Pocahontas County, IA: risk-assessment baseline packet, release 2026-10

Summary

Plan status as of 2026-09-30: No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible.

Update: FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption.

Highest expected annual loss (FEMA National Risk Index, modeled total; see B1-a): Drought ($5,371,981 a year), Inland Flooding ($2,327,659) and Tornado ($1,308,081).

The tables that follow are organized by the items of FEMA's Local Mitigation Plan Review Tool, Element B (B1-a to B2-c); each heading says which item its tables support.

Terms used

EAL:: expected annual loss: FEMA's modeled average yearly loss from a hazard.
NRI:: FEMA's National Risk Index (version 1.20, December 2025).
NFIP:: National Flood Insurance Program.
RL, SRL:: repetitive loss and severe repetitive loss: flood-insured properties with repeated claims (definitions in B2-c).
FMA, HMGP:: Flood Mitigation Assistance and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, FEMA mitigation grants.
PA:: FEMA Public Assistance: disaster aid to governments and some nonprofits.
Zone-level:: NOAA logged the event for a National Weather Service forecast zone, which may include parts of neighboring counties.
County-coded:: NOAA logged the event to this county.
FIPS:: the federal code for a place; 19151 is this area.
D0 to D4:: U.S. Drought Monitor categories, from abnormally dry (D0) to exceptional drought (D4).
F/EF, EFU:: Fujita and Enhanced Fujita tornado ratings; EFU is an unrated tornado.
kt, CONUS:: knots (1 kt is about 1.15 mph); the contiguous United States.
CFR:: Code of Federal Regulations.
A4-a, E1-a:: other items of FEMA's Local Mitigation Plan Review Tool (sources, and changes since the last plan).
Dollars:: nominal (as reported, labeled with the year), not adjusted for inflation.

Plan clock

Status:: No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible
Plan:: none
Approved:: none
Expires:: none
Update underway:: FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption

Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.

What changed since your last plan

Not available. No approved plan on record, so there is no approval date to count from.

Sources: 1, 2, 4, 6 (numbered list at the end)

Plan status for every jurisdiction listed in this county: 13 rows, in the section "Plan clock: Plan status for every jurisdiction listed in this county" on the following pages.

State plan status and tribal plans in this state: see the state page.

Plan clock

Plan status for every jurisdiction listed in this county

Source: 1

Jurisdiction	Type	Status	Plan	Approved	Expires	Days to expirynegative = days since expiry	Update underway	Notes
Pocahontas County	County	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	none	none	none		FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption	Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Fonda city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	none	none	none		FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption	Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Gilmore City city	City	Approved, expires 2031-06-30	Humboldt County (FEMA plan 111393)	2026-07-01	2031-06-30	1,734
Havelock city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	none	none	none		FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption	Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Laurens city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	none	none	none		FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption	Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Palmer city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	none	none	none		FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption	Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Plover city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	none	none	none		FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption	Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Pocahontas city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	none	none	none		FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption	Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Rolfe city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	none	none	none		FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption	Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Varina city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	none	none	none		FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption	Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Albert City-Truesdale Community School District	School/School District	Approved, expires 2028-08-23	Buena Vista County (FEMA plan 109166)	2023-08-24	2028-08-23	693		this jurisdiction approved 2023-11-28
Newell-Fonda Community School District	School/School District	Approved, expires 2028-08-23	Buena Vista County (FEMA plan 109166)	2023-08-24	2028-08-23	693		this jurisdiction approved 2023-09-19
West Bend-Mallard Community School District	School/School District	Expired on 2018-05-21	Palo Alto County (FEMA plan 36749)	2013-05-21	2018-05-21	-3,054

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-a: hazard identification

Hazards NRI does not cover (local data needed)

dam failure (incl. upstream dams)
levee failure
flash flood as its own subtype
ice jams
debris flows
erosion (riverine and coastal)
land subsidence and sinkholes
expansive soils

The 18 National Risk Index hazards, ranked by expected annual loss (EAL)

Sources: 5, 6

Rank by EAL	Hazard	NRI risk rating	EAL rating	EAL buildingsmodeled dollars per year	EAL agriculturemodeled dollars per year	Cost of expected deaths and injuriesFEMA's dollar value per year, not property damage	EAL total (see note)modeled dollars per year	Storm Events records, 1996 to 2026-06-30count	Why this hazard can be left outNRI Not Applicable, no declaration and no Storm Events record since 1996	Storm Events coverage note
1	Drought	Relatively High	Relatively High	n/a	$5,371,981	n/a	$5,371,981	39
2	Inland Flooding	Very Low	Very Low	$2,101,110	$225,734	$815	$2,327,659	43
3	Tornado	Relatively Low	Relatively Low	$912,635	$9,158	$386,288	$1,308,081	28
4	Cold Wave	Relatively Low	Relatively Moderate	$2,477	$460,080	$774,982	$1,237,540	32		Includes 9 Frost/Freeze records (outside NRI's Cold Wave definition; counted in this table and in B1-d, not in the B1-e descriptor).
5	Hail	Relatively Low	Relatively Low	$89,950	$244,044	$115,289	$449,283	117
6	Strong Wind	Relatively Low	Relatively Low	$226,428	$80,934	$73,314	$380,676	108		Includes 41 High Wind records (a NOAA non-thunderstorm wind type, outside NRI's Strong Wind definition).
7	Lightning	Relatively Low	Relatively Low	$6,476	n/a	$82,587	$89,063	1
8	Winter Weather	Relatively Low	Relatively Moderate	$37,269	$743	$44,547	$82,560	82
9	Ice Storm	Relatively Low	Relatively Low	$38,405	n/a	$3,256	$41,661	11
10	Heat Wave	Very Low	Very Low	$7,098	$6	$24,126	$31,230	4
11	Earthquake	Very Low	Very Low	$10,388	n/a	$2,295	$12,683			Storm Events does not record earthquakes.
12	Wildfire	Very Low	Very Low	$1,262	$65	$121	$1,447	0		No recorded events in Storm Events since 1996 (data through 2026-06-30).
13	Landslide	Very Low	Very Low	$5	n/a	$78	$83	0		No recorded events in Storm Events since 1996 (data through 2026-06-30).
	Hurricane	Not Applicable	Not Applicable					0	NRI rates hurricane Not Applicable for this county, and no counted federal declaration for this county names it (EM-3239-IA names it but is not counted as a local occurrence; see B1-d).	No recorded events in Storm Events since 1996 (data through 2026-06-30).

