Last updated: · Scores from FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025)
Cecil County lines the east bank of the Susquehanna River where it reaches the Chesapeake Bay, and its risk follows the water. Inland flooding accounts for $10.6 million of the county's $23.2 million in expected annual losses, 46%. The county's early mitigation grants followed the same line: its largest category of FEMA spending is buyouts of flood-prone properties along rivers.
What drives the risk
FEMA's inland flooding model counts rain that overwhelms drainage as well as rivers leaving their banks. The National Weather Service describes Port Deposit, a historic town running about a mile along the east bank, as one of two flood-vulnerable communities below Conowingo Dam. In September 2011, the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee pushed the river at Conowingo to 32.41 feet, its third-highest crest in 43 years of records, and Port Deposit's mayor ordered a voluntary evacuation of Main Street.
Drought ranks second, at $2.4 million a year, the largest drought loss of any Maryland county. FEMA counts drought only as crop damage, and Cecil has $176.2 million in agricultural value; agriculture accounts for 13% of the county's expected losses.
FEMA rates Cecil's overall risk relatively low, with relatively low social vulnerability and relatively high community resilience.
Where the mitigation money has gone
FEMA lists 12 funded projects since fiscal 1999, worth $2.1 million in federal share, almost all of it from the post-disaster Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. Four grants between fiscal 1999 and 2006 bought out 18 flood-prone properties along rivers for about $893 thousand. Since then the grants have gone to public awareness, planning, a warning system and two property elevations, in North East and Elkton. Two applications from Rising Sun under DR-4491, Maryland's COVID-19 declaration, for a buyout and floodplain restoration, are still listed as pending.
The mitigation plan
The 2022 update covers the county and all eight towns: Cecilton, Charlestown, Chesapeake City, Elkton, North East, Perryville, Port Deposit and Rising Sun. FEMA approved it in October 2022, the County Council adopted it on January 3, 2023, and FEMA's approval runs through October 16, 2027. FEMA lists the next update as in progress.
What we'd look at next
Cecil has already shown it can move people out of harm's way along its rivers, but that work stalled after 2006. The plan update due before October 2027 is the place to rebuild the pipeline: a ranked list of river-corridor properties, with owners' interest confirmed and cost estimates done, so the county can move quickly when the next Susquehanna flood brings post-disaster money.
Hazards ranked by expected annual loss
What FEMA expects each hazard to cost Cecil County in an average year, in damage to buildings and crops and in the dollar value it puts on deaths and injuries. Inland flooding leads at $10.6M a year.
- Inland Flooding$10.6M46%
- Drought$2.4M10%
- Strong Wind$1.9M8%
- Hurricane$1.8M8%
- Heat Wave$1.6M7%
- Tornado$1.4M6%
- Cold Wave$1.2M5%
- Earthquake$953K4%
Of the $23.2M total: buildings $13.7M, people $6.5M, agriculture $3.1M.
All 18 hazards FEMA scores
| Hazard | Expected annual loss | Loss rating | Risk rating | Events on record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inland Flooding | $10.61M | Relatively Low | Relatively Low | 70 |
| Drought | $2.36M | Relatively High | Relatively High | 210 |
| Strong Wind | $1.86M | Relatively High | Relatively High | 279 |
| Hurricane | $1.76M | Relatively Moderate | Relatively Low | 24 |
| Heat Wave | $1.59M | Relatively Moderate | Relatively Low | 86 |
| Tornado | $1.35M | Relatively Low | Relatively Low | 14 |
| Cold Wave | $1.21M | Relatively Moderate | Relatively Low | 16 |
| Earthquake | $953K | Relatively Low | Relatively Low | — |
| Lightning | $396K | Relatively Moderate | Relatively Moderate | — |
| Coastal Flooding | $391K | Relatively Low | Relatively Low | — |
| Winter Weather | $375K | Relatively High | Relatively High | 202 |
| Ice Storm | $209K | Relatively Moderate | Relatively Moderate | 79 |
| Hail | $150K | Relatively Low | Very Low | 124 |
| Wildfire | $12K | Very Low | Very Low | — |
| Landslide | $3K | Very Low | Very Low | — |
| Avalanche | — | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | — |
| Tsunami | — | Insufficient Data | Insufficient Data | — |
| Volcanic Activity | — | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | — |
FEMA hazard mitigation grants
Projects FEMA has funded in Cecil County through its Hazard Mitigation Assistance programs, as OpenFEMA lists them. Grants to towns and cities inside the county count here; statewide grants don’t.
