Polk County recorded 15 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, 21 in all. Its most common hazard is severe storm.
Highlighted: Polk County, MO
Totals: FY2000 to FY2026 · Page last rebuilt Oct 26, 2026 · the current in-progress fiscal year is not included in totals
15
Major disasters
6
Emergency declarations
0
Fire management grants
21
All declarations on record
Aug 2026
Most recent
$16.9M
Federal PA obligated (top: emergency protective measures)
The federal disaster record for Polk County runs between 2002 and 2026, covering 21 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, severe ice storm, and flood. Since 2000, FEMA has obligated about $16.9 million in Public Assistance funding to the jurisdiction, most of it for emergency protective measures.
Past 12 months
Recent declarations and aid so far
Polk County has been named in 1 federal declaration in the past 12 months. The figures are what FEMA has reported for Polk County to date and grow as recovery continues. It falls in a complete fiscal year and is counted in the totals above.
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 29167
CDC / ATSDR
Social Vulnerability Index
2022 county-level SVI
60.8
overall percentile nationally
Approximately 60.8% of U.S. counties have an equal or lower overall SVI ranking.
Socioeconomic status72.9
Household characteristics38.7
Racial and ethnic minority status18.6
Housing type and transportation70.5
Higher percentiles indicate greater relative social vulnerability within the CDC SVI framework. CDC SVI documentation
FEMA
National Risk Index
December 2025
54.5
overall risk score
Relatively Low
Expected annual loss$15.5MRelatively Low
NRI social vulnerability58.4Relatively Moderate
Community resilience39.6Relatively Low
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
$17M has been obligated to Polk County in Public Assistance since FY2000.
$7M followed major disasters other than COVID-19. $9M, or 53% of the total, was COVID-19, which every county in the country received. $1M appears in FEMA's county totals but is not tied to a single declaration in the obligation timing file, so it is left unattributed here rather than assigned to a type.
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
Emergency protective measures(B)
67
$9,308,091
Utilities(F)
22
$5,265,205
Roads and bridges(C)
70
$1,556,745
Debris removal(A)
25
$569,361
Management costs(Z)
6
$194,627
Buildings and equipment(E)
11
$7,781
Parks and recreation(G)
4
$3,683
All categories
205
$16,905,493
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 7-year scale. Typical wait to the first obligation here: about 286 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.
DR-4876 2025$229K
115 days to first federal obligation
DR-4741 2023$118K
379 days to first federal obligation
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding 2020$219K
252 days to first federal obligation
Covid-19 Pandemic 2020$9.0M
447 days to first federal obligation
DR-4451 2019$312K
246 days to first federal obligation
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding 2015$266K
320 days to first federal obligation
Declared1 yr2 yr3 yr4 yr5 yr6 yr7 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.
465
valid registrations
241
households approved
$1,423,042
total IHP approved
Assistance type
Approved amount
Repair and replacement
$817,012
Rental assistance
$78,151
Other needs
$527,879
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.
$2,785,201
federal mitigation share
4
funded projects
2
properties mitigated
Program
Projects
Federal share obligated
Hazard Mitigation Grant Program(HMGP)
4
$2,785,201
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.
32
state declarations with local storm evidence
68
statewide on record
Archive coverage for Missouri: 2000-present Secretary of State year indexes and legal order text
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 13
Severe Ice Storm 3
Flood 2
Biological 2
Hurricane 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 21 declarations
Date
Number
Type
Hazard
Title
Aug 3, 2026
DR-4929-MO
DR
Severe Storm
Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding
Jul 9, 2020
DR-4552-MO
DR
Severe Storm
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding
Mar 26, 2020
DR-4490-MO
DR
Biological
Covid-19 Pandemic
Mar 13, 2020
EM-3482-MO
EM
Biological
Covid-19
Jan 21, 2016
DR-4250-MO
DR
Flood
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding
Jan 2, 2016
EM-3374-MO
EM
Flood
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, And Flooding
Aug 7, 2015
DR-4238-MO
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 Missouri'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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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.