Disaster Data / States / Virginia
Virginia: Federal Disaster Declarations
Virginia has recorded 32 major disaster declarations since FY2000 (through FY2026), the federal government's fullest response to an event. Alongside those sit 8 emergency declarations and 7 fire management declarations, 47 in all. Its most common hazard is severe storm. It ranks #23 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
Past 12 months
Recent declarations and aid so far
Virginia has had 1 federal declaration in the past 12 months. The figures are what FEMA has reported to date and grow as recovery continues. It falls in a complete fiscal year and is counted in the totals above.
| Declaration | Declared | Households approved | Individual Assistance | Public Assistance obligated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EM-3631-VAEmergency · Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026Incident period Jan 22 to 27, 2026 | None reported | None reported | None 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.
Federal Public Assistance obligated
$2.2B has been obligated to Virginia in Public Assistance since FY2000.
$973M followed major disasters other than COVID-19. $338K followed emergency declarations, which cover debris removal and emergency protective work only. $1.2B, or 55% of the total, was COVID-19, which every state and county in the country received.
Obligated is the committed share, not necessarily spent, and can be revised as projects close out. Totals are summed from funded localities, so a declaration administered entirely at state level may not appear here.
Most common hazards
- Severe Storm 17
- Hurricane 10
- Fire 8
- Snowstorm 3
- Tropical Storm 2
- Biological 2
- Winter Storm 1
- Flood 1
All declarations 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 state and 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.
DR = Major disaster (Stafford Act) · EM = Emergency declaration · FM = Fire management assistance
Showing 47 declarations
| Date | Number | Type | Hazard | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 23, 2026 | EM-3631-VA | EM | Winter Storm | Severe Winter Storm |
| Apr 4, 2025 | DR-4863-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storms And Flooding |
| Oct 1, 2024 | DR-4831-VA | DR | Tropical Storm | Tropical Storm Helene |
| Sep 29, 2024 | EM-3621-VA | EM | Tropical Storm | Post-Tropical Cyclone Helene |
| Sep 30, 2022 | DR-4674-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Flooding And Mudslides |
| Mar 11, 2022 | DR-4644-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm |
| Oct 26, 2021 | DR-4628-VA | DR | Flood | Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides |
| May 10, 2021 | DR-4602-VA | DR | Severe Ice Storm | Severe Winter Storms |
| Apr 2, 2020 | DR-4512-VA | DR | Biological | Covid-19 Pandemic |
| Mar 13, 2020 | EM-3448-VA | EM | Biological | Covid-19 |
| Dec 18, 2018 | DR-4411-VA | DR | Hurricane | Tropical Storm Michael |
| Oct 15, 2018 | DR-4401-VA | DR | Hurricane | Hurricane Florence |
| Sep 11, 2018 | EM-3403-VA | EM | Hurricane | Hurricane Florence |
| Nov 2, 2016 | DR-4291-VA | DR | Hurricane | Hurricane Matthew |
| Mar 7, 2016 | DR-4262-VA | DR | Snowstorm | Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm |
| Nov 26, 2012 | DR-4092-VA | DR | Hurricane | Hurricane Sandy |
| Oct 29, 2012 | EM-3359-VA | EM | Hurricane | Hurricane Sandy |
| Jul 27, 2012 | DR-4072-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms And Straight-Line Winds |
| Nov 17, 2011 | DR-4045-VA | DR | Severe Storm | The Remnants Of Tropical Storm Lee |
| Nov 4, 2011 | DR-4042-VA | DR | Earthquake | Earthquake |
| Sep 3, 2011 | DR-4024-VA | DR | Hurricane | Hurricane Irene |
| Aug 26, 2011 | EM-3329-VA | EM | Hurricane | Hurricane Irene |
| Feb 20, 2011 | FM-2860-VA | FM | Fire | Smith Fire |
| Feb 20, 2011 | FM-2861-VA | FM | Fire | Coffman Fire |
| Apr 27, 2010 | DR-1905-VA | DR | Snowstorm | Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorms |
| Feb 16, 2010 | DR-1874-VA | DR | Snowstorm | Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm |
| Dec 9, 2009 | DR-1862-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms And Flooding Associated With Tropical Depression Ida And A Nor'East |
| Sep 22, 2006 | DR-1661-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Tropical Depression Ernesto, Severe Storms And Flooding |