- Funded projects
- 12
- Federal share
- $2.1M
- Fiscal years
- 1999–2020
By program
- HMGP · Hazard Mitigation Grant Program$2M · 10 projects
- BRIC · Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities$30K · 1 project
- FMA · Flood Mitigation Assistance$28K · 1 project
Most recent projects
FY2020 · HMGP · Approved$69K
Elevation of Private Structures - Coastal
Elkton
FY2019 · BRIC · Closed$30K
Local Multijurisdictional Multihazard Mitigation Plan
Cecil County Department of Emergency Services
FY2014 · HMGP · Closed$96K
Elevation of Private Structures - Riverine
North East
FY2012 · HMGP · Closed$35K
Local Multihazard Mitigation Plan
Cecil (County)
FY2012 · HMGP · Closed$17K
Warning Systems (as a Component of a Planned, Adopted, and Exercised Risk Reduction Plan)
Cecil (County)
FY2010 · HMGP · Closed$267K
Public Awareness and Education (Brochures, Workshops, Videos, etc.)
Cecil (County)
FY2008 · FMA · Closed$28K
FMA or CRS Plan
Cecil County Department of Emergency Services
FY2006 · HMGP · Closed$260K
Acquisition of Private Real Property (Structures and Land) - Riverine
Cecil (County)
| FY | Project | Recipient | Federal share | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Elevation of Private Structures - CoastalHMGP · DR-4491-0026-R | Elkton | $69K | Approved |
| 2019 | Local Multijurisdictional Multihazard Mitigation PlanBRIC · PDMC-PL-03-MD-2019-003 | Cecil County Department of Emergency Services | $30K | Closed |
| 2014 | Elevation of Private Structures - RiverineHMGP · DR-4170-0011-R | North East | $96K | Closed |
| 2012 | Local Multihazard Mitigation PlanHMGP · DR-4075-0005-P | Cecil (County) | $35K | Closed |
| 2012 | Warning Systems (as a Component of a Planned, Adopted, and Exercised Risk Reduction Plan)HMGP · DR-4038-0004-F | Cecil (County) | $17K | Closed |
| 2010 | Public Awareness and Education (Brochures, Workshops, Videos, etc.)HMGP · DR-1910-0004-F | Cecil (County) | $267K | Closed |
| 2008 | FMA or CRS PlanFMA · FMA-PL-03-MD-2008-001 | Cecil County Department of Emergency Services | $28K | Closed |
| 2006 | Acquisition of Private Real Property (Structures and Land) - RiverineHMGP · DR-1652-0003-R | Cecil (County) | $260K | Closed |
What the money paid for most often
- Acquisition of Private Real Property (Structures and Land) - Riverine ×4
- Public Awareness and Education (Brochures, Workshops, Videos, etc.) ×1
- Elevation of Private Structures - Coastal ×1
- Local Multihazard Mitigation Plan ×1
Hazard mitigation plan
Cecil County 2022 Hazard Mitigation Plan Update
A multi-jurisdictional plan covering the county and all eight of its towns. FEMA's plan-status data lists the next update as in progress.
- Adopted
- January 2023
- FEMA approval runs to
- October 16, 2027
Frequently Asked Questions
Neighboring counties
About this data
Scores. FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025 release) ranks every U.S. county against all the others. A score is a percentile: a risk score of 82 means a higher value than 82% of counties. The risk index is the expected annual loss scaled up for higher social vulnerability and down for stronger community resilience. FEMA groups risk and loss into five ratings by natural breaks, and vulnerability and resilience into national fifths.
Expected annual loss is FEMA’s modeled average yearly loss from 18 natural hazards to buildings (at replacement value), crops and livestock, and people, whose expected deaths and injuries FEMA converts to dollars. It is an average, not a forecast: a low-risk county can still have a bad year.
Vulnerability and resilience. Social vulnerability comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Community Resilience Estimates. Community resilience is FEMA’s version of the University of South Carolina’s Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (2020), which counts past mitigation spending among its inputs. Vulnerability scores bottom out: 334 of the 3,144 counties scored, 8 of them in Maryland, share the lowest score, 10.6. Population is the 2020 Census count.
Grants are FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance awards in Maryland that are closed, approved, obligated or awarded: the projects in OpenFEMA’s older project file, which FEMA froze on August 31, 2026, plus the grants FEMA has managed in FEMA GO since fiscal 2020, from HMA Subapplications (both retrieved September 30, 2026). Projects FEMA now lists as withdrawn or denied are left out unless money was obligated to them. Amounts are the federal share obligated. Each grant counts toward the county it serves; 103 statewide grants ($24.1M) count toward none.
FEMA describes the index as one source for risk-reduction decisions, to weigh alongside benefit-cost analysis and local knowledge.
National Risk IndexRisk Index data (OpenFEMA)HMA Subapplications (OpenFEMA)Risk Index FAQ (FEMA, PDF)
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