Every federally declared disaster and emergency since FY2000: major disasters, emergencies, and fire-management programs. Start with your own community for a declaration history you can drop straight into a plan or report, then explore the national picture.
Search 3,600+ counties, parishes, boroughs, and tribal nations. Each has its full FEMA declaration history, ready to cite or export for a hazard mitigation plan or grant application.
A declaration is a government action authorizing federal assistance, not a count of disasters. One incident can produce several declarations, across states or over time, and some incidents receive none.
The most recent federal disaster and emergency declarations, straight from OpenFEMA and refreshed each week.
Data current through Sep 1, 2026
Declarations spike with the country's worst years: record tornado outbreaks in 2011, the pandemic in 2020. Hover any year for its count.
Ranked by federal declarations since FY2000. Toggle off FM above to set fire-management aside and see the disaster picture underneath.
Wildfire looks like the nation's top hazard, until you separate out fire-management declarations, a faster, lower-threshold program of its own.
Not every federal declaration means the same thing. The type sets what aid is unlocked, how high the bar is, and how fast it moves.
The broadest declaration. A governor requests one when an event overwhelms state and local resources, and it can unlock FEMA's full toolkit: individual assistance, public assistance, and hazard-mitigation funding. Reserved for the most serious disasters, and the slowest to approve.
A narrower, often faster form of help to protect lives, property, and public health, sometimes declared before an event even arrives. More limited in scope and funding than a major disaster. The nationwide COVID-19 response in 2020 came as emergency declarations.
Funds the fighting of wildfires that threaten to become major disasters. Approved fast, often within hours, with a narrow scope and a lower bar than a major disaster. Its sheer volume is why fire tops the raw declaration counts.
Every state and territory has its own page: the full declaration record since FY2000, denial history, and a page for each county or equivalent with a ready-to-use table for local mitigation plans.
Alabama· Alaska· American Samoa· Arizona· Arkansas· California· Colorado· Connecticut· Delaware· Fed. States of Micronesia· Florida· Georgia· Guam· Hawaii· Idaho· Illinois· Indiana· Iowa· Kansas· Kentucky· Louisiana· Maine· Maryland· Massachusetts· Michigan· Minnesota· Mississippi· Missouri· Montana· N. Mariana Islands· Nebraska· Nevada· New Hampshire· New Jersey· New Mexico· New York· North Carolina· North Dakota· Ohio· Oklahoma· Oregon· Pennsylvania· Puerto Rico· Rhode Island· South Carolina· South Dakota· Tennessee· Texas· U.S. Virgin Islands· Utah· Vermont· Virginia· Washington· Washington D.C.· West Virginia· Wisconsin· Wyoming