O'Brien County recorded 8 federal major disaster declarations since FY2000 (through FY2026), the federal government's fullest response to an event. Alongside those sit 3 emergency declarations and 0 fire management declarations, 11 in all. Its most common hazard is severe storm.
Highlighted: O'Brien County, IA
Totals: FY2000 to FY2026 · Page last rebuilt Oct 26, 2026 · the current in-progress fiscal year is not included in totals
8
Major disasters
3
Emergency declarations
0
Fire management grants
11
All declarations on record
Jun 2024
Most recent
$5.1M
Federal PA obligated (top: roads and bridges)
The federal disaster record for O'Brien County runs between 2005 and 2024, covering 11 declarations in all. Its most recent major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-Line Winds, And Tornadoes in 2024. The hazards behind these declarations were most often severe storm, biological, and flood. Since 2000, FEMA has obligated about $5.1 million in Public Assistance funding to the jurisdiction, most of it for roads and bridges.
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 19141
CDC / ATSDR
Social Vulnerability Index
2022 county-level SVI
36.8
overall percentile nationally
Approximately 36.8% of U.S. counties have an equal or lower overall SVI ranking.
Socioeconomic status12.3
Household characteristics60.3
Racial and ethnic minority status27.3
Housing type and transportation78.4
Higher percentiles indicate greater relative social vulnerability within the CDC SVI framework. CDC SVI documentation
FEMA
National Risk Index
December 2025
16.4
overall risk score
Very Low
Expected annual loss$11.1MVery Low
NRI social vulnerability10.6Very Low
Community resilience96.3Very 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
$5M has been obligated to O'Brien County in Public Assistance since FY2000.
$5M followed major disasters other than COVID-19. $63K followed emergency declarations, which cover debris removal and emergency protective work only. $55K, or 1% 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.
Category
Projects
Federal share obligated
Roads and bridges(C)
31
$1,676,665
Utilities(F)
14
$1,544,486
Debris removal(A)
17
$635,524
Water control facilities(D)
2
$537,848
Emergency protective measures(B)
41
$399,390
Management costs(Z)
9
$138,718
Parks and recreation(G)
4
$74,028
Buildings and equipment(E)
7
$53,010
All categories
125
$5,059,669
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 5-year scale. Typical wait to the first obligation here: about 171 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.
Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-Line Winds, And Tornadoes 2024$2.7M
283 days to first federal obligation
Covid-19 Pandemic 2020$55K
267 days to first federal obligation
Severe Storms And Flooding 2019$256K
223 days to first federal obligation
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding 2018$1.1M
120 days to first federal obligation
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding 2013$112K
84 days to first federal obligation
Severe Winter Storm 2013$257K
43 days to first federal obligation
Declared1 yr2 yr3 yr4 yr5 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.
1,137
valid registrations
966
households approved
$4,532,234
total IHP approved
Assistance type
Approved amount
Repair and replacement
$2,644,802
Rental assistance
$44,028
Other needs
$1,843,404
Hazard mitigation, what has been funded here
Federal Hazard Mitigation Assistance obligated to this jurisdiction to reduce future disaster losses, across the FEMA mitigation programs. This is the record of past mitigation investment a local hazard mitigation plan documents. Figures are federal share obligated, reported through OpenFEMA and not audited, and are separate from the Public Assistance funding above.
$69,558
federal mitigation share
3
funded projects
Program
Projects
Federal share obligated
Hazard Mitigation Grant Program(HMGP)
3
$69,558
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.
26
state declarations with local storm evidence
54
statewide on record
Archive coverage for Iowa: 2024-present HSEMD proclamation tables; 2000-2023 not collected
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
Severe Storm 6
Biological 2
Flood 1
Hurricane 1
Snowstorm 1
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 11 declarations
Date
Number
Type
Hazard
Title
Jun 24, 2024
DR-4796-IA
DR
Severe Storm
Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-Line Winds, And Tornadoes
Mar 23, 2020
DR-4483-IA
DR
Biological
Covid-19 Pandemic
Mar 13, 2020
EM-3480-IA
EM
Biological
Covid-19
Mar 23, 2019
DR-4421-IA
DR
Flood
Severe Storms And Flooding
Aug 20, 2018
DR-4386-IA
DR
Severe Storm
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding
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 Iowa'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.
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