Risk-assessment baseline packet. County FIPS 47139. Release 2026-10, data as of 2026-09-30.
Summary
Plan status as of 2026-09-30: Plan 108794 approved 2023-03-28, pending adoption here; not yet eligible. Plan: Polk County (FEMA plan 108794), pending adoption here, approved 2023-03-28 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 ($3,561,342 a year), Tornado ($853,409) and Strong Wind ($640,649).
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.
Plan clock
Plan 108794 approved 2023-03-28, pending adoption here; not yet eligible
- Plan:
- Polk County (FEMA plan 108794), pending adoption here
- Approved:
- 2023-03-28 by FEMA; not yet adopted here
- Expires:
- 2028-03-27 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 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, Tornado and Strong Wind.
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 8 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, 2006-05-20
- Thunderstorm Wind: 70 kt (81 mph) estimated gust, Thunderstorm Wind, 2016-11-30
- Tornado: EF3 tornado, 2016-11-30, 4.6 mi within this county, 155 yd wide, damage not reported, 2 direct deaths
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-d Previous occurrences
Federal declarations for this area: 23 declarations covering 19 separate hazard incidents counted in this packet; each with type, dates and county Public Assistance dollars.
Plan 108794 was approved by FEMA on 2023-03-28 but is not yet adopted here, so no since-plan counts are given.
1 statewide declaration listed separately.
Hazards with no Storm Events record and no federal declaration are stated as such (10 of 18).
Storm Events history: 321 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 and Strong Wind
- Likely: Inland Flooding, Tornado and Winter Weather
- Possible: Drought, Hurricane and Ice Storm
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 (6 tracts; rated tracts only).
4 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 108794 was approved by FEMA on 2023-03-28 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 17,531; building value $2,902,518,531 and agriculture value $46,963,171 (total, not at risk).
National Risk Index rating Very Low; social vulnerability Very High; community resilience Very Low.
Supports FEMA checklist item B2-c Repetitive loss properties
Repetitive-loss properties, FMA definition (44 CFR 77.2): 0 repetitive loss, 3 severe repetitive loss. NFIP insurance definition: 7 and 3.
Mitigated 0; insured 1; NFIP data as of 2026-08-02. Counts by occupancy group and for each jurisdiction are in the packet.