FEMA Disaster Declarations
July 28 – August 10, 2026 Updated Aug 10
Every published chapter of The Fold's coverage of FEMA Disaster Declarations, in one place — oldest to newest, updated as the story develops.
West Virginia and Kentucky are waiting on three disaster declarations. FEMA’s own records show the median wait this year is 53 days
Two governors have three pending requests between them, one of them expedited. The federal register of declarations shows what usually happens next — and that emergency declarations arrive in a day while the ones that pay households take months.
FEMA has started releasing disaster declarations in batches. All 35 this year came on seven days
FEMA approved five major disaster declarations at once on Monday. Every one of 2026's 35 has landed on one of seven days, and the median wait from a state's request is now 47 days.
The Pueblo of Acoma waited 251 days for a disaster declaration, the longest in FEMA’s record
FEMA publishes the date a request arrives and the date it is answered. Put them end to end and DR-4918 is the slowest of 2,870 major disasters going back to 1953.