 22,952 | 89 |
| North Carolina | 85 | 56 | 16,367 | 67 |
| West Virginia | 84 | 55 | 12,026 | 49 |
| Georgia | 81 | 51 | 16,676 | 71 |
| Minnesota | 81 | 51 | 19,109 | 75 |
| Iowa | 78 | 49 | 21,883 | 84 |
| Virginia | 77 | 47 | 23,584 | 91 |
| North Dakota | 75 | 45 | 10,818 | 44 |
| Hawaii | 72 | 44 | 6,200 | 31 |
| Maine | 71 | 42 | 4,781 | 27 |
| Illinois | 68 | 40 | 22,088 | 85 |
| Pennsylvania | 64 | 38 | 19,427 | 76 |
| New Hampshire | 63 | 36 | 2,547 | 11 |
| Vermont | 62 | 35 | 3,449 | 18 |
| Idaho | 60 | 31 | 5,142 | 29 |
| Ohio | 60 | 31 | 16,184 | 65 |
| Massachusetts | 59 | 25 | 6,781 | 33 |
| New Jersey | 59 | 25 | 8,218 | 35 |
| Utah | 59 | 25 | 4,578 | 25 |
| Wisconsin | 56 | 24 | 13,807 | 60 |
| Indiana | 54 | 22 | 12,687 | 53 |
| Puerto Rico | 51 | 18 | 2,944 | 16 |
| South Carolina | 51 | 18 | 10,520 | 42 |
| Michigan | 46 | 16 | 9,052 | 36 |
| Wyoming | 45 | 15 | 12,494 | 51 |
| Connecticut | 43 | 13 | 2,622 | 13 |
| Maryland | 38 | 11 | 10,290 | 40 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 33 | 9 | 88 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 31 | 7 | 924 | 7 |
| Delaware | 26 | 5 | 1,475 | 9 |
| Guam | 25 | 4 | 258 | 2 |
| District of Columbia | 24 | 2 | 452 | 5 |
| American Samoa | 17 | 0 | 292 | 4 |
What shapes District of Columbia's record?
FEMA declaration types in District of Columbia
Wider bars = more declarations of that incident type
- Severe Storm
Severe Storm
9 declarations
- Hurricane
Hurricane
6 declarations
- Other 3
Other
3 declarations
- Snowstorm 3
Snowstorm
3 declarations
- Biological 2
Biological
2 declarations
- Earthquake 1
Earthquake
1 declarations
What this shows Severe Storm leads District of Columbia's FEMA declaration mix with 9 records among the types shown.
NOAA storm events by year in District of Columbia
Reported severe-weather events, 2015-2025 catalog window
Peak year in this series: 2018 (80 events). Counts are reported events, not a complete census.
21 /100
Historical Activity Index
Low historical activity
District of Columbia · PlainHazard-derived composite from federal records
This 0–100 index is an explicit PlainHazard composite mixing OpenFEMA declaration totals (1953–present) with NOAA Storm Events (2015–2025), different windows and event definitions, disclosed weights on the methodology page . 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
24 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.3x state average)
NOAA Storm Events (2015–2025) Low
1/25
452 NOAA storm events in the 2015–2025 extract (0.0x median state)
NOAA Damage (2015–2025) Low
1/25
Recorded NOAA property+crop damage in the 2015–2025 extract (0.1x median state)
Hazard Diversity Very High
15/20
6 different disaster types declared in District of Columbia
What does District of Columbia's hazard record show?
FEMA disaster declarations
District of Columbia (DC) has a low level of federal declaration activity, with 24 FEMA declaration records, including 15 Major Disaster declarations (DR). A DR may authorize Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both; those program approvals are not implied by the DR count. The dominant declaration type is Severe Storm, followed by Hurricane (6), Other (3), Snowstorm (3). Declaration counts at the state level reflect the cumulative federal footprint: large multi-county events count once per state, but repeat hazard patterns across decades are visible in the breakdown below.
Flood exposure & where to dig deeper
Flood exposure is quantified separately through the National Flood Insurance Program. Policyholders across 1District of Columbia counties have filed 495 NFIP claims totaling $5.5M, or an average of $11.2K per claim. NFIP data captures only insured flood losses, so uninsured flood damage and storm-surge losses outside mapped high-risk zones remain invisible in this figure. The highest-Expected-Annual-Loss hazard across the state is Riverine Flooding, estimated at $0.1B annually. Drill into individual counties and county-equivalents for localized risk, read FEMA's hazard-specific briefings, and review insurance and flood-zone designations, state-level averages can mask sharp county-to-county differences in exposure and resilience.
