The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) released a mapping tool providing county-level information on natural disaster hazards across the United States.

The new tool is expansion of FEMA’s National Risk Index and provides detailed information to counties on their susceptibility to weather and climate hazards such as wildfires, floods, drought and heat waves, tornado outbreaks and hurricanes.

This information is especially crucial as the number and cost of natural disasters have increased in recent years. According to NOAA, the United States has experienced 308 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters since 1980, exceeding $2.085 trillion in total. In 2020 alone, the United States faced twenty-two separate billion-dollar climate and weather disasters resulting in 262 deaths.  

In addition to the expanded mapping tool, NOAA also published a tutorial on how to utilize their new resource.

Local governments have an essential role in preparing, protecting, and facilitating the recovery of their communities when natural disasters occur. NACo urges our federal partners to continue to recognize the important role counties play in emergency management and will continue to monitor new tools and resources that provide important climate data.