Automated baseline from FEMA and NOAA data, release 2026-10.

Macon County, NC

Risk-assessment baseline packet. County FIPS 37113. Release 2026-10, data as of 2026-09-30.

Summary

Plan status as of 2026-09-30: Plan 112232 approved 2026-09-23, pending adoption here; not yet eligible. Plan: Clay Macon Regional (FEMA plan 112232), pending adoption here, approved 2026-09-23 by FEMA; not yet adopted here.

Update: FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption.

Highest expected annual loss (FEMA National Risk Index, modeled total; see B1-a): Inland Flooding ($10,115,496 a year), Cold Wave ($7,169,221) and Landslide ($3,493,131).

The packet's tables are organized by the items of FEMA's Local Mitigation Plan Review Tool, Element B (B1-a to B2-c); the summaries below follow the same order.

Download the packet

Full packet as a web page. File manifest (checksums, source versions).

Plan clock

Plan 112232 approved 2026-09-23, pending adoption here; not yet eligible

Plan:
Clay Macon Regional (FEMA plan 112232), pending adoption here
Approved:
2026-09-23 by FEMA; not yet adopted here
Expires:
2031-09-22 once adopted
Update underway:
FEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoption

Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.

Not yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.

What changed since your last plan

Plan 112232 was approved by FEMA on 2026-09-23 but is not yet adopted here, so no since-plan counts are given.

Plan status for every jurisdiction listed in this county

3 jurisdictions. Each row is that jurisdiction's own plan clock. Notes include other approved plans FEMA lists for the same jurisdiction.

JurisdictionTypeStatusPlanApprovedExpiresDays to expirynegative = days since expiryUpdate underwayNotes
Macon County (unincorporated area)UnincorporatedPlan 112232 approved 2026-09-23, pending adoption here; not yet eligibleClay Macon Regional (FEMA plan 112232), pending adoption here2026-09-23 by FEMA; not yet adopted here2031-09-22 once adoptedFEMA tracker shows a plan approvable pending adoptionNot yet eligible: adopt the approved plan.
Franklin townTownApproved, expires 2031-09-22Clay Macon Regional (FEMA plan 112232)2026-09-232031-09-221,818
Highlands townTownApproved, expires 2031-09-22Clay Macon Regional (FEMA plan 112232)2026-09-232031-09-221,818

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

What the packet contains

Sections in FEMA checklist order; each heading names the review item its tables support. Full tables are in the downloads above.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-a Hazard identification

14 of the 18 National Risk Index hazards apply here.

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.

Highest expected annual loss (NRI, modeled): Inland Flooding, Cold Wave and Landslide.

Not covered by NRI (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 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

  • Cold Wave, Drought, Hail, Heat Wave, Ice Storm, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather: affects the whole county; national data give no location within it.
  • Earthquake, Hurricane, Landslide, Tornado and Wildfire vary within the county; the packet lists the highest-rated census tracts for each.
  • 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.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-c Hazard extent

Storm Events records for 14 of the 20 NOAA event-type groups mapped to the 18 hazards, with the scale, observed range and worst recorded event for each; the others say which local data are needed.

Worst recorded tornado, hail and thunderstorm wind (the three event types on record since the 1950s; the packet has every group):

  • Hail: 2.75 in hail, 1984-03-28
  • Thunderstorm Wind: 65 kt (75 mph) estimated gust, Thunderstorm Wind, 2004-09-16, 1 direct injury
  • Tornado: F1 tornado, 1976-02-18, 3.8 mi path length (whole path, pre-1996), 50 yd wide, $250,000 property; crops not recorded (1976 dollars)

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-d Previous occurrences

Federal declarations for this area: 17 declarations covering 13 separate hazard incidents counted in this packet; each with type, dates and county Public Assistance dollars.

Plan 112232 was approved by FEMA on 2026-09-23 but is not yet adopted here, so no since-plan counts are given.

7 statewide declarations listed separately.

Hazards with no Storm Events record and no federal declaration are stated as such (6 of 18).

Storm Events history: 487 records (notable ones in the PDF, all of them in the Excel file).

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-e Probability of future events

FEMA annualized frequency (modeled) for each hazard, with a descriptor from a scale defined in the packet.

  • Highly likely: Hail, Landslide, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather
  • Likely: Cold Wave, Drought, Inland Flooding and Tornado
  • Possible: Hurricane, Ice Storm and Wildfire

Historical frequency by intensity band (tornado, hail, wind): 9 bands from Storm Events.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-f Hazards that vary across jurisdictions

Range of census tract risk scores within the area for 14 of the 18 hazards (10 tracts; rated tracts only).

3 jurisdictions: plan clock, repeat-flood count, Public Assistance dollars and event records naming the place (starting figures from federal data).

Supports FEMA checklist items B2-a and B2-b Vulnerability and potential impacts

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

Plan 112232 was approved by FEMA on 2026-09-23 but is not yet adopted here, so no since-plan counts are given.

Local data needed

To gather:

  • 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

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-a Vulnerability (county context)

Population 36,973; building value $9,722,841,149 and agriculture value $10,098,839 (total, not at risk).

National Risk Index rating Relatively Low; social vulnerability Relatively High; community resilience Relatively Low.

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-c Repetitive loss properties

Repetitive-loss properties, FMA definition (44 CFR 77.2): 2 repetitive loss, 0 severe repetitive loss. NFIP insurance definition: 7 and 0.

Mitigated 0; insured 8; NFIP data as of 2026-08-02. Counts by occupancy group and for each jurisdiction are in the packet.

Releases

Each release is dated; this is release 2026-10. It was first published 2026-09-30; its files do not change. Later releases will be listed here with what changed between them. All releases.

Cite this

Hazard Plain (2026). Macon County, NC: risk-assessment baseline packet, release 2026-10 (data as of 2026-09-30; County FIPS 37113). Automated baseline. https://hazardplain.org/nc/37113/ Built from FEMA OpenFEMA, the FEMA National Risk Index and NOAA NCEI Storm Events; source versions in the packet's Sources list.

Source citations for the plan's bibliography (8)

How this packet is built: methods and sources