Total = buildings + agriculture + population equivalence; FEMA values each expected death (or 10 injuries) at $13.7 million (2024 dollars).

NRI risk rating combines expected annual loss with social vulnerability and community resilience; EAL rating rates expected annual loss alone. Both compare this county with all U.S. counties.

Local data needed: state and local wildfire and landslide records (Storm Events records these hazards only in part).

Not applicable to this county per NRI, with no federal declaration and no Storm Events record since 1996: avalanche, coastal flooding, tsunami and volcanic activity. That is the evidence for leaving them out of the plan.

The state hazard mitigation plan also lists hazards for this county; FEMA asks the plan to explain any hazard it leaves out.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-b: hazard location

Affects the whole county (national data give no location within it): Cold Wave, Drought, Hail, Heat Wave, Ice Storm, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather.

Inland Flooding: The FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) is the required location source for flooding. See the FEMA Flood Map Service Center (https://msc.fema.gov) for this county.

Hazards that vary within the county: highest-rated census tracts

Source: 5

Hazard	Highest-rated census tractsNRI risk rating, score 0 to 100
Earthquake	tract 7802 (Very Low, 19.6); tract 7801 (Very Low, 17.1); tract 7803 (Very Low, 13.8)
Hurricane	no tract has a National Risk Index rating for this hazard
Landslide	tract 7802 (Very Low, 74.6); tract 7803 (Very Low, 74.3); tract 7801 (Very Low, 56.8)
Tornado	tract 7802 (Very High, 97.3); tract 7803 (Relatively High, 91.3); tract 7801 (Relatively High, 89.6)
Wildfire	tract 7803 (Very Low, 61.3); tract 7802 (Very Low, 61.1); tract 7801 (Very Low, 55.9)

Up to 3 census tracts per hazard, highest National Risk Index rating first, then highest score; a tract number is the Census tract number (for example 7802 is Census Tract 7802). FEMA's Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool maps the National Risk Index for every tract: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/practitioners/resilience-analysis-and-planning-tool

