FEMA Records
10
Low volume
New Mexico · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Doña Ana County, NM
10 FEMA disaster declarations (1972-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively High. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 10
- FEMA declarations
- 7
- Major disasters
- 96
- NRI risk · Relatively High
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Doña Ana County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 10 declarations, more than 10% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 20% below the New Mexico county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 4%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 4%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 10
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 208
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records; an EM authorizes a narrower set of federal assistance than a DR.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 35013 · Doña Ana County 10 declarations · rank 2927/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-MID 10
- MAJOR-MID 70%
- RANK-LOWER #2,927
- PHOTO-FINISH Cheyenne
- NRI-HIGH 96
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -20%
Nearest declaration peer: Cheyenne, NE (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · New Mexico state profile
Doña Ana County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Doña Ana County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Cheyenne · near 10
Cheyenne · near
10 declarations
- Clinton · near 10
Clinton · near
10 declarations
- Doña Ana · this county 10
Doña Ana · this county
10 declarations
- Golden Valley · near 10
Golden Valley · near
10 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Doña Ana County carries 10 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2927 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Doña Ana County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Doña Ana County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Doña Ana County
10 10th percentile higher than 10% of 3,266 counties
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-25
Doña Ana County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Doña Ana County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $133.2M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Drought carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High). EAL and risk score use different inputs; they need not agree.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025 release) - Expected Annual Loss vs composite risk rating by hazard.
What does Doña Ana County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 208 paid claims, totaling $4.9M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $23.5K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a New Mexico county averages 12.5 federal declaration records, while Doña Ana County has 10. The gap is 20% below that mean. Fewer entries indicate a quieter history of recorded federal actions, not immunity from a hazard and not a prediction about what happens next.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 96.1/100 (Relatively High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Moderate (roughly $163.6M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively High and community resilience Very Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Drought stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 74 modeled event-days per year here, based on 2,772 historical events on record.
48 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Doña Ana County, NM · PlainHazard-derived composite from federal records
This 0–100 index is an explicit PlainHazard composite from FEMA declaration history only on the county surface (this DB has no county-level NOAA damage row) . It is not FEMA's National Risk Index, not a forecast, and not a safety, insurance, or preparedness rating. Open the calculator · Methodology
FEMA Declarations (1953–present) Low
7/30
10 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
10/25
10 declarations (0.8x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share High
18/25
7 of 10 declarations are major disasters (70%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Doña Ana County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Doña Ana County
How to read this radar
Each axis: NRI risk rating (Very Low-Very High) on a 0-100 scale. Rounder = broad exposure; spiky = one or two hazards dominate.
Major Disaster share
70%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
96
Relatively High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Doña Ana County?
FEMA's National Risk Index models a historical event count and an annualized frequency for each hazard type. Most hazards are expressed as modeled occurrences per year; FEMA expresses drought and heat-wave frequency as event-days per year. These modeled frequencies are not forecasts.
| Hazard | NRI Risk Rating | Recurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively High | 74 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 2.5 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Very High | an average of 2.4 times per year |
| Lightning | Very High | an average of 52 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 4.4 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 661 years |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 3,254 years |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 9 years |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 24 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 169 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 8 years |
| Volcanic Activity | No Rating | roughly once every 10,000 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 3
Biological 2
Severe Storm 2
Fire 2
Hurricane 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Doña Ana County's record, 30% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
Declaration counts describe past federal action. They are a record of what was declared, not a forecast of future hazard probability.
Declaration Types
What DR / EM / FM mean
FEMA categorizes declarations as Major Disasters (DR), Emergencies (EM), or Fire Management Assistance (FM).
