Disaster Data / States / North Carolina / Ashe County

County

Ashe County, North Carolina

Ashe County recorded 11 federal major disaster declarations since FY2000 (through FY2026), the federal government's fullest response to an event. Alongside those sit 8 emergency declarations and 0 fire management declarations, 19 in all. Its most common hazard is hurricane.

Highlighted: Ashe County, NC

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

11
Major disasters
8
Emergency declarations
0
Fire management grants
19
All declarations on record
Jan 2026
Most recent
$17.0M
Federal PA obligated (top: debris removal)

The federal disaster record for Ashe County runs between 2004 and 2026, covering 19 declarations in all. Its most recent major disaster declaration was Tropical Storm Helene in 2024. The hazards behind these declarations were most often hurricane, severe storm, and flood. Since 2000, FEMA has obligated about $17.0 million in Public Assistance funding to the jurisdiction, most of it for debris removal.

Past 12 months

Recent declarations and aid so far

Ashe County has been named in 1 federal declaration in the past 12 months. The figures are what FEMA has reported for Ashe County to date and grow as recovery continues. It falls in a complete fiscal year and is counted in the totals above.

DeclarationDeclaredHouseholds approvedIndividual AssistancePublic Assistance obligated
EM-3637-NCEmergency · Winter StormJan 24, 2026Incident period Jan 21 to 27, 2026None reportedNone reportedNone reported yet

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 37009
CDC / ATSDR

Social Vulnerability Index

2022 county-level SVI
45.2
overall percentile nationally

Approximately 45.2% of U.S. counties have an equal or lower overall SVI ranking.

Socioeconomic status56.3
Household characteristics63.8
Racial and ethnic minority status21.6
Housing type and transportation27.0

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

FEMA

National Risk Index

December 2025
66.8
overall risk score
Relatively Low
Expected annual loss$17.8MRelatively Low
NRI social vulnerability84.9Very High
Community resilience33.3Relatively 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 Ashe County in Public Assistance since FY2000.

$17M followed major disasters other than COVID-19. $84K, or 0% of the total, was COVID-19, which every county in the country received. $1 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.

CategoryProjectsFederal share obligated
Debris removal(A)10$7,023,773
Utilities(F)20$3,972,321
Parks and recreation(G)19$2,463,541
Emergency protective measures(B)35$1,847,038
Management costs(Z)12$844,818
Buildings and equipment(E)11$484,603
Roads and bridges(C)13$363,369
Water control facilities(D)2$18,666
All categories122$17,018,129

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 4-year scale. Typical wait to the first obligation here: about 120 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.

Tropical Storm Helene 2024$16.4M
94 days to first federal obligation
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding 2020$4K
241 days to first federal obligation
Covid-19 Pandemic 2020$84K
471 days to first federal obligation
Hurricane Florence 2018$67K
147 days to first federal obligation
Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides 2013$48K
30 days to first federal obligation
Severe Winter Storms And Flooding 2010$168K
51 days to first federal obligation
Declared1 yr2 yr3 yr4 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.

4,176
valid registrations
2,457
households approved
$20,115,452
total IHP approved
Assistance typeApproved amount
Repair and replacement$12,648,266
Rental assistance$431,727
Other needs$7,025,386

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.

$972,914
federal mitigation share
5
funded projects
3
properties mitigated
ProgramProjectsFederal share obligated
Hazard Mitigation Grant Program(HMGP)4$968,864
Pre-Disaster Mitigation(PDM)1$4,050

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.

11
state declarations with local storm evidence
56
statewide on record

Archive coverage for North Carolina: 2017-01-06-present structured Governor archive; North Carolina Register backfill pending

SignedOrderDeclarationHazards reported hereReported damage
Aug 19, 202520Declaration of a State of Emergency and Temporary Waiver and Suspension of Motor Vehicle RegulationsFlash FloodNot reported
Sep 25, 2024315DECLARATION OF A STATEWIDE STATE OF EMERGENCY AND TEMPORARY WAIVER AND SUSPENSION OF MOTOR VE ID CLE REGULATIONSFlash Flood$116,000,000
Aug 5, 2024311DECLARATION OF A STATEWIDE STATE OF EMERGENCY AND TEMPORARY W AIYER AND SUSPENSION OF MOTOR VEHICLE REGULA TION SThunderstorm Wind$500
Aug 29, 2023284DECLARATION OF A STATEWIDE STATE OF EMERGENCY AND TEMPORARY WAIVER AND SUSPENSION OF MOTOR VEHICLE REGULATIONSFlash Flood, Flood$10,000
Oct 30, 2020175DECLARATION OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY AND TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF MOTOR VEHICLE REGULATIONS TO ENSURE RESTORATION OF UTILITY SERVICESFlash FloodNot reported
Oct 30, 2020174DISASTER DECLARATION FOR THE CITY OF MARION AND THE TOWN OF OLD FORT IN MCDOWELL COUNTY AND THE TOWN OF TRYON IN POLK COUNTYHeavy RainNot reported
Feb 7, 2020115Executive Order No. 115Flood, Heavy Rain$139,000
Jul 3, 201996Executive Order No. 96: Disaster Declaration for Catawba and Mecklenburg CountiesFlood, Heavy RainNot reported
Apr 24, 201842Executive Order No. 42: Disaster Declaration for the Town of Tryon (Polk County) and the Village of Cedar Rock (Caldwell County)Tornado$10,000
Apr 20, 201841Executive Order No. 41: Declaration of a State of Emergency by the Governor of the State of North CarolinaHeavy RainNot reported
Nov 15, 201728Executive Order No. 28: Disaster Declaration for the City of EdenHeavy RainNot reported

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 19 declarations

DateNumberTypeHazardTitle
Jan 24, 2026EM-3637-NCEMWinter StormSevere Winter Storm
Sep 28, 2024DR-4827-NCDRTropical StormTropical Storm Helene
Sep 26, 2024EM-3617-NCEMTropical StormHurricane Helene
Oct 1, 2022EM-3586-NCEMHurricaneHurricane Ian
Sep 8, 2021DR-4617-NCDRHurricaneRemnants Of Tropical Storm Fred
Mar 3, 2021DR-4588-NCDRSevere StormTropical Storm Eta
Aug 2, 2020EM-3534-NCEMHurricaneHurricane Isaias
May 8, 2020DR-4543-NCDRSevere StormSevere Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding
Mar 25, 2020DR-4487-NCDRBiologicalCovid-19 Pandemic
Mar 13, 2020EM-3471-NCEMBiologicalCovid-19
Sep 3, 2019EM-3423-NCEMHurricaneHurricane Dorian
Sep 14, 2018DR-4393-NCDRHurricaneHurricane Florence
Sep 10, 2018EM-3401-NCEMHurricaneHurricane Florence
Oct 29, 2013DR-4153-NCDRFloodSevere Storms, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides
Sep 25, 2013DR-4146-NCDRFloodSevere Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides
Feb 2, 2010DR-1871-NCDRSevere StormSevere Winter Storms And Flooding
Sep 5, 2005EM-3222-NCEMHurricaneHurricane Katrina Evacuation
Sep 18, 2004DR-1553-NCDRHurricaneHurricane Ivan
Sep 10, 2004DR-1546-NCDRHurricaneTropical Storm Frances
← North Carolina statewide overview · All North Carolina 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 North Carolina'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.

Other North Carolina jurisdictions