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Sierra, CA

Flood Risk Score: 11/100 · Rank #1616 of 3,277 counties

Sierra County in California has 7 FEMA disaster declarations on record covering 1964–2023, most recently Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides on Mar 10, 2023 (DR-3592). Its flood risk grade is A (Low risk), ranking #1616 of 3,277 U.S. counties, with 2 NFIP flood insurance claims totaling $3,326 in payouts. Flood risk is relatively low compared to the national average.

11
Risk Score
2
NFIP Claims
$3,326
Total Payouts
7
Disasters
$1,663
Avg Claim
2
Active Policies

FEMA Disaster Declarations in Sierra County

The 7 most recent federally declared disasters affecting Sierra County, CA (1964–2023). Total declarations on record: 7.

DeclaredIncident TypeTitleFEMA Disaster #
Mar 10, 2023FloodSevere Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and MudslidesDR-3592
Apr 1, 2017FloodSevere Winter Storms, Flooding, and MudslidesDR-4308
Sep 13, 2005HurricaneHurricane Katrina EvacuationDR-3248
Feb 3, 1993FloodSevere Winter Storm, MUD & Land Slides, & FloodingDR-979
Feb 21, 1986FloodSevere Storms & FloodingDR-758
Jan 26, 1969FloodSevere Storms & FloodingDR-253
Dec 24, 1964FloodHeavy Rains & FloodingDR-183

Score Breakdown

The composite score of 11 is calculated from four weighted factors. See our methodology for details.

Claims Density
40%
0
Disaster Frequency
25%
15
Claim Severity
20%
0
Year-over-Year Trend
15%
50

Other Counties in California

CountyGradeScoreClaimsDisasters
AlpineA1107
AmadorA1137
CalaverasA1146
LassenA1146
MariposaA1107
MercedA11407
View All Counties in California

Frequently Asked Questions

How many FEMA disaster declarations does Sierra County, CA have?

Sierra County, CA has 7 federal disaster declarations on FEMA record (1964–2023). The 5 most recent are: Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (declared Mar 10, 2023, DR-3592); Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides (declared Apr 1, 2017, DR-4308); Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (declared Sep 13, 2005, DR-3248); Severe Winter Storm, MUD & Land Slides, & Flooding (declared Feb 3, 1993, DR-979); Severe Storms & Flooding (declared Feb 21, 1986, DR-758). Counts include flood, severe storm, hurricane, and coastal storm declarations from the OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries dataset.

What is the flood risk grade for Sierra County, CA?

Sierra County is graded A (composite score 11/100, low risk). It ranks #1616 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 Sierra County?

2 NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in Sierra County, CA, totaling $3,326 in payouts. The average claim is $1,663. Source: FEMA FimaNfipClaims v2 dataset.

Has Sierra County, CA had any recent flood disasters?

Yes. The most recent FEMA declaration affecting Sierra County was Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides on Mar 10, 2023 (DR-3592). The county has 7 declared disasters in the OpenFEMA record covering 1964–2023.

The this entity record above pulls directly from FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims. What follows is the per-entity context — how this entity sits in the broader U.S. flood risk, NFIP claims, and disaster declarations distribution and which underlying factors drive the headline numbers.

The methodology behind every numeric value on this page is publicly documented on the FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims portal and described in detail on this site’s methodology page. Refresh cadence varies by underlying series; the page surfaces the as-of date for each number so readers can trace any figure back to the source release.

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.