Denali Borough, Alaska: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Denali Borough, Alaska has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 28.3 out of 100, higher than about 28% of US counties, with avalanches, wildfires and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $11 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Denali Borough since 2000, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5595-AK (Bear Creek Fire, declared 23 June 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Denali Borough from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Alaska All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 1,615 Buildings worth $889 million Area 12,794 sq mi Risk rank in Alaska 15 of 30 FIPS 02068
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche | Very High | 97.2 | $6.2 million | about once every 2.0 years | 15 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 84.8 | $806,468 | about once every 129 years | — |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 84.8 | $34,750 | about 31 a year | — |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 78.9 | $1.8 million | about once every 8.8 years | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 71.3 | $133 | about once every 94 years | 1 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 64.6 | $2.0 million | about 6.3 a year | 120 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 26.1 | $29,557 | about 17 a year | 317 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 2.4 | $1,156 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 1.5 | $360,518 | about once every 200 years | 0 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 1.5 | $6,294 | about 27 a year | 17,293 strikes |
| Hail | Very Low | 0.9 | $86 | about once every 529 years | 0.1 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 0.9 | $1 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 0.3 | $1 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Heat wave | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
Score: FEMA's percentile among US counties that face the hazard (higher = more risk). Expected loss: FEMA's modelled average yearly loss to buildings, people (as a statistical value) and crops. How often: FEMA's annualised frequency of the hazard in the county; for some hazards it counts event-days, so it is a rough guide, not a forecast. "Not Applicable" means FEMA does not model that hazard here.
Federal disaster declarations 8
Most common: Severe Storm 5, Fire 2, Earthquake 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 4 | Severe Storm ×3, Earthquake |
| 2010s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 3 | Fire ×2, Severe Storm |
The last 8
Widest declarations that included Denali Borough
- Severe Winter Storms and Avalanches (2000, DR-1316-AK): 15 Alaska counties designated.
- Earthquake (2002, DR-1440-AK): 7 Alaska counties designated.
- Severe Storm, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, and Landslides (2012, DR-4094-AK): 6 Alaska counties designated.
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Alaska also had 24 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 0
No tornado in NOAA's Storm Prediction Center record touched Denali Borough between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Denali Borough compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denali Borough (this page) | — | Very Low | 28.3 | Avalanche |
| Matanuska-Susitna Borough | 151 km | Relatively Moderate | 93.3 | Avalanche |
| Fairbanks North Star Borough | 208 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.5 | Landslide |
| Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area | 228 km | Relatively Low | 61.5 | Cold wave |
| Anchorage Municipality | 285 km | Relatively High | 97.4 | Earthquake |
| Southeast Fairbanks Census Area | 334 km | Relatively Low | 57.0 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Alaska, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 17.5 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 26.5 |
| Community risk factor | 0.87 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $11 million |
FEMA scales expected losses up where social vulnerability is high (people who may find it harder to prepare, evacuate or recover) and down where community resilience is high. A factor above 1 raises the risk score. For social vulnerability a high rating is worse; for resilience a high rating is better.
Prepare for Denali Borough's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Alaska · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Your property's flood zone: FEMA Flood Map Service Center ↗ — this page cannot tell you that.
- Official preparedness guidance: Ready.gov ↗ and your county emergency management office.
What this page shows, and what it misses
FEMA's National Risk Index rates a whole county against every other US county; it is a planning-level estimate for nationwide comparison, not a flood-zone map and not a substitute for a local risk assessment or the risk to one home. Declarations are presidential disaster, emergency and fire management declarations that named this county; state declarations and SBA or USDA designations are not included. Tornadoes are counted when the county is one of up to four listed on the track; 670 tornadoes that crossed a state line carry no county list in NOAA's file and are left out.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Risk Index Dataset: National Risk Index Counties - v1.20.0 (December 2025). Retrieved from https://services.arcgis.com/XG15cJAlne2vxtgt/ArcGIS/rest/services/National_Risk_Index_Counties/FeatureServer/0/query on November 2, 2026, 1:20 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets 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).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2, retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries on November 2, 2026, 1:21 PM EST. 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).
Tornado records: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, Severe Weather Database, tornadoes 1950–2025 (https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/data/1950-2025_actual_tornadoes.csv, downloaded 2 November 2026). Public domain; not endorsed by NOAA. Compiled by Global Incident Tracker.
Questions about Denali Borough
What natural disasters is Denali Borough, Alaska most at risk from?
Denali Borough, Alaska has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 28.3 out of 100, higher than about 28% of US counties, with avalanches, wildfires and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $11 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Denali Borough had?
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Denali Borough since 2000, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5595-AK (Bear Creek Fire, declared 23 June 2025). Another 24 Alaska declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Denali Borough?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Denali Borough from 1950 to 2025.
Is the National Risk Index a flood zone map?
No. The National Risk Index is a planning-level estimate for a whole county, built for nationwide comparison. It does not tell you the flood zone or the risk of a single property: for that, look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) and ask your local floodplain manager.