Houston, AL
Houston County in Alabama has 13 FEMA disaster declarations on record covering 1979–2024, most recently Hurricane Helene on Sep 26, 2024 (DR-3618). Its flood risk grade is A (Low risk), ranking #190 of 3,277 U.S. counties, with 7 NFIP flood insurance claims totaling $188,185 in payouts. Flood risk is relatively low compared to the national average.
FEMA Disaster Declarations in Houston County
The 13 most recent federally declared disasters affecting Houston County, AL (1979–2024). Total declarations on record: 13.
| Declared | Incident Type | Title | FEMA Disaster # |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 26, 2024 | Hurricane | Hurricane Helene | DR-3618 |
| Sep 20, 2020 | Hurricane | Hurricane Sally | DR-4563 |
| Sep 14, 2020 | Hurricane | Hurricane Sally | DR-3545 |
| Nov 5, 2018 | Hurricane | Hurricane Michael | DR-4406 |
| Oct 12, 2018 | Hurricane | Hurricane Michael | DR-3407 |
| Oct 8, 2017 | Hurricane | Hurricane Nate | DR-3394 |
| Sep 11, 2017 | Hurricane | Hurricane Irma | DR-3389 |
| Aug 30, 2008 | Hurricane | Hurricane Gustav | DR-3292 |
| Sep 10, 2005 | Hurricane | Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | DR-3237 |
| Jul 10, 2005 | Hurricane | Hurricane Dennis | DR-1593 |
| Sep 15, 2004 | Hurricane | Hurricane Ivan | DR-1549 |
| Oct 4, 1995 | Hurricane | Hurricane Opal | DR-1070 |
| Apr 18, 1979 | Flood | Storms, Wind, Flooding | DR-578 |
Score Breakdown
The composite score of 20 is calculated from four weighted factors. See our methodology for details.
Other Counties in Alabama
| County | Grade | Score | Claims | Disasters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson | B | 21 | 76 | 14 |
| Shelby | B | 21 | 29 | 11 |
| Tuscaloosa | B | 21 | 12 | 11 |
| Montgomery | B | 22 | 18 | 12 |
| Choctaw | A | 17 | 2 | 17 |
| Clarke | A | 17 | 0 | 17 |
More Counties in Alabama
Frequently Asked Questions
How many FEMA disaster declarations does Houston County, AL have?
Houston County, AL has 13 federal disaster declarations on FEMA record (1979–2024). The 5 most recent are: Hurricane Helene (declared Sep 26, 2024, DR-3618); Hurricane Sally (declared Sep 20, 2020, DR-4563); Hurricane Sally (declared Sep 14, 2020, DR-3545); Hurricane Michael (declared Nov 5, 2018, DR-4406); Hurricane Michael (declared Oct 12, 2018, DR-3407). Counts include flood, severe storm, hurricane, and coastal storm declarations from the OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries dataset.
What is the flood risk grade for Houston County, AL?
Houston County is graded A (composite score 20/100, low risk). It ranks #190 of 3,277 U.S. counties for flood risk in our scoring model. The grade combines NFIP claims density (40%), disaster frequency (25%), claim severity (20%), and year-over-year trend (15%).
How many NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in Houston County?
7 NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in Houston County, AL, totaling $188,185 in payouts. The average claim is $26,884. Source: FEMA FimaNfipClaims v2 dataset.
Has Houston County, AL had any recent flood disasters?
Yes. The most recent FEMA declaration affecting Houston County was Hurricane Helene on Sep 26, 2024 (DR-3618). The county has 13 declared disasters in the OpenFEMA record covering 1979–2024.
this entity is one of the data points covered by this site’s U.S. flood risk, NFIP claims, and disaster declarations dataset. The detail above comes directly from FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims; the context that follows situates the headline numbers against the broader distribution across U.S. ZIPs, counties, and states.
Every number on this page links back to FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims; the methodology page describes the inputs, refresh cadence, and known limitations of the underlying data product.
Practical use of this page is in combination with the comparison and ranking pages elsewhere on the site, which surface the same data for this entity’s peers within U.S. ZIPs, counties, and states. A single-entity reading without peer context can be misleading when an entity is an outlier on one axis but typical on another.
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA datasets, 2026.