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-c: hazard extent

Extent: scale, observed range and worst recorded event per hazard

Sources: 6, 7

Hazard	Scale	Recordscount and years	Observed range	Worst recorded event	Most damaging (when different)	How it applies to jurisdictions	Note
Cold/Wind Chill, Extreme Cold/Wind Chill	wind chill	23 records, 1996 to 2025 (23 zone-level)	1 day to 4 days (median 2 days); 20 with a recorded value	4 consecutive days, 2024-01-13 to 2024-01-16, zone-level	Cold/Wind Chill, 1999-09-21, property not reported; $294,117.65 crops (zone total, 1999 dollars)	Countywide (zone-level records).	Cold/Wind Chill records from May to September (a frost night, not a cold wave) are counted but not used for the longest run.
Frost/Freeze (outside NRI's Cold Wave definition)	crop damage	9 records, 1996 to 2019 (9 zone-level)		Frost/Freeze, 2009-10-10, $2,500,000 crop damage (2009 dollars); NWS zone IAZ023		Countywide (zone-level records).
Drought	U.S. Drought Monitor scale (D0 to D4)	39 records, 2001 to 2023 (39 zone-level)	21 days to 400 days (median 68 days); 8 with a recorded value	400 days (about 13.1 months), 2020-07-28 to 2021-08-31, a run of 14 consecutive Storm Events drought records, zone-level	Drought, 2012-07-01, $0 property; $90,000,000 crops (zone total, 2012 dollars)	Countywide (zone-level records).	Storm Events enters a drought at D2 or worse east of the Rockies and D3 or worse from the Rockies west (NWS Instruction 10-1605); NRI drought counts D3 and D4 only.
Earthquake	Modified Mercalli (local data)	0					Storm Events does not record earthquakes; the USGS earthquake catalog is the source.
Hail	hail size (inches)	145 records, 1969 to 2025	0.75 in to 4.5 in (median 1 in); 145 with a recorded value	4.5 in hail, 1995-08-04; same size also recorded on 1995-08-04	Hail, 2009-07-22, $10,000 property; $150,000 crops (2009 dollars)	Event records naming jurisdictions in the plan: Pocahontas city (25 records), Rolfe city (22 records), Fonda city (15 records), Palmer city (14 records), Laurens city (13 records), Plover city (10 records), Havelock city (9 records), Varina city (3 records).
Excessive Heat, Heat	heat index (in event narratives)	4 records, 2001 to 2019 (4 zone-level)	1 day to 14 days (median 3.5 days); 4 with a recorded value	14 consecutive days, 2011-07-15 to 2011-07-28, zone-level		Countywide (zone-level records).
Hurricane, Tropical Storm, Tropical Depression	Saffir-Simpson	0					Storm Events files every zone of a storm's episode under the storm's type; flooding from the storm is filed as Flood or Flash Flood records.
Ice Storm	Sperry-Piltz ice scale (local data)	11 records, 1996 to 2020 (11 zone-level)		Ice Storm, 2009-12-23, $500,000 property; $0 crops (2009 dollars); NWS zone IAZ023		Countywide (zone-level records).
Flash Flood, Flood, Lakeshore Flood	damage and flood days (flood depth: FIRM)	43 records, 1996 to 2023 (29 zone-level)		Flood, 2010-06-12, $0 property; $20,000,000 crops (2010 dollars)		Event records naming jurisdictions in the plan: Pocahontas city (6 records), Laurens city (4 records), Fonda city (1 record), Plover city (1 record). Zone-level records (29) apply countywide.	Flood depth: see the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map. Storm Events damage is often $0 or blank for floods, major ones included; FEMA Public Assistance by declaration (B1-d) shows which floods cost the most.
Debris Flow	none (count and damage only)	0
Lightning	annualized frequency (the measure FEMA's Local Mitigation Planning Handbook names)	1 record, 2006		Lightning, 2006-05-29, $15,000 property; crops not reported (2006 dollars)		Event records naming jurisdictions in the plan: Laurens city (1 record).	Storm Events lists lightning with damage or casualties.
High Wind and Strong Wind (outside NRI's Strong Wind definition)	wind speed (kt and mph)	41 records, 1996 to 2025 (41 zone-level)	35 kt (40 mph) to 71 kt (82 mph) (median 50 kt (58 mph)); 39 with a recorded value	71 kt (82 mph) measured, High Wind, 2001-04-07; NWS zone IAZ023	High Wind, 1998-11-10, $300,000 property; $5,100 crops (zone total, 1998 dollars)	Countywide (zone-level records).
Thunderstorm Wind	wind speed (kt and mph)	93 records, 1960 to 2025	50 kt (58 mph) to 78 kt (90 mph) (median 56 kt (64 mph)); 82 with a recorded value	78 kt (90 mph) estimated gust, Thunderstorm Wind, 2013-06-14		Event records naming jurisdictions in the plan: Rolfe city (16 records), Pocahontas city (14 records), Fonda city (10 records), Laurens city (10 records), Palmer city (4 records), Havelock city (3 records), Plover city (3 records), Varina city (2 records).
Tornado	Enhanced Fujita (Fujita before Feb 2007)	45 records, 1953 to 2024	F/EF0 to F/EF4 (median F/EF1); 32 with a recorded value	EF4 tornado, 2011-04-09, 3.2 mi within this county, 587 yd wide, $2,500,000 property; $0 crops (2011 dollars)	Tornado, 2011-04-09, $10,000,000 property; $0 crops (2011 dollars)	Event records naming jurisdictions in the plan: Rolfe city (6 records), Varina city (6 records), Palmer city (3 records), Fonda city (2 records), Havelock city (2 records), Plover city (2 records), Pocahontas city (1 record).	Before 1996 a tornado is listed once, under the county where it began, with its whole path's rating and length; from 1996 on, each county lists its own segment. Length is not used to rank tornadoes (see Methods).
Wildfire	acres burned (local data)	0
Winter Storm, Heavy Snow, Blizzard, Lake-Effect Snow, Winter Weather, Sleet	none in data (snowfall: local data)	82 records, 1996 to 2025 (82 zone-level)		Winter Storm, 2007-02-24, $250,000 property; $0 crops (2007 dollars); NWS zone IAZ023		Countywide (zone-level records).

In event narratives only (local data needed): wind chill, temperature, heat index, ice thickness, acres burned and snow depth; any physical measure of debris flow and lightning.

Storm Events records are more complete after 1996; before 1996 only Tornado (from 1950), Hail and Thunderstorm Wind (from 1955) exist. Zone-level records from zones that no NWS zone-county file places in this county (mostly before 2020) are not counted here (the Methods page explains the zone matching).

Dollars are nominal (as reported), labeled with the year; not adjusted for inflation.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-d: previous occurrences

Federal declarations for this county: 22 declarations covering 18 separate hazard incidents counted in this packet (declarations for the same incident count once; non-natural and evacuation-only declarations are not counted).

No approved plan on record, so there is no approval date to count from.

