HARTFORD, September 20 — Connecticut has averaged one federally declared disaster per year over the most recent five full years of Federal Emergency Management Agency data, yet the state has gone two consecutive calendar years without a single declaration, according to USAFacts. The nonprofit’s state-level answer page, updated September 14, 2026, and refreshed monthly, shows zero disasters declared in Connecticut in 2026 as of September 3, and zero in 2025.
The figures sit inside a national series that breaks out disaster counts by state, drawing on FEMA data and published under USAFacts’ Environment section. That gap between the long-run average and the recent record is the point.
The page’s chart of state disasters by type over time shows recent yearly counts of 0, 0, and 1 for Connecticut — a reminder that annual totals can swing well away from the average, and that a quiet stretch is not a permanent condition.
What counts as a declaration
Disaster declarations are formal requests for federal aid when state, local, or tribal resources are overwhelmed. The president approves them when the president determines federal support is necessary. USAFacts identifies two primary types.
A major disaster declaration applies to hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, floods, earthquakes, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, landslides, mudslides, droughts, explosions, and other severe natural events, and typically causes widespread damage requiring long-term recovery efforts. An emergency declaration is issued when the president determines federal assistance is needed to protect lives, property, or public health and safety; aid is capped at $5 million and is intended for urgent crises, which can include public health emergencies such as COVID-19, terrorist attacks, power outages, or events related to natural disasters.
A third type, fire management, applies to managing and suppressing fires. Declarations vary due to the type and severity of disasters, whether the president approves requests for federal assistance, and other factors, according to USAFacts.
Why the count matters
For a state, the declaration tally is a rough proxy for how often federal money and coordination get pulled into local recovery. Connecticut’s recent zeros do not mean nothing happened on the ground — they mean no request cleared the threshold for a presidential declaration in those years. The USAFacts page carries a dateModified of 2026-09-14T18:54:42.883Z and an effectiveDateUpdated of 2026-09-14T18:50:37.023Z, with the underlying data attributed to FEMA.
USAFacts is a nonprofit organization founded by Steve Ballmer. Watch the monthly refresh.
With the 2026 count still at zero as of early September, the next update will show whether Connecticut closes the year below its one-per-year average for a third straight time — or whether a single event resets the picture.
