Automated baseline from FEMA and NOAA data, release 2026-10.

Carroll County, MD

Risk-assessment baseline packet. County FIPS 24013. Release 2026-10, data as of 2026-09-30.

Summary

Plan status as of 2026-09-30: Approved, expires 2028-04-17. Plan: Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736), approved 2023-04-18.

Since the plan was approved on 2023-04-18: 1 new hazard declaration (1 incident) and 127 NOAA Storm Events records; details under "What changed since your last plan".

Highest expected annual loss (FEMA National Risk Index, modeled total; see B1-a): Inland Flooding ($17,745,275 a year), Strong Wind ($4,292,262) and Hurricane ($1,989,975).

The packet's tables are organized by the items of FEMA's Local Mitigation Plan Review Tool, Element B (B1-a to B2-c); the summaries below follow the same order.

Download the packet

Full packet as a web page. File manifest (checksums, source versions).

Plan clock

Approved, expires 2028-04-17

Plan:
Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736)
Approved:
2023-04-18
Days to expiry:
565

What changed since your last plan (approved 2023-04-18)

New federal declarations:
1 new hazard declaration (1 incident): EM-3634-MD (Severe Winter Storm)
Storm Events records since approval:
127 records (data through 2026-06-30)
Repetitive loss now:
FMA RL 1, SRL 2 (44 CFR 77.2); any definition: 10
Repeat-flood change:
this release sets the baseline count.

Plan status for every jurisdiction listed in this county

9 jurisdictions. Each row is that jurisdiction's own plan clock. Notes include other approved plans FEMA lists for the same jurisdiction.

JurisdictionTypeStatusPlanApprovedExpiresDays to expirynegative = days since expiryUpdate underwayNotes
Carroll CountyCountyApproved, expires 2028-04-17Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736)2023-04-182028-04-17565
Hampstead townTownApproved, expires 2028-04-17Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736)2023-04-182028-04-17565
Manchester townTownApproved, expires 2028-04-17Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736)2023-04-182028-04-17565This jurisdiction approved 2023-05-09.
Mount Airy townTownApproved, expires 2027-05-18Frederick County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108151)2022-05-192027-05-18230FEMA tracker shows plan 108736 (Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan) approvable pending adoption, expiring 2028-04-17This jurisdiction approved 2022-11-07.
New Windsor townTownApproved, expires 2028-04-17Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736)2023-04-182028-04-17565This jurisdiction approved 2023-06-07.
Sykesville townTownApproved, expires 2028-04-17Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736)2023-04-182028-04-17565This jurisdiction approved 2024-03-11.
Taneytown cityCityPlan 108736 approved 2023-04-18, pending adoption here; not yet eligibleCarroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736), pending adoption here2023-04-18 by FEMA; not yet adopted here2028-04-17 once adoptedNot yet eligible: adopt the plan FEMA lists as approvable pending adoption.
Union Bridge townTownApproved, expires 2028-04-17Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736)2023-04-182028-04-17565This jurisdiction approved 2023-09-25.
Westminster cityCityApproved, expires 2028-04-17Carroll County Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 108736)2023-04-182028-04-17565This jurisdiction approved 2024-03-11.

State plan status and tribal plans in this state: see the state page.

What the packet contains

Sections in FEMA checklist order; each heading names the review item its tables support. Full tables are in the downloads above.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-a Hazard identification

15 of the 18 National Risk Index hazards apply here.

Not applicable to this county per NRI, with no federal declaration and no Storm Events record since 1996: coastal flooding, tsunami and volcanic activity. That is the evidence for leaving them out of the plan.

Highest expected annual loss (NRI, modeled): Inland Flooding, Strong Wind and Hurricane.

Not covered by NRI (local data needed): dam failure (incl. upstream dams); levee failure; flash flood as its own subtype; ice jams; debris flows; erosion (riverine and coastal); land subsidence and sinkholes; expansive soils.

The state hazard mitigation plan also lists hazards for this county; FEMA asks the plan to explain any hazard it leaves out.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-b Hazard location

  • Avalanche, Earthquake, Hurricane, Landslide, Tornado and Wildfire vary within the county; the packet lists the highest-rated census tracts for each.
  • Cold Wave, Drought, Hail, Heat Wave, Ice Storm, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather: affects the whole county; national data give no location within it.
  • Inland Flooding: the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) is the required location source for flooding. See the FEMA Flood Map Service Center (https://msc.fema.gov) for this county.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-c Hazard extent

Storm Events records for 13 of the 20 NOAA event-type groups mapped to the 18 hazards, with the scale, observed range and worst recorded event for each; the others say which local data are needed.