Federal disaster declarations for this county

Sources: 1, 2, 3

Declared	Incident began	FEMA number	Type	Title	Mapped hazard	County Public Assistancefederal share obligated, nominal dollars	Flags	Notes
2024-06-24	2024-06-16	DR-4796-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-Line Winds, and Tornadoes	Inland Flooding; Strong Wind; Tornado	$230,058.87	within last 5 years
2022-02-23	2021-12-15	DR-4642-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Tornadoes	Strong Wind; Tornado	no Public Assistance recorded	within last 5 years
2020-03-23	2020-01-20	DR-4483-IA	Major disaster	COVID-19 Pandemic	Non-natural, not counted	$22,338.72
2020-03-13	2020-01-20	EM-3480-IA	Emergency	COVID-19	Non-natural, not counted	no Public Assistance recorded		same incident as DR-4483
2019-03-23	2019-03-12	DR-4421-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms and Flooding	Inland Flooding	$215,730.61
2018-08-20	2018-06-06	DR-4386-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding	Inland Flooding; Strong Wind; Tornado	$148,894.62
2014-07-24	2014-06-14	DR-4184-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding	Inland Flooding (primary); also designated: Strong Wind, Tornado	$154,135.04
2011-05-05	2011-04-09	DR-1977-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Straight-Line Winds	Strong Wind; Tornado	$14,778.48
2010-07-29	2010-06-01	DR-1930-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes	Inland Flooding; Tornado	$435,699.04
2010-03-02	2010-01-19	DR-1880-IA	Major disaster	Severe Winter Storm	Winter Weather	no Public Assistance recorded
2010-02-25	2009-12-23	DR-1877-IA	Major disaster	Severe Winter Storms and Snowstorm	Winter Weather	no Public Assistance recorded
2008-05-27	2008-05-25	DR-1763-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding	Inland Flooding; Tornado	$191,694.27
2007-09-14	2007-08-17	DR-1727-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms and Flooding	Inland Flooding	$281,056.11
2007-03-30	2007-02-28	EM-3275-IA	Emergency	Snow	Winter Weather	$50,708.34		same incident as DR-1688
2007-03-14	2007-02-23	DR-1688-IA	Major disaster	Severe Winter Storms	Winter Weather	none placed in this county by FEMA's record; $1,433,764.74 for this declaration is not placed in any county (see the state page)
2005-09-10	2005-08-29	EM-3239-IA	Emergency	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	Hurricane: evacuation support, not a local hazard event; not counted	no Public Assistance recorded
2004-05-25	2004-05-19	DR-1518-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding	Inland Flooding; Tornado	$106,419.50
1998-07-02	1998-06-13	DR-1230-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms, Tornadoes and Flooding	Inland Flooding (primary); also designated: Tornado	PA not declared for this county
1993-07-09	1993-04-13	DR-996-IA	Major disaster	Severe Storms & Flooding	Inland Flooding	no Public Assistance recorded
1991-12-26	1991-10-31	DR-928-IA	Major disaster	Ice Storm	Ice Storm	no Public Assistance recorded
1969-04-25	1969-04-25	DR-259-IA	Major disaster	Flooding	Inland Flooding	no Public Assistance recorded
1965-04-22	1965-04-22	DR-193-IA	Major disaster	Flooding	Inland Flooding	no Public Assistance recorded

County Public Assistance: applicants the FEMA record places in this county, including any state agencies FEMA files there; statewide rows are listed on the state page; federal share obligated, nominal dollars.

Statewide declarations

Source: 2

Declared	Incident began	FEMA number	Type	Title	Mapped hazard
1962-09-05	1962-09-05	DR-133-IA	Major disaster	Floods	Inland Flooding
1961-03-31	1961-03-31	DR-111-IA	Major disaster	Floods	Inland Flooding
1958-07-05	1958-07-05	DR-86-IA	Major disaster	Floods	Inland Flooding
1954-06-23	1954-06-23	DR-17-IA	Major disaster	Flood	Inland Flooding
1953-06-11	1953-06-11	DR-8-IA	Major disaster	Flood	Inland Flooding

FEMA recorded these with designated area Statewide and no county, so they are listed on every county page in the state and not counted with county rows. Local data needed: whether each one affected this county.

Public Assistance filed under this county for declarations that do not list it: 1 row, $5,817.02

Sources: 2, 3

FEMA number	Declared	Title	Applicant	PA obligatedfederal share obligated, nominal dollars
DR-1998-IA	2011-06-27	Flooding	Laurens Municipal Light and Power Plant	$5,817.02

FEMA's Public Assistance summaries file these applicants under this county, but FEMA's declaration rows for these disasters do not designate it (an electric cooperative or district serving several counties, for example). Not in any declaration row above and not counted.

Public Assistance not placed in any Iowa county: 11 rows, $7,881,708.52; listed on the Iowa state page.

Source: 3

Previous occurrences by hazard, with explicit no-event rows

Sources: 2, 6, 7

Hazard	Storm Events records, all years on file(years in the Period column)	Last 5 yearsrecords	Declared incidents, all yearsseparate disasters	Period	Statement
Cold Wave	32	4	0	1996 to 2026-06-30	Includes 9 Frost/Freeze records.
Drought	39	17	0	1996 to 2026-06-30
Earthquake	0	0	0		Storm Events does not record earthquakes; the USGS earthquake catalog is the source.
Hail	145	12	0	1955 to 2026-06-30
Heat Wave	4	0	0	1996 to 2026-06-30
Hurricane	0	0	0	1996 to 2026-06-30	No recorded events, 1996 to 2026-06-30, NOAA NCEI Storm Events
Ice Storm	11	0	1	1996 to 2026-06-30
Inland Flooding	43	1	12	1996 to 2026-06-30
Landslide	0	0	0	1996 to 2026-06-30	No recorded events, 1996 to 2026-06-30, NOAA NCEI Storm Events
Lightning	1	0	0	1996 to 2026-06-30
Strong Wind	134	9	5	1955 to 2026-06-30	Includes 41 High Wind records.
Tornado	45	13	9	1950 to 2026-06-30
Wildfire	0	0	0	1996 to 2026-06-30	No recorded events, 1996 to 2026-06-30, NOAA NCEI Storm Events
Winter Weather	82	10	3	1996 to 2026-06-30

