Disaster Data / States / Virginia / Virginia Beach (city)
Independent cityVirginia Beach (city) recorded 9 federal disaster and emergency declarations since FY2000 (through FY2025): 5 major disasters, 4 emergencies, and 0 fire-management declarations. Its most common hazard is hurricane.
Highlighted: Virginia Beach (city), VA
Totals: FY2000–FY2025 · Page last rebuilt Sep 12, 2026 · the current in-progress fiscal year is not included in totals
The federal disaster record for Virginia Beach (city) runs between 2003 and 2020, covering 9 declarations in all. Its most recent major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020. The hazards behind these declarations were most often hurricane, biological, and severe storm. Since 2000, FEMA has obligated about $25.3 million in Public Assistance funding to the jurisdiction, most of it for debris removal.
Historical declarations show what has happened here. These national datasets add context about underlying natural-hazard risk and community vulnerability.
Approximately 30.7% of U.S. counties have an equal or lower overall SVI ranking.
Higher percentiles indicate greater relative social vulnerability within the CDC SVI framework. CDC SVI documentation
The NRI combines expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience to describe relative natural-hazard risk. FEMA NRI documentation
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Debris removal(A) | 52 | $17,273,332 |
| Emergency protective measures(B) | 52 | $6,445,151 |
| Parks and recreation(G) | 32 | $642,377 |
| Buildings and equipment(E) | 61 | $407,130 |
| Roads and bridges(C) | 13 | $365,287 |
| Utilities(F) | 12 | $168,995 |
| Water control facilities(D) | 4 | $31,316 |
| Management costs(Z) | 1 | $0 |
| All categories | 227 | $25,333,588 |
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 122 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.
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.
Archive coverage for Virginia: 2002-present
Source: state executive order archives collected by DisasterData Plus, joined to NOAA Storm Events. See the Plus overview for per-state coverage and method.
Every local hazard mitigation plan must document previous occurrences of each hazard. Here is that record for Virginia Beach (city), sourced to OpenFEMA and refreshed weekly. Copy it straight into your plan.
| Hazard | Date | FEMA declaration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biological | Apr 2, 2020 | DR-4512-VA | DR |
| Biological | Mar 13, 2020 | EM-3448-VA | EM |
| Hurricane | Nov 2, 2016 | DR-4291-VA | DR |
| Hurricane | Oct 29, 2012 | EM-3359-VA | EM |
| Hurricane | Sep 3, 2011 | DR-4024-VA | DR |
| Hurricane | Aug 26, 2011 | EM-3329-VA | EM |
| Severe Storm | Dec 9, 2009 | DR-1862-VA | DR |
| Hurricane | Sep 12, 2005 | EM-3240-VA | EM |
| Hurricane | Sep 18, 2003 | DR-1491-VA | DR |
DR = Major disaster (Stafford Act) · EM = Emergency declaration · FM = Fire management assistance
Showing 9 declarations
| Date | Number | Type | Hazard | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2, 2020 | DR-4512-VA | DR | Biological | Covid-19 Pandemic |
| Mar 13, 2020 | EM-3448-VA | EM | Biological | Covid-19 |
| Nov 2, 2016 | DR-4291-VA | DR | Hurricane | Hurricane Matthew |
| Oct 29, 2012 | EM-3359-VA | EM | Hurricane | Hurricane Sandy |
| Sep 3, 2011 | DR-4024-VA | DR | Hurricane | Hurricane Irene |
| Aug 26, 2011 | EM-3329-VA | EM | Hurricane | Hurricane Irene |
| Dec 9, 2009 | DR-1862-VA | DR | Severe Storm | Severe Storms And Flooding Associated With Tropical Depression Ida And A Nor'East |
| Sep 12, 2005 | EM-3240-VA | EM | Hurricane | Hurricane Katrina Evacuation |
| Sep 18, 2003 | DR-1491-VA | DR | Hurricane | Hurricane Isabel |
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 Virginia's statewide total. Independent cities are counted separately from the counties around them, matching how FEMA designates them. Totals cover complete fiscal years (Oct 1 to Sep 30); the in-progress year may appear in the most-recent list but is not counted in the totals. Uses OpenFEMA data but is not endorsed by or affiliated with FEMA.
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.