FEMA Disaster Declarations and Public Assistance Data Analysis

Author: Mark Bauer

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Notebooks
• 3. Data
• 4. Additional Resources
• 5. Say Hello!

Note: This analysis 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).

Read more about OpenFEMA's Terms and Conditions.

Table xx. Top 20 Public Assistance Grants by Highest Total Obligated Amount (Millions)

rank	disasterNumber	state	year	incidentType	totalObligatedM
1	4339	Puerto Rico	2017	Hurricane	34219
2	4480	New York	2020	Biological	15622
3	4340	Virgin Islands	2017	Hurricane	15613
4	4485	Texas	2020	Biological	14931
5	4085	New York	2012	Hurricane	14735
6	1603	Louisiana	2005	Hurricane	13666
7	4482	California	2020	Biological	11859
8	1391	New York	2001	Fire	4733
9	4486	Florida	2020	Biological	3705
10	1604	Mississippi	2005	Hurricane	3219
11	4488	New Jersey	2020	Biological	3065
12	4496	Massachusetts	2020	Biological	3001
13	4332	Texas	2017	Hurricane	2926
14	4559	Louisiana	2020	Hurricane	2878
15	4611	Louisiana	2021	Hurricane	2709
16	4481	Washington	2020	Biological	2576
17	4484	Louisiana	2020	Biological	2497
18	4337	Florida	2017	Hurricane	2464
19	4673	Florida	2022	Hurricane	2372
20	4086	New Jersey	2012	Hurricane	2243

Table xx. Public Assistance Grants by Highest Total Obligated Amount per Incident Type (Millions)

incidentType	disasterNumber	state	year	totalObligatedM
Biological	4480	New York	2020	15622
Chemical	3366	West Virginia	2014	1.64
Coastal Storm	1379	Texas	2001	433.65
Dam/Levee Break	1529	California	2004	21.03
Drought	3276	Federated States of Micronesia	2007	0.08
Earthquake	4473	Puerto Rico	2020	948.42
Fire	1391	New York	2001	4732.56
Flood	4308	California	2017	820.38
Freezing	1468	Maine	2003	1.74
Hurricane	4339	Puerto Rico	2017	34219
Mud/Landslide	4635	Washington	2022	33.18
National Special Security Event	3553	District Of Columbia	2021	6.22
Other	4338	Georgia	2017	116.01
Severe Ice Storm	1818	Kentucky	2009	255.21
Severe Storm	1763	Iowa	2008	1155.49
Severe Storm(s)	4420	Nebraska	2019	508.17
Snow	4368	New Jersey	2018	30.2
Snowstorm	4261	Maryland	2016	69.27
Terrorist	3362	Massachusetts	2013	6.2
Tornado	4630	Kentucky	2021	152
Toxic Substances	3603	Virgin Islands	2023	1.46
Tropical Storm	4567	New York	2020	780.37
Tsunami	1968	California	2011	37.7
Typhoon	4404	Northern Mariana Islands	2018	281.94
Volcanic Eruption	4201	Hawaii	2014	11.13
Volcano	4366	Hawaii	2018	124.89
Wildfire	4407	California	2018	1306.46
Winter Storm	4644	Virginia	2022	111.85

1. Introduction

The Public Assistance (PA) Program is FEMA's largest grant program, designed to provide funds that help communities respond to and recover from major declared disasters and emergencies. This analysis stems from my interest in examining FEMA's Public Assistance funding across various disaster incident types, including floods, wildfires, and earthquakes. In this analysis, I focus on exploring spending patterns by incident type, highlighting that hurricanes represent the most costly disasters. It is also worth noting that a significant portion of funding has been allocated for COVID-19-related expenditures through the PA Program. You can easily search for any incident with FEMA's Disaster and Other Declarations Search Tool.

To learn more about the formal disaster declaration process, disaster types, how FEMA gets involved, and other resources, visit FEMA's Disaster Information webpage.

I would also like to commend OpenFEMA and its team for creating such a comprehensive data repository. OpenFEMA offers a diverse array of datasets related to Disaster Assistance (both Public and Individual), the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and Hazard Mitigation. It has become one of my favorite open data platforms, featuring data formats like Parquet, a web-based data dictionary, and row-based Last Refreshed and Hash columns. I am excited for what the future holds for OpenFEMA.

Note: This analysis presents all financial figures in nominal dollars. No adjustments for inflation have been made, meaning that the values reflect the actual dollar amounts at the time of measurement. Additionally, the date and time of data access can be found in each notebook.

This analysis 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).

2. Notebooks

• FEMA's Disaster Declarations: This notebook provides a comprehensive analysis of disaster declarations from FEMA, featuring tables and charts that highlight key insights since 1953.
• FEMA's Public Assistance Program: Explore detailed insights into the Public Assistance Program through this notebook, which includes tables and charts representing funded projects, referred to as project worksheets (PWs).
• Figures: This notebook is dedicated to generating figures and tables displayed on this page. For a more detailed analysis of the Public Assistance data, refer to the public-assistance.ipynb notebook.

3. Data

1) OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2. Retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/disaster-declarations-summaries-v2. This product uses the FEMA 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).

Description:

Disaster Declarations Summaries is a summarized dataset describing all federally declared disasters. This dataset lists all official FEMA Disaster Declarations, beginning with the first disaster declaration in 1953 and features all three disaster declaration types: major disaster, emergency, and fire management assistance. The dataset includes declared recovery programs and geographic areas (county not available before 1964; Fire Management records are considered partial due to historical nature of the dataset).

2) OpenFEMA Dataset: Public Assistance Funded Projects Details - v1

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Public Assistance Funded Projects Details - v1. Retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/public-assistance-funded-projects-details-v1. This product uses the FEMA 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).

Description:

The Public Assistance Funded Projects Details dataset contains obligated (financial obligation to grantee) Public Assistance projects, lists public assistance recipients designated as applicants in the data, and a list of every funded, individual project, called project worksheets. Open projects still under pre-obligation processing are not represented. Applicant details can be obtained by relating this dataset with the OpenFEMA Public Assistance Applicants dataset using the Applicant ID field.

FEMA provides supplemental Federal disaster grant assistance for debris removal, emergency protective measures, and the repair, replacement, or restoration of disaster-damaged, publicly owned facilities and the facilities of certain Private Non-Profit (PNP) organizations through the PA Program (CDFA Number 97.036). The PA Program also encourages protection of these damaged facilities from future events by providing assistance for hazard mitigation measures during the recovery process (see FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grants Sections 404 and 406: https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230426/fema-hazard-mitigation-grants-404-and-406).

4. Additional Resources

• OpenFEMA: The public’s resource for FEMA program data. Promoting a culture of Open Government and increasing transparency, participation, and collaboration among the Whole Community in support of FEMA's mission to help people before, during, and after disasters.
• The OpenFEMA API Documentation
• OpenFEMA Data Visualizations:
  • Disaster Declarations for States and Counties
  • Public Assistance Program Summary of Obligations

5. Say Hello!

Feel free to reach out for further discussions.

• LinkedIn: markebauer
• Portfolio: mebauer.github.io
• GitHub: mebauer