Notable Storm Events records

Sources: 1, 6, 7

Date	Event type	Magnitude or extent	Damagenominal dollars	Deaths, injuriesdirect only	Location	Flags	Why listed
2024-01-13	Extreme Cold/Wind Chill		$0 property; $0 crops (zone total, 2024 dollars)	0, 0	NWS zone IAZ023 (POCAHONTAS), zone-level	within last 5 years	B1-c worst recorded: Cold/Wind Chill, Extreme Cold/Wind Chill
2022-04-12	Tornado	EF2, 7.17 mi within this county, 450 yd wide	$150,000 property; $0 crops (2022 dollars)	0, 1	PALMER to ROLFE	within last 5 years	deaths or injuries recorded
2020-07-28	Drought		$0 property; $0 crops (zone total, 2020 dollars)	0, 0	NWS zone IAZ023 (POCAHONTAS), zone-level		B1-c worst recorded: Drought
2013-06-14	Thunderstorm Wind	78 kt (90 mph) estimated gust	$250,000 property; $20,000 crops (2013 dollars)	0, 0	WARE to WESTVIEW		B1-c worst recorded: Thunderstorm Wind
2011-04-09	Tornado	EF4, 3.2 mi within this county, 587 yd wide	$2,500,000 property; $0 crops (2011 dollars)	0, 0	VARINA to WARE		B1-c worst recorded: Tornado
2010-06-12	Flood		$0 property; $20,000,000 crops (2010 dollars)	0, 0	LAURENS to FONDA		B1-c worst recorded: Flash Flood, Flood, Lakeshore Flood
2009-10-10	Frost/Freeze		$0 property; $2,500,000 crops (zone total, 2009 dollars)	0, 0	NWS zone IAZ023 (POCAHONTAS), zone-level		B1-c worst recorded: Frost/Freeze
2007-02-24	Winter Storm		$250,000 property; $0 crops (zone total, 2007 dollars)	0, 0	NWS zone IAZ023 (POCAHONTAS), zone-level		B1-c worst recorded: Winter Storm, Heavy Snow, Blizzard, Lake-Effect Snow, Winter Weather, Sleet
2006-05-29	Lightning		$15,000 property; crops not reported (2006 dollars)	0, 0	LAURENS		B1-c worst recorded: Lightning
2001-04-07	High Wind	71 kt (82 mph) measured	$100,000 property; crops not reported (zone total, 2001 dollars)	0, 0	NWS zone IAZ023 (POCAHONTAS), zone-level		B1-c worst recorded: High Wind and Strong Wind
1995-08-04	Hail	4.5 in	$15,000 property; $40,000 crops (1995 dollars)	0, 0	Laurens		B1-c worst recorded: Hail
1984-06-07	Tornado	F2, 10 mi path length (whole path, pre-1996), 100 yd wide	$2,500,000 property; crops not recorded (1984 dollars)	0, 1	location not recorded		deaths or injuries recorded

The full list is in the Excel file, sheet "B1-d Storm Events history" (536 rows).

Location is the place NOAA recorded, as written in its data; it need not be a jurisdiction in this plan.

Local data needed: state-declared emergencies, from your state emergency management agency (federal data do not include them).

Tribal and special-area declarations in this state are listed on the state page.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-e: probability of future events

Probability: FEMA annualized frequency and descriptor per hazard

Sources: 5, 6

Hazard	FEMA annualized frequency (modeled)unit per row	Unit	In plain terms	Descriptor	Descriptor basis	NRI events or days in its record period (hail, wind and tornado are area-weighted, so can be fractional)	NRI period	Location	Note
Cold Wave	10.4	event-days per year	about 10.4 days per year	Likely	Storm Events event-days in 14 of 30 years, 1996 to 2025 (46.7%)	197	2005-11-12 to 2024-11-12 (19 years)	countywide
Drought	15.7	event-days per year	about 15.7 days per year	Likely	Storm Events event-days in 9 of 30 years, 1996 to 2025 (30%)	420	2000 to 2025 (25.25 years; D3 and D4 only)	countywide
Earthquake	0.000476	annual probability at a location	chance a given location in the county has at least minor-damage shaking in a year: 0.0476%			not shown	modeled	see B1-f	No descriptor (Storm Events does not record earthquakes).
Hail	5.19	events per year	about 5.19 per year	Highly likely	FEMA annualized frequency (modeled)	197.1 (modeled)	1986 to 2023 (38 years)	countywide
Heat Wave	4.53	event-days per year	about 4.53 days per year	Likely	Storm Events event-days in 4 of 30 years, 1996 to 2025 (13.3%)	74	2005-11-12 to 2024-11-12 (19 years)	countywide
Hurricane		events per year					1851 to 2024 (Atlantic)	see B1-f	Not Applicable in NRI for this county; no descriptor.
Ice Storm	0.688	event-days per year	about 0.688 days per year	Likely	Storm Events event-days in 10 of 30 years, 1996 to 2025 (33.3%)	47	1946-12-31 to 2014-02-12 (67 years)	countywide
Inland Flooding	1.5	event-days per year	about 1.5 days per year	Likely	Storm Events event-days in 15 of 30 years, 1996 to 2025 (50%)	42	1996 to 2023 (28 years)	see B1-f
Landslide	0.061	events per year (modeled)	about 1 in 16 years	Possible	FEMA annualized frequency (modeled)	not shown	modeled	see B1-f
Lightning	42.1	days per year with a strike	about 42.1 days per year	Highly likely	FEMA annualized frequency (modeled)	not shown	1995 to 2023 (29 years; CONUS)	countywide
Strong Wind	4.27	events per year	about 4.27 per year	Highly likely	FEMA annualized frequency (modeled)	163	1986 to 2023 (38 years)	countywide
Tornado	0.498	events per year	about 1 in 2 years	Likely	FEMA annualized frequency (modeled)	not shown	1950 to 2023 (EF2+); 1986 to 2023 (EF0-1)	see B1-f
Wildfire	0.0000755	annual probability at a location	chance a given location in the county burns in a year: 0.00755%		Storm Events records in 0 of 30 years, 1996 to 2025 (0%)	not shown	modeled	see B1-f	No descriptor: no Storm Events record 1996 to 2025
Winter Weather	16.8	event-days per year	about 16.8 days per year	Highly likely	Storm Events event-days in 29 of 30 years, 1996 to 2025 (96.7%)	320	2005-11-12 to 2024-11-12 (19 years)	countywide

FEMA annualized frequency (modeled) is the National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025) estimate of how often a hazard affects this county in a year; it is not recorded events divided by years, and its unit differs by hazard (events, event-days, or days with a lightning strike per year). For earthquake, wildfire, coastal flooding and tsunami the value is the chance (or number of events) at a location in the county, not across the county, so no "1 in N years" is given and the descriptor comes from Storm Events where it has a record (none for earthquake). The Methods page gives each hazard's method, from FEMA's National Risk Index Technical Documentation v1.20.

