Disaster Data / States / California

California: Federal Disaster Declarations

California has recorded 53 major disaster declarations since FY2000 (through FY2026), the federal government's fullest response to an event. Alongside those sit 13 emergency declarations and 258 fire management declarations, 324 in all. Its most common hazard is fire. It ranks #2 nationally by major disasters.

Totals: FY2000 to FY2026 · Page last rebuilt Oct 25, 2026 · the current in-progress fiscal year is not included in totals

Browse all 70 jurisdictions in California, each with its full declaration history, sortable and ready to copy into a mitigation plan →

Most common hazards

• Fire 279
• Severe Storm 19
• Flood 8
• Earthquake 6
• Hurricane 3
• Biological 2
• Dam/Levee Break 2
• Chemical 1

All declarations on record

Individual Assistance to households

FEMA Individual Assistance to households across California, combined across the Housing Assistance owner and renter programs. Valid registrations are households that applied within a designated Individual Assistance area; approved figures are those FEMA found eligible under the Individuals and Households Program. Self-reported, drawn from NEMIS through OpenFEMA, and present only where Individual Assistance was designated.

Hazard mitigation funded

Federal Hazard Mitigation Assistance obligated across California to reduce future disaster losses, by program. Figures are federal share obligated, reported through OpenFEMA and not audited.

Denied requests

FEMA turned down 13 declaration requests from California since FY2000, a declaration-request denial rate of 3.9%. This is the President denying a governor or tribal leader's request for a declaration, tracked in a separate FEMA dataset from approved declarations, and is not the same thing as an individual being denied assistance under an approved declaration.

Declarations not attributed to a specific locality

2 declarations in California applied statewide, or to areas FEMA did not tie to a single county or equivalent, such as wildfire management zones. They are included in the state totals above but do not appear on any individual jurisdiction page.

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