diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/IncrementalBlockReportManager.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/IncrementalBlockReportManager.java
index 3b093a7f59013..f79a1ecfa927f 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/IncrementalBlockReportManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/IncrementalBlockReportManager.java
@@ -261,6 +261,9 @@ synchronized void addRDBI(ReceivedDeletedBlockInfo rdbi,
 
   synchronized void notifyNamenodeBlock(ReceivedDeletedBlockInfo rdbi,
       DatanodeStorage storage, boolean isOnTransientStorage) {
+    if (storage == null) {
+      return;
+    }
     addRDBI(rdbi, storage);
 
     final BlockStatus status = rdbi.getStatus();