Gem County, Idaho: hazard history

FEMA declared 7 disasters that named Gem County between 1964 and 2022.

Most recent declarations

• FM-5449 2022 · Fire · Four Corners Fire
• EM-3467 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
• DR-4534 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
• DR-1927 2010 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
• EM-3244 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina
• DR-1154 1996 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms, Flooding, Mud And Landslides
• DR-186 1964 · Flood · Heavy Rains & Flooding

Not counted above: 15 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Idaho. A declaration is a decision to send federal help, not a measure of how bad an event was. Records run from 1953. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries.

Records start in 1996. Damage is NOAA's estimate at the time, in nominal dollars, and is often rounded; it is not insurance claims data. A storm that crossed two NOAA zones in this county is recorded, and counted, once per zone. A storm filed against a forecast zone is counted in every county that zone covers, with the whole storm's damage; do not add these figures across counties.

NOAA storm event records in Gem County each year. The busiest year was 2021, with 25 records.

Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.

Costliest records

1. Heavy Snow · Jan 18, 2017$100.0M
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 678714
2. Flood · Jun 4, 2010$1.0M
   NOAA name: Gem County · NOAA record 241765
3. Strong Wind · May 21, 2013$10K
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 451826
4. Thunderstorm Wind · May 17, 1996$5K
   NOAA name: Gem County · NOAA record 5556289
5. Flood · Feb 8, 2017$1K
   NOAA name: Gem County · NOAA record 690705

Deadliest records

1. Winter Weather · Oct 29, 20091 death
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · 1 injury · NOAA record 199796
2. Avalanche · Dec 17, 20091 death
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 206493
3. Heavy Snow · Dec 7, 20131 death
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 483381
4. Excessive Heat · Sep 6, 20221 death
   NOAA name: NWS forecast zone · NOAA record 1047828

Each line is one NOAA record, linked to its page at NOAA. One large storm can appear more than once if NOAA recorded it in several zones of this county. Dollars are nominal.

The National Flood Insurance Program paid $14K on 3 claims in Gem County from 1997 to 2011.

A count of claims, not a rate: NFIP publishes no count of insured homes beside it, and most flood damage is uninsured. Nominal dollars. Records run from 1978 to 2024; claims filed without a county code are not on any county page. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims.

A hazard vulnerability analysis rates each hazard for probability, impact, preparedness and response. Probability is the one column the county’s federal record can fill — NCEI storm events from 1996 to 2026 and FEMA declarations naming the county — and this is what it says for a facility here, on the 0–3 scale of the all-hazards structure surveyors expect. The other six columns are the facility’s own judgment about its building, and Calchis leaves them blank.

A dash means the record does not speak to that hazard; it is not a zero. Whether a finished document satisfies the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule is the facility’s finding and its surveyor’s. Complete the HVA for a facility in Gem County — the technological, human and hazardous-materials rows, the six facility columns, the approval and the printed document — or read the sample analysis on that page first.

• Every figure is counted from public federal records held by Calchis: NOAA NCEI Storm Events, FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations, and FEMA NFIP claims. Nothing is modeled or estimated.
• NOAA files some events against a county and others against an NWS forecast zone, and publishes a code for both. Records are counted as Gem County by that code — county records by the county's own FIPS code, zone records through the National Weather Service's published list of which counties each zone covers. No name matching is involved. Of 286 records, 31 were filed against this county and 255 against a forecast zone covering it. A zone storm is counted in every county its zone covers, and its damage figure is the whole storm's, not this county's share — NOAA does not publish that split. So these figures describe this county; they must not be added up across counties. Left out: 15% of Idaho's NOAA records, which are marine zones or zones NWS does not map to a county.
• Counts last rebuilt from the source records on Sep 15, 2026.
• This county's NOAA record is short (under 100 records, under 10 with damage, or under 10 years), so this page is not offered to search engines. It is still accurate.