Where NRI gives event-days, the descriptor comes from the share of years with a Storm Events record; NRI's source records more events, so the two differ.

Descriptor scale used in this packet (defined per unit)

Sources: 5, 6

Unit	Descriptor	Definition
events per year	Highly likely	1 or more per year
events per year	Likely	about once in 1 to 10 years
events per year	Possible	about once in 10 to 100 years
events per year	Unlikely	less than once in 100 years
annual probability	Likely	10% to under 100% chance in a given year
annual probability	Possible	1% to under 10% chance in a given year
annual probability	Unlikely	under 1% chance in a given year
event-days (share of years)	Highly likely	event-days recorded in 90% or more of years
event-days (share of years)	Likely	event-days recorded in 10% to under 90% of years
event-days (share of years)	Possible	event-days recorded in some years but under 10% of years
lightning strike-days	Highly likely	cloud-to-ground strikes on 1 or more days per year

Intensity bands: historical frequency (Storm Events)

Source: 6

Hazard	Band	Years	Eventscounty-coded records	Years in period	Events per yearevents / years
Hail	1.00-1.99 in	1996 to 2025	64	30	2.13
Hail	2.00 in+	1996 to 2025	7	30	0.233
Thunderstorm Wind (counted as NRI Strong Wind)	50-64 kt	1996 to 2025	57	30	1.9
Thunderstorm Wind (counted as NRI Strong Wind)	65 kt+	1996 to 2025	10	30	0.333
Thunderstorm Wind (counted as NRI Strong Wind)	unmeasured or below 50 kt	1996 to 2025	0	30	0
Tornado	EF0-1	1996 to 2025	13	30	0.433
Tornado	EF2-3	1996 to 2025	4	30	0.133
Tornado	EF4-5	1996 to 2025	1	30	0.0333
Tornado	unrated (EFU)	1996 to 2025	10	30	0.333

The bands show how often events of each severity were recorded in this county, to profile how severe events have been (FEMA's probability item asks for the range of intensities).

Hail smaller than 1 inch is not counted: on 2010-01-05 the National Weather Service raised its severe-hail threshold from 3/4 inch to 1 inch, so smaller reports became less common after 2009 (NWS Service Change Notice 09-52). NRI hail frequency uses a 0.75 inch threshold.

Optional: future conditions. Not a required item in the 2025 FEMA Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guide; some states ask for it. The federal Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation (CMRA) site gives county exposure to future climate conditions (https://resilience.climate.gov/).

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-f: hazards that vary across jurisdictions

Range of census tract risk within the county

Source: 5

Hazard	Tractsrated of all	NRI risk score, 0 to 100			Tracts by rating
Hazard	Tractsrated of all	Min	Median	Max	Tracts by rating
Cold Wave	3 of 3	91.0	94.4	95.8	Very High 1, Relatively High 2
Drought	3 of 3	99.5	99.6	99.8	Very High 1, Relatively High 2
Earthquake	3 of 3	13.8	17.1	19.6	Very Low 3
Hail	3 of 3	91.7	95.2	95.7	Relatively High 3
Heat Wave	3 of 3	11.4	12.5	21.1	Relatively Low 1, Very Low 2
Hurricane	0 of 3				Not Applicable 3
Ice Storm	3 of 3	74.2	77.5	82.1	Relatively Moderate 3
Inland Flooding	3 of 3	47.8	64.6	80.5	Relatively High 1, Relatively Moderate 1, Relatively Low 1
Landslide	3 of 3	56.8	74.3	74.6	Very Low 3
Lightning	3 of 3	74.8	77.0	89.2	Relatively High 1, Relatively Moderate 2
Strong Wind	3 of 3	90.4	94.1	96.2	Relatively High 3
Tornado	3 of 3	89.6	91.3	97.3	Very High 1, Relatively High 2
Wildfire	3 of 3	55.9	61.1	61.3	Very Low 3
Winter Weather	3 of 3	94.4	94.8	97.3	Very High 1, Relatively High 2

Drought: Agriculture is all of NRI's expected annual loss for this hazard in the county, so the tract range mostly reflects where crop and livestock value is.

Hail: Agriculture is 54% of NRI's expected annual loss for this hazard in the county, so the tract range mostly reflects where crop and livestock value is.

Rated tracts only: No Rating (score 0.0), Not Applicable and Insufficient Data tracts are counted but not used for the minimum, median and maximum.

The score ranks a tract against all U.S. tracts (100 = highest). The rating is FEMA's category for the tract's risk value, computed differently, so the two can disagree.

Frequency data for cold wave, drought, hail, heat wave, ice storm, lightning, strong wind and winter weather are county-wide or coarse (49 km grid or NWS zone), the same for every jurisdiction; the tract range mostly reflects where buildings and people are (crop and livestock value where a line above names agriculture).

This county has 3 census tracts; the minimum, median and maximum come from those 3.

