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Editorial

Most disaster-prone counties in Iowa

Iowa has 1,910 county-level FEMA disaster declarations across 99 counties. The dominant hazard type is severe storm. Clayton County leads with 27 declarations, followed by Des Moines County and Pottawattamie County.

This ranking shows every county in Iowa ordered by how many times FEMA has issued a disaster declaration affecting it. Counties near coastlines, river systems, or wildfire corridors tend to appear at the top because the same geographic exposure produces recurring events across decades.

Each county links to a full disaster history page with the complete declaration timeline, hazard type breakdown, decade trends, and whatever FEMA spending data is available. For a national view, see the most disaster-prone counties in America page.

Iowa ranking

All counties by FEMA declaration count

#CountyDeclarationsTop hazardFirst yearLatest year
1Clayton County27Flood19652023
2Des Moines County27Flood19652024
3Pottawattamie County26Severe Storm19652024
4Buchanan County25Flood19652020
5Butler County25Flood19652024
6Harrison County24Flood19652025
7Johnson County24Flood19652020
8Wright County24Severe Storm19652024
9Cherokee County23Severe Storm19652024
10Crawford County23Severe Storm19652025
11Howard County23Severe Storm19682024
12Iowa County23Flood19692024
13Linn County23Flood19652020
14Palo Alto County23Severe Storm19652024
15Allamakee County22Flood19652023
16Audubon County22Severe Storm19652022
17Buena Vista County22Severe Storm19652024
18Clinton County22Flood19652020
19Fayette County22Flood19682020
20Franklin County22Flood19652024
21Humboldt County22Severe Storm19652024
22Jones County22Severe Storm19682020
23Lee County22Severe Storm19652023
24Pocahontas County22Severe Storm19652024
25Clay County21Severe Storm19652024
26Dubuque County21Flood19652024
27Hamilton County21Severe Storm19652024
28Jackson County21Severe Storm19652024
29Muscatine County21Flood19652024
30Story County21Severe Storm19692024
31Tama County21Flood19652024
32Union County21Severe Storm19692024
33Winneshiek County21Flood19692024
34Black Hawk County20Flood19652020
35Dallas County20Severe Storm19652024
36Floyd County20Flood19652024
37Ida County20Severe Storm19652020
38Kossuth County20Flood19652024
39Louisa County20Flood19652020
40Madison County20Flood19722020
41Mahaska County20Severe Storm19652020
42Marshall County20Flood19652024
43Mills County20Flood19652024
44Mitchell County20Severe Storm19742024
45Monona County20Severe Storm19652025
46Montgomery County20Severe Storm19652024
47Polk County20Flood19652024
48Ringgold County20Flood19692024
49Scott County20Flood19652024
50Shelby County20Severe Storm19652024
51Wapello County20Flood19652020
52Webster County20Severe Storm19652022
53Cass County19Flood19652022
54Chickasaw County19Flood19692020
55Emmet County19Flood19652024
56Fremont County19Flood19652020
57Greene County19Flood19692022
58Keokuk County19Flood19652020
59Marion County19Flood19652020
60Sac County19Severe Storm19652022
61Benton County18Flood19652020
62Calhoun County18Severe Storm19792024
63Cedar County18Flood19742024
64Delaware County18Flood19682020
65Dickinson County18Flood19652024
66Hardin County18Severe Storm19652020
67Jasper County18Severe Storm19692024
68Woodbury County18Flood19652025
69Adair County17Severe Storm19722024
70Adams County17Severe Storm19722024
71Boone County17Severe Storm19652020
72Bremer County17Flood19652020
73Davis County17Severe Storm19692022
74Guthrie County17Severe Storm19742022
75Warren County17Flood19732020
76Appanoose County16Severe Storm19732022
77Carroll County16Flood19652020
78Clarke County16Flood19692024
79Henry County16Severe Storm19692020
80Lyon County16Flood19652024
81Monroe County16Flood19652020
82Page County16Flood19652020
83Plymouth County16Flood19652024
84Van Buren County16Flood19652022
85Winnebago County16Severe Storm19652024
86Worth County16Severe Storm19652024
87Cerro Gordo County15Flood19652020
88Grundy County15Severe Storm19692020
89Hancock County15Flood19912024
90Lucas County15Flood19732020
91O'Brien County15Severe Storm19652024
92Osceola County15Flood19652024
93Poweshiek County15Severe Storm19692024
94Sioux County15Severe Storm19652024
95Washington County15Severe Storm19652020
96Wayne County15Severe Storm19732020
97Decatur County14Flood19692020
98Taylor County14Severe Storm19792020
99Jefferson County12Flood19652020