Disaster Data / States / Indiana / Cass County

County

Cass County, Indiana

Cass County recorded 6 federal major disaster declarations since FY2000 (through FY2026), the federal government's fullest response to an event. Alongside those sit 6 emergency declarations and 0 fire management declarations, 12 in all. Its most common hazard is severe storm.

Highlighted: Cass County, IN

Totals: FY2000 to FY2026 · Page last rebuilt Oct 26, 2026 · the current in-progress fiscal year is not included in totals

6
Major disasters
6
Emergency declarations
0
Fire management grants
12
All declarations on record
Aug 2026
Most recent
$779K
Federal PA obligated (top: roads and bridges)

The federal disaster record for Cass County runs between 2001 and 2026, covering 12 declarations in all. Its most recent major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding in 2026. The hazards behind these declarations were most often severe storm, biological, and flood. Since 2000, FEMA has obligated $779,250 in Public Assistance funding to the jurisdiction, most of it for roads and bridges.

Past 12 months

Recent declarations and aid so far

Cass County has been named in 3 federal declarations in the past 12 months. The figures are what FEMA has reported for Cass County to date and grow as recovery continues. All of them fall in complete fiscal years and are counted in the totals above.

27
Households approved for assistance
$171K
Individual Assistance approved
None yet
Public Assistance obligated
DeclarationDeclaredHouseholds approvedIndividual AssistancePublic Assistance obligated
DR-4933-INMajor disaster · FloodAug 25, 2026Incident period Aug 11 to 24, 202627of 39 registered$171KNone reported yet
EM-3651-INEmergency · FloodAug 15, 2026None reportedNone reportedNone reported yet
EM-3641-INEmergency · Winter StormJan 24, 2026Incident period Jan 23 to 27, 2026None reportedNone reportedNone reported yet

DR-4933-IN has approved 27 households for assistance so far, the 3rd most of any Cass County disaster in FEMA's household assistance data, which begins in 2002. The most was DR-1476-IN in 2003, with 190. COVID-19 funeral assistance is left out of this comparison. Cass County's 27 households are less than 1% of the 36,505 approved across Indiana under DR-4933-IN.

Individual Assistance is FEMA's Individuals and Households Program, from OpenFEMA's Housing Assistance data for owners and renters. Public Assistance is the obligated federal share from OpenFEMA's grant award activity, which usually starts posting weeks to months after a declaration. Select a declaration number to open its full event profile, with the same figures for every place it covers.

Risk and vulnerability context

Historical declarations show what has happened here. These national datasets add context about underlying natural-hazard risk and community vulnerability.

County FIPS 18017
CDC / ATSDR

Social Vulnerability Index

2022 county-level SVI
55.9
overall percentile nationally

Approximately 55.9% of U.S. counties have an equal or lower overall SVI ranking.

Socioeconomic status45.3
Household characteristics84.8
Racial and ethnic minority status58.0
Housing type and transportation39.6

Higher percentiles indicate greater relative social vulnerability within the CDC SVI framework. CDC SVI documentation

FEMA

National Risk Index

December 2025
56.8
overall risk score
Relatively Low
Expected annual loss$15.5MRelatively Low
NRI social vulnerability68.7Relatively High
Community resilience71.5Relatively High

The NRI combines expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience to describe relative natural-hazard risk. FEMA NRI documentation

About these measures: CDC Social Vulnerability Index and FEMA National Risk Index Social Vulnerability are separate measures built with different methods. They are shown side by side for context and should not be interpreted as equivalent scores.

Federal Public Assistance obligated

$779K has been obligated to Cass County in Public Assistance since FY2000.

$652K followed major disasters other than COVID-19. $107K followed emergency declarations, which cover debris removal and emergency protective work only. $21K, or 3% of the total, was COVID-19, which every county in the country received.

Obligated is the committed share, not necessarily spent, and can be revised as projects close out.