Worst recorded tornado, hail and thunderstorm wind (the three event types on record since the 1950s; the packet has every group):

  • Hail: 2.5 in hail, 2000-05-10; same size also recorded on 1998-06-16
  • Thunderstorm Wind: 78 kt (90 mph) estimated gust, Thunderstorm Wind, 2023-08-07, 2 direct injuries; same speed and measurement basis also recorded on 2019-07-22
  • Tornado: F3 tornado, 1996-07-19, 2.2 mi within this county, 350 yd wide, $5,000,000 property; $20,000 crops (1996 dollars), 3 direct injuries

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-d Previous occurrences

Federal declarations for this area: 19 declarations covering 15 separate hazard incidents counted in this packet; each with type, dates and county Public Assistance dollars.

New since the last plan (approved 2023-04-18): EM-3634-MD.

1 statewide declaration listed separately.

Hazards with no Storm Events record and no federal declaration are stated as such (7 of 18).

Storm Events history: 1,048 records (notable ones in the PDF, all of them in the Excel file).

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-e Probability of future events

FEMA annualized frequency (modeled) for each hazard, with a descriptor from a scale defined in the packet.

  • Highly likely: Hail, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather
  • Likely: Cold Wave, Drought, Heat Wave, Ice Storm, Inland Flooding, Landslide and Tornado
  • Possible: Avalanche and Hurricane
  • Unlikely: Earthquake and Wildfire

Historical frequency by intensity band (tornado, hail, wind): 9 bands from Storm Events.

Supports FEMA checklist item B1-f Hazards that vary across jurisdictions

Range of census tract risk scores within the area for 15 of the 18 hazards (37 tracts; rated tracts only).

9 jurisdictions: plan clock, repeat-flood count, Public Assistance dollars and event records naming the place (starting figures from federal data).

County Public Assistance in B1-d also includes applicants filed under the county that are not matched to a jurisdiction row here (for example county offices and boards filed under their own names, such as a sheriff's office or a conservation board, and state agencies, special districts and nonprofits), so the jurisdiction rows add up to less.

Supports FEMA checklist items B2-a and B2-b Vulnerability and potential impacts

The packet's table gives county-level starting figures; the plan describes impacts for each jurisdiction and its own assets.

Storm Events damage since 2023-04-18: $42,859,000 in county-coded records (98 records); $0 reported for the zone (29 zone records). Data through 2026-06-30; nominal dollars.

Local data needed

To gather:

  • Critical facilities and lifelines per hazard
  • A problem statement per jurisdiction per hazard
  • Changes in development in hazard-prone areas since the last approval, or a statement of none (E1-a)
  • Future assets

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-a Vulnerability (county context)

Population 172,826; building value $35,743,227,358 and agriculture value $142,211,139 (total, not at risk).

National Risk Index rating Relatively Low; social vulnerability Very Low; community resilience Very High.

Supports FEMA checklist item B2-c Repetitive loss properties

Repetitive-loss properties, FMA definition (44 CFR 77.2): 1 repetitive loss, 2 severe repetitive loss. NFIP insurance definition: 10 and 2.

Mitigated 2; insured 4; NFIP data as of 2026-08-02. Counts by occupancy group and for each jurisdiction are in the packet.

Releases

Each release is dated; this is release 2026-10. It was first published 2026-09-30; its files do not change except for dated corrections listed on the changelog (corrected 2026-10-01). Later releases will be listed here with what changed between them. All releases.

Cite this

Hazard Plain (2026). Carroll County, MD: risk-assessment baseline packet, release 2026-10 (data as of 2026-09-30; County FIPS 24013). Automated baseline. https://hazardplain.org/md/24013/ Built from FEMA OpenFEMA, the FEMA National Risk Index and NOAA NCEI Storm Events; source versions in the packet's Sources list.

Source citations for the plan's bibliography (8)

How this packet is built: methods and sources