Each jurisdiction (starting figures from federal data)

Sources: 1, 3, 4, 6

Jurisdiction	Type	Plan status	Repetitive lossFMA RL and SRL (44 CFR 77.2); repeat-flood, any definition	Public Assistance to this jurisdictionFEMA records matched by applicant name; federal share obligated, nominal dollars	Event records naming this placeall years; since its plan	Notes
Pocahontas County	County	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	$41,572.40	0 total; no approved plan	Includes $22,338.72 for declarations not counted as hazard incidents (DR-4483-IA).
Fonda city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	$34,081.17	28 total; no approved plan
Gilmore City city	City	Approved, expires 2031-06-30	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	no Public Assistance recorded	0 total; not yet covered
Havelock city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	no Public Assistance recorded	14 total; no approved plan
Laurens city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	$87,602.48	28 total; no approved plan
Palmer city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	$375	21 total; no approved plan
Plover city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	no Public Assistance recorded	16 total; no approved plan
Pocahontas city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	$14,901.15	46 total; no approved plan
Rolfe city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	$30,599.75	44 total; no approved plan
Varina city	City	No approved plan on record. Approvable pending adoption, not yet eligible	FMA RL 0, SRL 0; any 0	$4,343.25	11 total; no approved plan

Repetitive-loss counts are for whole NFIP communities, which can extend beyond this county (see the note in B2-c).

School districts and special districts get a plan clock row only.

County Public Assistance in B1-d also includes applicants filed under the county that are not jurisdictions in this plan (for example state agencies, special districts and nonprofits), so the jurisdiction rows add up to less.

Supports FEMA checklist items B2-a and B2-b: vulnerability and potential impacts

Local data needed

The table below gives county-level starting figures; the plan describes impacts for each jurisdiction and its own assets.

No approved plan on record, so there is no approval date to count from.

Critical facilities and lifelines per hazard
A problem statement per jurisdiction per hazard
Changes in development in hazard-prone areas since the last approval, or a statement of none (E1-a)
Future assets

County-level starter: exposure, expected annual loss and damage since the plan

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7

Hazard	Building exposuremodeled dollars	Agriculture exposuremodeled dollars	Population exposedpeople	EAL buildingsmodeled dollars per year	EAL agriculturemodeled dollars per year	Cost of expected deaths and injuriesFEMA's dollar value per year, not property damage	EAL as % of exposurebuildings; agriculture where noted	Note
Cold Wave	$3,120,681,829	$458,358,223	7,078	$2,477	$460,080	$774,982	under 0.0001%
Drought	n/a	$196,990,903	n/a	n/a	$5,371,981	n/a	2.73% (agriculture)	NRI has no building exposure for this hazard; agriculture shown
Earthquake	$5,391,235,179	n/a	7,078	$10,388	n/a	$2,295	0.000193%
Hail	$3,120,681,829	$458,358,223	7,078	$89,950	$244,044	$115,289	0.00288%
Heat Wave	$3,120,681,829	$458,358,223	7,078	$7,098	$6	$24,126	0.000227%
Hurricane								Not Applicable in NRI for this county
Ice Storm	$3,120,681,829	n/a	7,078	$38,405	n/a	$3,256	0.00123%
Inland Flooding	$3,119,337,125	$32,120,882	86	$2,101,110	$225,734	$815	n/a (see note)	NRI counts the full building value of any census block with some flood loss; this is not the value of buildings in the floodplain. Use local FIRM overlays for B2-a/B2-b.
Landslide	$5,588,610	n/a	9	$5	n/a	$78	under 0.0001%
Lightning	$3,120,681,829	n/a	7,078	$6,476	n/a	$82,587	0.000208%
Strong Wind	$3,120,681,829	$458,358,223	7,078	$226,428	$80,934	$73,314	0.00726%
Tornado	$3,120,681,829	$458,358,223	7,078	$912,635	$9,158	$386,288	0.0292%
Wildfire	$694,188,354	$68,591,704	1,301	$1,262	$65	$121	0.000182%
Winter Weather	$3,120,681,829	$458,358,223	7,078	$37,269	$743	$44,547	0.00119%

Totals since the plan: not available. No approved plan on record, so there is no approval date to count from.

FEMA does not split Public Assistance by hazard. A declaration mapped to several hazards is listed under each of them with its full amount, so the per-hazard column does not add up to the total; the unit total counts each declaration once.

NRI computes earthquake exposure on its own basis, so it exceeds the county building value in B2-a.

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-a: vulnerability (county context)

County context

Source: 5

Measure	Value
Population	7,078
Building value (total, not at risk)	$3,120,681,829
Agriculture value (total, not at risk)	$458,358,223
NRI risk rating (all hazards)	Very Low
Expected annual loss, buildings and agriculture, all hazards	$9,826,248
Expected annual loss, population equivalence, all hazards (NRI values each statistical life at $13.7M; a modeled value of expected deaths and injuries, not property damage)	$1,507,699
Social vulnerability rating	Relatively Low
Community resilience rating	Relatively High
NRI version	December 2025

FEMA's all-hazard expected annual loss adds buildings, agriculture and population equivalence; this table gives the property part and the population-equivalence part as separate rows.

Social vulnerability: higher means people are more likely to be harmed and slower to recover. Community resilience: lower means the community is less able to recover. High social vulnerability and low resilience both raise the NRI risk rating.

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-c: repetitive loss properties

Repetitive loss in this county, both definitions

Sources: 1, 4

Definition	Properties	Severe repetitive loss	Properties
Repetitive loss, FMA definition (44 CFR 77.2)	0	Severe repetitive loss, FMA definition (44 CFR 77.2)	0
Repetitive loss, NFIP insurance definition	0	Severe repetitive loss, NFIP insurance definition	0

The state NFIP coordinator's list, the source FEMA's Handbook names, often uses the NFIP insurance definition (second row).

