Recovery |

Active Disaster Declarations

(click to open either declaration for more information)

How a Disaster Gets Declared

The information below provides procedural information regarding the Stafford Act declaration process and is intended for emergency managers, elected officials, media, and stakeholders interested in the formal declaration process. All emergency and major disaster declarations are made solely at the discretion of the President of the United States.

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5207 (the Stafford Act) §401 states in part that: “All requests for a declaration by the President that a major disaster exists shall be made by the Governor of the affected State.” A State also includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Republic of Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia are also eligible to request a declaration and receive assistance through the Compacts of Free Association.

As a result of the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act, federally recognized Indian tribal governments now have the option of pursuing a declaration directly from the President. FEMA has developed Tribal Declarations Pilot Guidance, which provides more detailed and specific guidance for Tribal requests.

FEMA has codified the declaration process at 44 C.F.R. Part §206, Subpart B.

Presidential Disaster & Emergency Declaration History

Since 1955 Northampton County has been declared a Presidential Disaster area seventeen (17) times and provided an Emergency Declaration a total of seven (7) times.

See a full list of all Presidential Disaster & Emergency Declarations below that included Northampton County.

(Date – Event – DR and/or EM #)

August 1955	Hurricane Diane	DR-40
August 1965	Drought	DR-206
June 1972	Tropical Storm Agnes	DR-340
July 1973	Flooding	DR-400
March 1993	Heavy Snowfall	EM-3105
March 1994	Winter Storm	DR-1015
January 1996	Blizzard	DR-1085
January 1996	Flooding	DR-1093

February 2003	Winter Storm	EM-3180
September 2004	Tropical Depression Ivan	DR-1557
April 2005	Flooding	DR-1587
September 2005	Hurricane Katrina	EM-3235
June 2006	Flooding	DR-1649
September 2011	Hurricane Irene	DR-4025
September 2011	Hurricane Irene	EM-3339
September 2011	Tropical Storm Lee	DR-4030

September 2011	Tropical Storm Lee	EM-3340
October 2012	Hurricane Sandy	EM-3356
January 2013	Hurricane Sandy	DR-4099
March 2016	Winter Storm	DR-4267
August 2018	Flooding	DR-4408
January 2020	COVID-19 Pandemic	EM-3441
January 2020	COVID-19 Pandemic	DR-4506
September 2021	Hurricane Ida	DR-4618

How to Conduct a Preliminary Damage Assessment

Local Damage Assessment – The process starts at the local level where damage details are initially collected, shared, and validated by state, tribal and territorial authorities.
State or Tribal Verification – The state, tribe or territory generally has thirty (30) days from the start of the incident to determine whether or not federal assistance in the form of FEMA Individual Assistance, Public Assistance or other federal programs may be necessary.
Joint PDA – If the incident is of a severity and magnitude that resources needed to recover are expected to exceed local and state or tribal government capability, the director of the state or tribal emergency management agency may request a Joint PDA from the appropriate FEMA Regional Administrator to validate damage and evaluate impact. This request should include any counties or tribal lands to be assessed and will begin discussion on the general timeline for the Joint PDA. Together, the team will conduct a thorough assessment of the impacted area to determine: the extent of the disaster, its impact on individuals and public facilities, and the types of federal assistance that may be needed.
FEMA Regional Office – Once a request for a Joint PDA is made, a summary of the information verified by the state or tribal emergency management should be provided to the FEMA Regional Recovery Division. FEMA programmatic representatives should coordinate with state or tribal emergency management agencies to discuss the information submitted, determine team requirements, establish a PDA briefing time and location, and develop an overall PDA coordinating plan.
FEMA Headquarters – FEMA Headquarters reviews the request to ensure it’s consistent with declaration policy and process. The FEMA Administrator will then review the request, informs and makes recommendations provided by the Regional Administrator.
President – The President of the United States makes the disaster declaration decision.