Major Disaster - 7 70.0%
of all 10 declarations
Emergency - 3 30.0%
of all 10 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 2 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 10 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 10 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4886 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2025-07-22 |
| 4529 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3460 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4152 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-10-29 |
| 1659 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-08-30 |
| 3229 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1329 | SEVERE FOREST FIRE | DR | Fire | 2000-05-13 |
| 3154 | SEVERE FIRE THREATS | EM | Fire | 2000-05-10 |
| 1301 | SEVERE ICE STORMS, FLOODING AND HEAVY RAINS | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-09-22 |
| 353 | HEAVY RAINS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-09-20 |
Storm Events in New Mexico
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Doña Ana County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drought | 3,382 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| High Wind | 2,351 | 0 | 3 | $18.9M |
| Hail | 1,669 | 1 | 24 | $17.2M |
| Heavy Snow | 986 | 6 | 72 | $2.5M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 952 | 1 | 13 | $25.1M |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
208
Total Paid
$4.9M
Avg Per Claim
$23.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively High
Score: 96.1/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Moderate
$163.6M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Winter Weather Very High
Lightning Very High
Hail Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Landslide Very Low
Avalanche Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Volcanic Activity No Rating
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for Doña Ana County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. That is not a contradiction, the two measure genuinely different things. Declarations record federal ACTION, which requires damage costly enough to exceed state and local capacity; the Risk Index models EXPECTED annual loss across all 18 hazards whether or not any declaration ever followed. A hazard can be the county's largest modeled exposure and never once have driven a declaration.
National Risk Index ratings are modeled estimates of expected annual loss, not predictions of what will happen in any given year.
Data-matched county comparisons
Doña Ana County's closest FEMA peer: New Hanover County, NC
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Doña Ana County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Doña Ana County: NRI composite 96.1 (Relatively High).
Similar Major-disaster share
Doña Ana County: 7 of 10 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Doña Ana County shows 10 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
How these peers are chosen
Cohort: Published U.S. county equivalents outside the source state or territory. Each metric keeps six ETL candidates; three unique destinations are shown after de-duplicating across axes. Declaration-volume ranking combines count and Major-disaster share and prefers a different leading incident type; Major-share ranks the Major fraction adjusted for volume; NRI ranks the modeled composite score only.
Retained FEMA snapshot feed for Doña Ana County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Doña Ana County: nearest out-of-state National Risk Index composite and nearest FEMA declaration count (floor ≥5 records). Record similarity only, not a forecast of the next hazard.
Similar NRI composite
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA NRI score. This county: 96.1 (Relatively High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 10. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Doña Ana County's NFIP claims file (208 claims) and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records - this guide separates them from modeled NRI risk.
More PlainHazard guides
- Most disaster-prone counties - U.S. counties ranked by FEMA declaration totals.
- Understanding disaster data - declarations vs storm events vs NRI scores.
- Preparing for natural disasters - household checklist (not county-specific advice).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Doña Ana County?
The most common disaster type in Doña Ana County is Flood, with 3 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Severe Storm (2), Fire (2).
How does Doña Ana County's FEMA declaration record compare with the New Mexico average?
The typical New Mexico county has 12.5 FEMA declaration records; Doña Ana County has 10, or 20% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 52% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Doña Ana County received?
Doña Ana County has received 7 major disaster declarations, representing 70% of all 10 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Doña Ana County filed?
Doña Ana County has 208 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.9M in payments, with an average of $23.5K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Doña Ana County?
No. In Doña Ana County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $133.2M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Doña Ana County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Doña Ana County was 2000, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1972 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Doña Ana County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Doña Ana County, New Mexico has an overall risk score of 96.1 out of 100 (Relatively High). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively High, while community resilience comes in at Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Moderate, representing $163.6M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Doña Ana County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Doña Ana County is Drought (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively High) and Winter Weather (Very High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 74 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 2,772 historical events on record. The underlying methodology weighs historical event frequency against exposed assets and community vulnerability.
Data Sources & Methodology
Disaster declaration data comes from the FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 API, which includes all federally declared disasters, emergencies, and fire management assistance grants.
Storm event data is sourced from the NOAA Storm Events Database (2015-2025), which tracks significant weather events including thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, and winter storms.
Flood insurance data comes from the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA claims dataset.
This data is provided for informational purposes only. FEMA disaster declarations represent federal response actions and may not capture all local emergencies or weather events.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Doña Ana County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · New Mexico profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events