Repeat-flood properties: county and state-level rows

Sources: 1, 4

Scope	RL, FMAproperties	SRL, FMAproperties	RL, NFIPproperties	SRL, NFIPproperties	Any categoryproperties	Mitigatedproperties	Currently insuredproperties
County total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Statewide, no county in FEMA's file	0	0	1	0	1	0	0

The statewide row counts properties FEMA's file gives with no county in this state; they are listed for reference and are not in this county's counts.

Repeat-flood properties by jurisdiction in the plan (NFIP community)

Sources: 1, 4

Jurisdiction	NFIP community ID	RL, FMAproperties	SRL, FMAproperties	RL, NFIPproperties	SRL, NFIPproperties	Any categoryproperties	Mitigatedproperties	Currently insuredproperties
Pocahontas County	190900	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fonda city	190483	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gilmore City city	190583	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Havelock city	190484	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Laurens city	190485	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Palmer city	190793	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Plover city	190997	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pocahontas city	190486	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rolfe city	190487	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Varina city	190996	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Counts by occupancy group for each jurisdiction are in the Excel file, sheet "B2-c Jurisdictions".

Jurisdiction rows are whole NFIP communities and need not add up to the county total: a community that extends into another county is counted in full on each jurisdiction row, while the county table counts only its part in this county.

County repeat-flood properties by occupancy group: 0 in every occupancy group.

Sources: 1, 4

FMA RL and FMA SRL are the Flood Mitigation Assistance definitions (44 CFR 77.2), the ones the FEMA Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guide cites. NFIP repetitive loss (the FEMA insurance definition) is 2 or more claims over $1,000 in 10 years, and a property can leave that group once it is mitigated. Also shown: NFIP severe repetitive loss, any category, mitigated and currently insured. The Methods page gives the OpenFEMA field details.

Counts are aggregates of FEMA's public NFIP Multiple Loss Properties file (FEMA's data date 2026-08-02; file version 2026-08-04). No property is identified. County assignment is FEMA's geocode.

In this county 0 properties are FMA repetitive loss but not NFIP repetitive loss, and 0 properties are NFIP repetitive loss but not FMA repetitive loss.

Exact counts; no count suppression.

Sources

Tables cite these sources by number. The full list, for the plan's bibliography (FEMA review item A4-a):

FEMA, OpenFEMA HazardMitigationPlanStatuses v1, version 2026-09-29T134039Z, pulled 2026-09-30, https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v1/HazardMitigationPlanStatuses (API)
FEMA, OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2, version 2026-09-29T162832Z, pulled 2026-09-30, https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries (API)
FEMA, OpenFEMA PublicAssistanceFundedProjectsSummaries v1, version 2026-09-29T150754Z, pulled 2026-09-30, https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v1/PublicAssistanceFundedProjectsSummaries (API)
FEMA, OpenFEMA NfipMultipleLossProperties v1, version 2026-08-04T164045Z, pulled 2026-09-30, https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v1/NfipMultipleLossProperties (API)
FEMA, FEMA National Risk Index 1.20.0 (December 2025), county and census tract tables, version 1.20.0, pulled 2026-09-30, https://www.fema.gov/about/reports-and-data/openfema/nri/v120/NRI_Table_Counties.zip (download, 25 MB), https://www.fema.gov/about/reports-and-data/openfema/nri/v120/NRI_Table_CensusTracts.zip (download, 635 MB)
NOAA NCEI, NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, details files (csvfiles v1.0), version c20260918, pulled 2026-09-30, https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/swdi/stormevents/csvfiles/
NOAA National Weather Service, NWS county-public forecast zones correlation file, version bp03mr20 to bp16ap26 (11 files; newest bp16ap26), pulled 2026-09-30, https://www.weather.gov/gis/ZoneCounty
U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2024 Gazetteer, 2020 place by county, CT county-to-cousub crosswalk, version 2024-gazetteer, pulled 2026-09-30, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/2024_Gaz_counties_national.zip, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/2024_Gaz_cousubs_national.zip, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/2024_Gaz_place_national.zip, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/2024_Gaz_unsd_national.zip, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/2024_Gaz_elsd_national.zip, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/2024_Gaz_scsd_national.zip, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/reference/codes2020/national_place_by_county2020.txt, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/reference/ct_change/ct_cou_to_cousub_crosswalk.xlsx (used to match place names and codes; no table prints its values)

What this packet is and what the plan adds

This packet is the federal data for the plan's risk assessment (the summary on page 1 says how it is organized); the plan and FEMA's review decide whether each item is met.

The plan adds what only the community has: local data on assets, critical facilities, development and each jurisdiction's impacts; local hazard history, including state-declared emergencies; the mitigation strategy; and adoption.

How the federal data are built: National Risk Index values are FEMA's model, not counts of events. Storm Events is more complete from 1996; zone-level records are placed by forecast zone, not by location in the county. Public Assistance for a jurisdiction is matched by applicant name. The Methods page gives every rule and the known edge cases.

OpenFEMA disclaimer

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

Reuse, citation and corrections

Reuse and citation: Hazard Plain text and tables are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/); credit Hazard Plain and the release. The underlying federal data are public domain; OpenFEMA data are also subject to the OpenFEMA terms and conditions.

Cite this: Hazard Plain (2026). Pocahontas County, IA: risk-assessment baseline packet, release 2026-10 (data as of 2026-09-30; County FIPS 19151). Automated baseline. https://hazardplain.org/ia/19151/ Built from FEMA OpenFEMA, the FEMA National Risk Index and NOAA NCEI Storm Events; source versions in the packet's Sources list.

Corrections: to report an error, name the packet, the table and what your records show. Contact: [email protected]