NOAA storm events & FEMA National Risk Index
NOAA's Storm Events Database adds the near-term severe-weather lens. Between 2015 and 2025, District of Columbia recorded 452 individual storm events, causing 3 fatalities and 11 injuries, with combined property and crop damage estimated at $29.2M. The most frequent event types in the state are Thunderstorm Wind (159 events), Flood (60 events), Flash Flood (56 events). Across the 1counties and county-equivalents FEMA scores here, its National Risk Index flags 1 as high-risk, with an average county Risk Index score (FEMA's own formula, distinct from our Historical Activity tool below) of 97.6/100.
What this count is, and is not. Storm Events is a reported database: NOAA compiles it from National Weather Service offices, trained spotters, law enforcement, and the public. It is a record of what was observed and logged, not a complete census of severe weather. Densely populated areas report more events than sparsely populated ones with similar meteorological exposure, and detection has improved over time, so an event count is not a like-for-like measure of hazard between places or across decades. Damage figures are field estimates, not audited losses. See methodology.
Disaster Types in District of Columbia
Share of this state's FEMA declarations; the bar chart above is the same mix as counts.
Severe Storm
37.5%
9 declarations
Hurricane
25.0%
6 declarations
Other
12.5%
3 declarations
Snowstorm
12.5%
3 declarations
Biological
8.3%
2 declarations
Earthquake
4.2%
1 declarations
Storm Events by Type
NOAA storm event data for District of Columbia (2015-2025).
| Event Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 159 | 0 | 7 | $28.2M |
| Flood | 60 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Flash Flood | 56 | 0 | 0 | $600.0K |
| Coastal Flood | 49 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Weather | 37 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Hail | 19 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 15 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Dense Fog | 15 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Excessive Heat | 12 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 6 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| High Wind | 6 | 0 | 1 | $0 |
| Cold/Wind Chill | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Tornado | 4 | 0 | 1 | $200.0K |
| Frost/Freeze | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 3 | 3 | 2 | $200.0K |
| Ice Storm | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Strong Wind | 1 | 0 | 0 | $3.0K |
| Blizzard | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Storm Events by Year
| Year | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 34 | 0 | 0 | $1.7M |
| 2024 | 28 | 0 | 0 | $68.0K |
| 2023 | 17 | 0 | 2 | $25.3M |
| 2022 | 40 | 3 | 0 | $257.5K |
| 2021 | 49 | 0 | 5 | $742.0K |
| 2020 | 38 | 0 | 2 | $562.0K |
| 2019 | 52 | 0 | 0 | $500.0K |
| 2018 | 80 | 0 | 1 | $3.0K |
| 2017 | 46 | 0 | 1 | $0 |
| 2016 | 47 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| 2015 | 21 | 0 | 0 | $13.0K |
FEMA Disaster Declarations
How the 24 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download all 24 declarations as CSV . Source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
24 unique disaster declarations in District of Columbia.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3643 | SEWER LINE COLLAPSE | EM | Other | 2026-02-20 |
| 3553 | 59TH PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION | EM | Other | 2021-01-11 |
| 4502 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-29 |
| 3447 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4260 | SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2016-03-04 |
| 4096 | HURRICANE SANDY | DR | Hurricane | 2012-12-05 |
| 3352 | HURRICANE SANDY | EM | Hurricane | 2012-10-28 |
| 4073 | SEVERE STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2012-07-31 |
| 4044 | EARTHQUAKE | DR | Earthquake | 2011-11-08 |
| 4036 | HURRICANE IRENE | DR | Hurricane | 2011-09-28 |
| 3337 | HURRICANE IRENE | EM | Hurricane | 2011-08-28 |
| 1890 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2010-03-24 |
| 1882 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR | Snowstorm | 2010-03-03 |
| 3300 | 56TH PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION | EM | Other | 2009-01-13 |
| 3226 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1493 | HURRICANE ISABEL | DR | Hurricane | 2003-09-20 |
| 3178 | SNOW | EM | Severe Storm | 2003-03-14 |
| 1389 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-08-16 |
| 1338 | SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-08-17 |
| 1325 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-04-10 |
| 1080 | BLIZZARD OF 96 (SEVERE SNOW STORM) | DR | Severe Storm | 1996-01-11 |
| 1030 | SEVERE WINTER ICE STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1994-06-17 |
| 3108 | SEVERE SNOWFALL & WINTER STORM | EM | Snowstorm | 1993-03-17 |
| 838 | SEVERE STORMS & HIGH WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1989-08-28 |
FEMA National Risk Index
Composite natural hazard risk scores for District of Columbia counties and county-equivalents based on FEMA's National Risk Index.
