Fema MCP Server

@cyanheads/fema-mcp-server Query FEMA disaster declarations, public assistance grants, housing aid, and NFIP flood insurance claims via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP. 8 Tools • 1 Opt-in Tool • 1 Resource • 1 Skill

Public Hosted Server: https://fema.caseyjhand.com/mcp

Overview

Federal disaster recovery data from FEMA: disaster declarations, public assistance grants, individual housing assistance, and NFIP flood insurance claims. Search declarations by state or incident, see the public and housing assistance behind any disaster, and run SQL over large flood-claim result sets.

Tools

fema_dataframe_drop is opt-in: it appears in tools/list only when FEMA_ENABLE_CANVAS_DROP=true. The other eight tools are always listed.

Resources

All resource data is also reachable via tools. Use fema_get_disaster for designated-area detail (up to 1,000 rows).

Skills

Plugin installs pick up the root skills/ tree; MCP clients that support the Skills extension read it as skill://fema-guide/SKILL.md.

Capability reference

fema_search_disasters tool

• Filters: title, state, incident_type, declaration_type (DR/EM/FM), inclusive date_from/date_to (YYYY-MM-DD), and county. title, incident_type, and county are case-insensitive substring matches. A title such as harvey also matches unrelated names such as HARVEYTOWN FIRE. Page with limit (1–1000, default 50) and offset; a page stops at 100,000 characters and next_offset says where to resume.
• Returns one summary per disaster number with designated_area_count, program flags, and declaration totals. With county, total_area_rows and matched_areas (FIPS codes and per-area flags) show the matching areas. Errors: invalid_state, invalid_range (date_from after date_to), request_too_long.
• Searches the most recent 10,000 designated-area rows. When capped, results are marked truncated, totals are lower bounds, and notice names the next date_to.

County filters across declarations, housing, and PA recognize terminal County, Parish, Borough, and Census Area forms with or without parentheses (Harris County and Harris (County)). Recognized names use the stored counterpart spelling; unknown names retain exact/case fallbacks. Bare harris still matches Harrison; a suffixed name retains its type. IA flags combine legacy IA and IHP declarations; they do not guarantee housing records.

fema_get_disaster tool

• Requires disaster_number from fema_search_disasters.
• Returns up to 1,000 designated-area records with FIPS codes and each area's ia_declared, pa_declared, and hm_declared flags, incident period, and program flags combined across fetched areas; a missing disaster returns not_found. When more rows exist, areas_truncated, total_designated_area_count, and notice disclose partial coverage. False flags do not exclude programs in unfetched rows; use fema_query_dataset for the full declaration.

fema_get_public_assistance tool

• Requires disaster_number or state; optional county (case-insensitive substring), limit (1–10000, default 100), and offset. A page stops at 100,000 characters; next_offset says where to resume.
• Returns applicants, damage categories, project size/status, and federal and total obligations. Errors: invalid_state, missing_filter, not_found, request_too_long.

fema_get_housing_assistance tool

• Requires disaster_number; optional state, county (case-insensitive substring), zip_code (5 digits), type (owners/renters/both, default both), limit (1–10000, default 100), and offset. A page stops at 100,000 characters; one next_offset continues both owners and renters.
• Returns separate owners and renters arrays with county/ZIP registrations, approved amounts, and inspection counts, plus owners_count/renters_count. Owners also carry inspected damage in USD; renters carry damage-degree counts only. Errors: invalid_state, not_found, request_too_long.

fema_search_nfip tool

• Requires state; optional county_code (5-digit FIPS like 48201, or a 3-digit code like 201 that gets the state prefix), zip_code, year_from/year_to, limit (1–10000, default 1000), and offset. Results come newest loss first.
• Inline claims stop at 100,000 characters; next_offset and notice say how to continue. Errors: invalid_state, invalid_county_code (anything but 1–5 digits, or a short code for FM, MH, or PW), invalid_range (year_from after year_to).
• County searches check for claims without a county code across the same state/year range, using one count-only exchange with no retries and a two-second deadline. The response uses the count only if ready with the primary page; otherwise it says coverage was not checked. These claims cannot be allocated to the selected county or ZIP. Removing county_code and optionally searching known ZIPs may help; ZIP results are not guaranteed complete or equivalent to a county.
• With DataCanvas on (the default), a first-page match over the inline limit stages up to 50,000 rows. canvas_id, canvas_table, and staged_count identify the stage, truncated: true marks its cap, and total_count is the full match. Inspect it with fema_dataframe_describe, then query it with fema_dataframe_query.

fema_dataframe_describe tool

• Requires canvas_id from fema_search_nfip.
• Lists table/view names, column types, nullability, and staged row counts. Typed errors: canvas_not_found, canvas_unavailable.

fema_dataframe_query tool

• Requires canvas_id and a single SQL query; only SELECT is allowed.
• Rows are capped at the canvas row limit and 100,000 characters; truncated/shown and OFFSET guidance appear when the result is cut. Errors: canvas_unavailable, canvas_not_found, missing_table, invalid_sql, non_select_statement, multi_statement, denied_function, plan_operator_not_allowed, sql_read_only, sql_execution_error (use TRY_CAST or filter incompatible values).

fema_dataframe_drop tool

• Requires canvas_id and the exact table_name from fema_dataframe_describe.
• Removes one staged table or view; dropped: false means the name did not exist. Errors: canvas_not_found, canvas_unavailable.
• Opt-in through FEMA_ENABLE_CANVAS_DROP=true.

fema_query_dataset tool

• Requires a case-sensitive OpenFEMA dataset; optional OData filter/select/orderby, limit (1–10000, default 100), and offset. A page stops at 100,000 characters; next_offset says where to resume.
• Returns records and total_count. Errors: unknown_dataset, dataset_not_served, catalog_unavailable (retryable), invalid_filter, invalid_select, invalid_orderby, invalid_odata_syntax, request_too_long (URL past about 8,900 characters), filter_too_complex (nested more than 100 levels).
• For a list of values, use field in ('a','b') instead of chained or comparisons (about 90 allowed). For NfipPolicies, use propertyState and reportedZipCode, and always include a ZIP filter to avoid timeout.

fema://disaster/{disasterNumber} resource

• Requires disasterNumber as a string of digits.
• Returns title, state, incident type, declaration type/date, incident period, programs_declared, and fetched designated_area_count (up to 500). When more rows exist, the summary includes areas_truncated, total_designated_area_count, and notice: programs describe only fetched rows, and an empty list does not establish absence. Use fema_query_dataset for full rows. not_found points to fema_search_disasters.

Features

Built on @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core: stdio and Streamable HTTP transports, pluggable auth (none / jwt / oauth), swappable storage (in-memory, filesystem, Supabase, Cloudflare KV/R2/D1), structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing.

OpenFEMA-specific:

• Case-insensitive county and incident type filters, using bundled declaration names plus exact PA county spellings. Refresh with `bun run vocabul