| Jul 13, 2006 | DR-1655-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding |
| Apr 15, 2006 | FM-2637-VA | FM | Fire | Bull Mountain Fire |
| Sep 12, 2005 | EM-3240-VA | EM | Hurricane | Hurricane Katrina Evacuation |
| Oct 18, 2004 | DR-1570-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms And Flooding From The Remanants Of Hurricane Jeanne |
| Sep 3, 2004 | DR-1544-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms, Flooding And Tornadoes Associated W Td Gaston |
| Jun 15, 2004 | DR-1525-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding |
| Dec 9, 2003 | DR-1502-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms And Flooding |
| Sep 18, 2003 | DR-1491-VA | DR | Hurricane | Hurricane Isabel |
| Mar 27, 2003 | DR-1458-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storm, Record/Near Record Snowfall, Heavy Rain,Floodind, And Mudslide |
| May 5, 2002 | DR-1411-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding |
| Apr 2, 2002 | DR-1406-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms And Flooding |
| Feb 28, 2002 | FM-2397-VA | FM | Fire | Va - Fultz Run Fire - 02-28-2002 |
| Nov 20, 2001 | FM-2394-VA | FM | Fire | Va - Heard Mountain Fire Complex - 11/20/2001 |
| Nov 20, 2001 | FM-2393-VA | FM | Fire | Va - Shenandoah Gap Fire Complex - 11/20/01 |
| Nov 16, 2001 | FM-2390-VA | FM | Fire | Va - Far Southwest Fire Complex - 11/16/2001 |
| Sep 21, 2001 | DR-1392-VA | DR | Terrorist | Fires And Explosions |
| Sep 12, 2001 | EM-3168-VA | EM | Fire | Fires And Explosions |
| Jul 12, 2001 | DR-1386-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms And Flooding |
| Feb 28, 2000 | DR-1318-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storms |
Individual Assistance to households
FEMA Individual Assistance to households across Virginia, 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.
| Assistance type | Approved amount |
|---|---|
| Repair and replacement | $61M |
| Rental assistance | $21M |
| Other needs | $113M |
Hazard mitigation funded
Federal Hazard Mitigation Assistance obligated across Virginia to reduce future disaster losses, by program. Figures are federal share obligated, reported through OpenFEMA and not audited.
| Program | Projects | Federal share obligated |
|---|---|---|
| Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) | 434 | $132M |
| Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) | 49 | $38M |
| Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) | 9 | $20M |
| Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) | 40 | $13M |
| Legislative Pre-Disaster Mitigation (LPDM) | 10 | $7M |
| Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) | 8 | $4M |
| Repetitive Flood Claims (RFC) | 5 | $2M |
Denied requests
FEMA turned down 6 declaration requests from Virginia since FY2000, a declaration-request denial rate of 11.3%. 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.
| Date | Type | Hazard |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 15, 2021 | Emergency | Other |
| Mar 25, 2016 | Major Disaster | Tornado |
| Oct 8, 2011 | Major Disaster | Severe Storm |
| Apr 18, 2011 | Major Disaster | Severe Storm |
| Jan 13, 2009 | Emergency | Other |
| Aug 23, 2002 | Major Disaster | Drought |
Declarations not attributed to a specific locality
1 declaration in Virginia 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.
| Date | Number | Type | Hazard | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 2018 | EM-3403-VA | EM | Hurricane | Hurricane Florence |
How these numbers are built
Every figure is drawn from FEMA's OpenFEMA datasets: the Disaster Declarations Summaries for declarations and the Declaration Denials dataset for turndowns, rebuilt automatically each week. A "declaration" is one unique combination of declaration type (DR / EM / FM), disaster number, and state, so a single disaster affecting five states counts as five declarations. Years are federal fiscal years (Oct 1 to Sep 30). Totals, ranks, and rates on this page cover complete fiscal years only. Declarations from the fiscal year still in progress are listed in each state's declaration tables and its recent-declarations panel, but are not counted in any total until the year is complete. Uses OpenFEMA data but is not endorsed by or affiliated with FEMA.