Federal Public Assistance by category

Federal share obligated to this jurisdiction under FEMA Public Assistance since 2000, grouped by damage category. Figures are rounded to the nearest dollar and reflect obligations, which may change as projects close out.

CategoryProjectsFederal share obligated
Roads and bridges(C)31$463,378
Emergency protective measures(B)22$157,022
Utilities(F)4$56,447
Debris removal(A)7$46,924
Parks and recreation(G)3$45,909
Buildings and equipment(E)2$9,570
All categories69$779,250

Recovery funding, how fast it came

For each disaster, the wait from the declaration to the first federal obligation (amber), then the federal share obligating after that (teal), on a shared 3-year scale. Typical wait to the first obligation here: about 59 days. An obligation is the federal share committed to the recipient state, not funds disbursed to the locality, which comes later and is not shown.

Covid-19 Pandemic 2020$21K
643 days to first federal obligation
Severe Storms And Flooding 2008$385K
133 days to first federal obligation
Snow 2007$69K
37 days to first federal obligation
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding 2003$267K
59 days to first federal obligation
Snow 2001$37K
34 days to first federal obligation
Declared1 yr2 yr3 yr

Assistance to households (Individual Assistance)

FEMA Individual Assistance to households in this jurisdiction, combined across the Housing Assistance owner and renter programs. Valid registrations are households that applied within a designated Individual Assistance area; approved counts and dollars are the households FEMA found eligible under the Individuals and Households Program. Figures are self-reported and drawn from NEMIS through OpenFEMA, not audited, and Individual Assistance exists only for disasters where it was designated, so many jurisdictions show none.

453
valid registrations
330
households approved
$1,164,497
total IHP approved
Assistance typeApproved amount
Repair and replacement$618,068
Rental assistance$38,844
Other needs$507,585

State declarations (governor)

Emergency declarations issued by the governor of this state, which are separate from and usually precede a federal declaration. A declaration is listed here when NOAA Storm Events recorded reports of the matched hazard in this jurisdiction while the order was in effect. That is evidence of local impact during a declared state emergency. It is not a statement that the governor named this jurisdiction in the order, since most state declarations apply statewide and name no localities at all. Hazard categories come from the order text. Damage figures are NOAA storm report estimates for this jurisdiction only, not the cost of the declaration.

8
state declarations with local storm evidence
35
statewide on record

Archive coverage for Indiana: 2000-present via current + historical governor archives; Pence-era (2013-2017) page structure not yet independently re-verified

