As of : FEMA’s OpenFEMA data lists 41 Flood disaster declarations for California, from Feb 5, 1954 to Feb 19, 2024. The most recent is “SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING”. That is 10.4% of all California declarations. 39 are major disaster declarations. 6 came in the last ten years.
This page is a historical count of federal declarations. It is not a warning or emergency guidance: for current local emergency information use your state or county emergency management office.
Last checked against the source: . 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). Counts are made by this site from FEMA's published rows: each disaster number is counted once per state and incident type.
Extended data
Measure
Value
Declarations (distinct disaster numbers)
41
Major disaster declarations (DR)
39
Emergency declarations (EM)
2
Fire management declarations (FM)
0
Area designations (counties and other areas, all declarations)
449
Declarations with Individual Assistance
27
Declarations with Public Assistance
40
Declarations with Hazard Mitigation
12
Declarations in the last 10 years
6
First declaration in the data
Feb 5, 1954
Most recent declaration
Feb 19, 2024
Most recent declaration title
SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING
Years from first to latest (inclusive)
71
Average declarations per year (calculated)
0.58
Share of all declarations in this state (calculated)
10.4%
All declarations in this state, every incident type in scope
395
Share of all declarations of this incident type nationwide (calculated)
4.4%
Rank among states and territories for this incident type
2
Rank among this state's incident types
2
Declarations by year (the 10 most recent years that had at least one)
Year declared
Declarations
2024
1
2023
3
2017
2
2015
1
2011
1
1993
1
1992
1
1988
1
1986
1
1983
2
How the figures are counted: a declaration is counted once per state and incident type by its FEMA disaster number, even when it designates many areas; shares and the yearly average are calculated by this site from those counts.
Worked example: California, Flood: 41 declarations over 71 years (1954–2024) = 0.58 per year on average.
Frequently asked questions
How many Flood disaster declarations has California had?
OpenFEMA lists 41 Flood declarations for California between Feb 5, 1954 and Feb 19, 2024: 39 major disaster (DR), 2 emergency (EM) and 0 fire management (FM) declarations.
When was the most recent Flood declaration in California?
The most recent in the data is “SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING”, declared on Feb 19, 2024.
How does California compare with other states for Flood declarations?
California ranks 2nd of 55 states and territories with at least one Flood declaration, and these declarations are 4.4% of all Flood declarations nationwide in this data.
What do DR, EM and FM mean in this data?
They are the declaration types in the OpenFEMA data: DR is a major disaster declaration, EM an emergency declaration and FM a fire management assistance declaration. One declaration can cover many areas, so area designations can exceed the number of declarations.
Is this page a warning or emergency guidance?
No. It is a historical count taken from FEMA's open data. For current emergency information use your state or county emergency management office.