Avg County Risk Score
97.6/100
High Risk Areas
1
of 1 counties and county-equivalents
Top Hazard by EAL
Riverine Flooding
$0.1B annual loss est.
Top 5 Hazards by Expected Annual Loss
#1
Riverine Flooding
$130.1M EAL
#2
Earthquake
$61.1M EAL
#3
Heat Wave
$39.7M EAL
#4
Hurricane
$28.6M EAL
#5
Cold Wave
$10.5M EAL
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) EAL = Expected Annual Loss. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
National Flood Insurance Program claims across District of Columbia from FEMA NFIP data.
Total Claims
495
Total Paid
$5.5M
Avg Per Claim
$11.2K
Counties With Claims
1
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
Counties and county-equivalents in District of Columbia
1 counties and county-equivalents with FEMA disaster data. Declaration counts measure past federal action; NRI rating is FEMA's modeled composite, so a high count is not a high rating.
| # | Area | Disasters | NRI rating | Major |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 23 | Relatively High | 14 |
All 1 counties and county-equivalents in District of Columbia are listed above.
Compare beyond this profile
Nationwide states with similar NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for District of Columbia: nearest states by average county National Risk Index composite and nearest FEMA declaration count (floor ≥5 records). Record similarity only, not a forecast of the next hazard.
Similar declaration volume
Nearest states by FEMA declaration count. District of Columbia: 24. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
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Climate Change & Disasters
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Frequently Asked Questions
What natural disasters affect District of Columbia?
District of Columbia is affected by severe storm, hurricane, other, snowstorm. The most common disaster type is Severe Storm, based on 24 FEMA disaster declarations on record.
How many FEMA disaster declarations has District of Columbia had?
District of Columbia has received 24 FEMA disaster declarations, including 15 major disaster declarations. These declarations span multiple disaster types including Severe Storm (9), Hurricane (6), Other (3).
What severe weather events are most common in District of Columbia?
The most common severe weather events in District of Columbia include thunderstorm wind (159 events), flood (60 events), flash flood (56 events). These NOAA storm events recorded from 2015 to 2025 have caused 3 fatalities and $29.2M in property and crop damage.
How active is District of Columbia's federal disaster declaration record?
District of Columbia has a low level of historical federal declaration activity, based on 24 FEMA declaration records. This band is not a future-risk forecast. Separately, NOAA storm events from 2015-2025 record 3 fatalities and 11 injuries. NOAA-listed property and crop damage totals $29.2M.
How many flood insurance claims has District of Columbia had?
District of Columbia has 495 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims with $5.5M total paid out. Per-claim payments average $11.2K, with 1 counties reporting flood insurance claims.
Which counties and county-equivalents in District of Columbia have the most disaster declarations?
Among 1 counties and county-equivalents in District of Columbia, those with the most FEMA declaration records include District of Columbia (23 declarations). County-by-county figures show where the state's federal declaration history concentrates.
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations, NOAA Storm Events Database (2015-2025) For informational purposes only
What this means for District of Columbia
District of Columbia alone accounts for 96% of District of Columbia's FEMA disaster declarations, out of 1 counties tracked statewide.
- The declaration record is uneven within the state: District of Columbia carry the most FEMA declarations. Browse counties
- See how District of Columbia ranks against other states for disaster frequency and damage. State rankings
- Learn what FEMA declarations, NRI risk scores, and damage figures do and don't tell you. Disaster-data guide
Historical declaration counts and damage totals describe past federal response, not a forecast. For current threats, follow the National Weather Service and local officials; in an emergency call 911.
PlainHazard derives this presentation from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries. Its county comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-25. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.