SignedOrderDeclarationHazards reported hereReported damage
Jun 19, 202626-15DECLARING A DISASTER EMERGENCY IN ALLEN, BARTHOLOMEW, BENTON, BOONE, BROWN, CARROLL, CASS, CLAY, CLINTON, DEARBORN, DECATUR, DELAWARE, ELKHART, FRANKLIN, FOUNTAIN, FULTON, GRANT, GREENE, HAMILTON, HANCOCK, HARRISON, HENDRICKS, HOWARD, HUNTINGTON, JACKSON, JASPER, JAY, JEFFERSON, JENNINGS, JOHNSON, KOSIUSKO, KNOX, LAGRANGE, LAKE, LAPORTE, LAWRENCE, MADISON, MARION, MARSHALL, MIAMI, MONROE, MONTGOMERY, MORGAN, NEWTON, OHIO, OWEN, PARKE, PORTER, PUTNAM, RANDOLPH, RIPLEY, RUSH, SHELBY, ST. JOSEPH, STEUBEN, SWITZERLAND, TIPPECANOE, WABASH, WARREN, WHITE, VANDERBURGH, VERMILLION, AND VIGO COUNTIES DUE TO FLOODING, SEVERE WEATHER, TORNADIC ACTIVITY, AND A DERECHOHail, Thunderstorm Wind, Tornado$6,000
Jul 15, 202424-7DECLARING A DISASTER EMERGENCY DUE TO SEVERE AND TORNADIC ACTIVITY WITH WAIVER OF HOURS OF SERVICE REGULATIONS RELATING TO MOTOR CARRIERS AND DRIVERS WORKING IN RESPONSE TO THE SEVERE WEATHERThunderstorm Wind$22,000
Jun 30, 202323-5DECLARING DISASTER EMERGENCIES IN CLAY, FOUNTAIN, GIBSON, JOHNSON, MARTIN, SPENCER, VERMILLION, AND VIGO COUNTIES DUE TO SEVERE WEATHERThunderstorm Wind$1,000
Apr 1, 202323-2DECLARING A DISASTER EMERGENCY IN JOHNSON AND SULLIVAN COUNTIES DUE TO SEVERE WEATHER, TORNADIC ACTIVITY, AND FLOODINGThunderstorm Wind, Tornado$35,000
Mar 8, 200909-04Disaster Declaration for Tornados, High Winds, and Torrential RainfallThunderstorm Wind$15,000
Jan 7, 200808-03Declaring a disaster emergency in Carroll, Cass, Elkhart, Fulton, Jasper, Marshall, Pulaski, Tippecanoe and White Counties, Indiana, due to heavy rainfall, significant flooding and flash floodingFlood$150,000
Oct 18, 200707-19Declaring a Disaster Emergency in Elkhart, Kosciusko and Marshall Counties for Severe WeatherThunderstorm WindNot reported
Nov 7, 200505-31For: Declaring a Disaster Emergency in the State of Indiana Due To a Tornado, Severe Thunderstorms and Extremely High WindsHail, Thunderstorm Wind$20,000

Source: state executive order archives collected by DisasterData Plus, joined to NOAA Storm Events. See the Plus overview for per-state coverage and method.

Most common hazards

Every declaration on record

Major disaster (DR). The big one. Opens the full toolbox: repair money for public infrastructure, help for households, and mitigation funding to reduce the next loss.

Emergency (EM). Narrower and usually faster, for protective work before or during an incident. Capped, and rarely brings household assistance. Nearly every county has one from COVID-19.

Fire management (FM). Cost sharing to fight a wildfire as it burns. Not a disaster declaration, and it does not open recovery programs.

Showing 12 declarations

DateNumberTypeHazardTitle
Aug 25, 2026DR-4933-INDRFloodSevere Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding
Aug 15, 2026EM-3651-INEMFloodSevere Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding
Jan 24, 2026EM-3641-INEMWinter StormSevere Winter Storm
Apr 3, 2020DR-4515-INDRBiologicalCovid-19 Pandemic
Mar 13, 2020EM-3456-INEMBiologicalCovid-19
Jan 30, 2008DR-1740-INDRSevere StormSevere Storms And Flooding
Mar 12, 2007EM-3274-INEMSnowstormSnow
Sep 10, 2005EM-3238-INEMHurricaneHurricane Katrina Evacuation
Jan 21, 2005DR-1573-INDRSevere StormSevere Winter Storms And Flooding
Jun 3, 2004DR-1520-INDRSevere StormSevere Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
Jul 11, 2003DR-1476-INDRSevere StormSevere Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
Jan 24, 2001EM-3162-INEMSnowstormSnow
← Indiana statewide overview · All Indiana jurisdictions

How these numbers are built

Drawn from FEMA's OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, rebuilt each week. A declaration is counted here once for each designated area it names, so a single disaster covering many localities is counted in each one. For that reason these jurisdiction counts do not sum to Indiana's statewide total. This page counts declarations that named this jurisdiction as a designated area. Totals cover complete fiscal years (Oct 1 to Sep 30). Declarations from the fiscal year still in progress are listed in the tables on this page but are not counted in the totals until the year is complete. Uses OpenFEMA data but is not endorsed by or affiliated with FEMA.

Cite this profile

Choose a citation style, then copy the formatted citation. This profile is derived from FEMA OpenFEMA data and is updated as the underlying Disaster Data build is refreshed.

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