FEMA Records
11
Low volume
New Mexico · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Eddy County, NM
11 FEMA disaster declarations (1984-2020), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Moderate. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 11
- FEMA declarations
- 7
- Major disasters
- 84
- NRI risk · Relatively Moderate
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
Eddy County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 11 declarations, more than 12% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 12% below the New Mexico county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 16%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 16%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Moderate
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 11
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 51
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
How does Eddy County compare?
Eddy County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time
11 12th percentile higher than 12% 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 · 2026-08-03
Eddy County's FEMA Risk Index score
FEMA National Risk Index composite score vs. the New Mexico county average
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Eddy County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $35.6M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Moderate), while Winter Weather 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 Eddy County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 51 paid claims, totaling $332.6K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $6.5K 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 Eddy County has 11. The gap is 12% 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 83.7/100 (Relatively Moderate). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $43.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Very Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Winter Weather stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at an average of 6.5 times per year here, based on 123 historical events on record.
Declaration frequency
Nationally, Eddy County's 11 FEMA records form a high-volume history; within New Mexico, however, the count is 12% below the county mean. 7 entries carry the Major Disaster classification. The largest incident group is Severe Storm, appearing 3 times. The full 36-year record averages 0.3 declarations annually. A DR label alone does not say whether Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, or both followed.
48 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Eddy 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) Moderate
8/30
11 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
11 declarations (0.9x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
7 of 11 declarations are major disasters (64%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Eddy County
Historical Declaration Activity
Activity Band
High
vs. New Mexico Avg
-12%
State avg: 12.5
vs. National Avg
-47%
National avg: 20.7
Avg Per Year
0.3
Over 36 years
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Eddy 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
64%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
84
Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Eddy 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 6.5 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 4.6 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 732 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 127 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively High | roughly once every 2 years |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 4.9 modeled event-days per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | an average of 48 times per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 3,484 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 138 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 3
Fire 3
Biological 2
Flood 2
Hurricane 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on Eddy County's record, 27% of its declarations. In FEMA's vocabulary this covers convective weather: thunderstorm straight-line winds, large hail, and the multi-day outbreaks that often carry embedded tornadoes. Activity is heaviest in spring and summer, though the season varies by region.
These events behave differently from a hurricane on paper. Damage tends to be distributed along a storm track rather than concentrated on a coastline, and a declaration typically follows an outbreak that crossed several counties over a few days, not a single point of impact. Because the qualifying threshold is the cost of uninsured public and individual losses rather than storm intensity, two similar storms can produce a declaration in one year and none in another.
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 63.6%
of all 11 declarations
Emergency - 3 27.3%
of all 11 declarations
Fire Management - 1 9.1%
of all 11 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 11 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 11 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4529 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3460 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4199 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-10-29 |
| 4152 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-10-29 |
| 2600 | SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2006-01-02 |
| 3229 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1514 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-04-29 |
| 1329 | SEVERE FOREST FIRE | DR | Fire | 2000-05-13 |
| 3154 | SEVERE FIRE THREATS | EM | Fire | 2000-05-10 |
| 1202 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-01-29 |
| 722 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1984-09-06 |
Storm Events in New Mexico
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Eddy 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
51
Total Paid
$332.6K
Avg Per Claim
$6.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Moderate
Score: 83.7/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$43.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Winter Weather Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Wildfire Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Moderate
Ice Storm Relatively High
Strong Wind Relatively Moderate
Heat Wave Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Avalanche Very Low
Landslide Very Low
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: Winter Weather
Winter Weather in the model means the accumulation of snow and cold that disrupts rather than destroys: road closures, roof loads, burst pipes and lost heating. Its costs land heavily on transport and on households least able to absorb an interruption.
Worth noting for Eddy County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Winter Weather carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Severe Storm. 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
Eddy County's closest FEMA peer: Glynn County, GA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Eddy County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
Eddy County: NRI composite 83.7 (Relatively Moderate).
Similar Major-disaster share
Eddy County: 7 of 11 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
Eddy County shows 11 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
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 Eddy County - capture-dated entries only.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Eddy County's NFIP claims file (51 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).
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Eddy County?
The most common disaster type in Eddy County is Severe Storm, with 3 declarations. Other disaster types include Fire (3), Biological (2), Flood (2).
How does Eddy County's FEMA declaration record compare with the New Mexico average?
The typical New Mexico county has 12.5 FEMA declaration records; Eddy County has 11, or 12% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 47% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Eddy County received?
Eddy County has received 7 major disaster declarations, representing 64% of all 11 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Eddy County filed?
Eddy County has 51 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $332.6K in payments, with an average of $6.5K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Eddy County?
No. In Eddy County, Winter Weather has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $35.6M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Eddy County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Eddy County was 2000, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1984 to 2020.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Eddy County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Eddy County, New Mexico has an overall risk score of 83.7 out of 100 (Relatively Moderate). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Moderate and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $43.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Eddy County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Eddy County as of the latest release is Winter Weather (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively Moderate) and Wildfire (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts winter weather here at an average of 6.5 times per year, drawn from 123 historical events on record. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, 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.
What this means for Eddy County
Against a New Mexico county mean of 12 declarations, Eddy County, NM records 11, or 12% fewer. PlainHazard classifies that historical total as high activity.
- Major Disaster is the largest group (7 of 11) in a declaration history that remains below its state benchmark; frequency here is not a forecast. New Mexico overview
- Nationally the county exceeds 12% of recorded county totals, but its own New Mexico benchmark is higher. The ranking keeps those two contexts separate. Most-disaster rankings
- Use the data guide to separate this mid-volume insurance-claims file from declaration counts and modeled NRI risk. Disaster-data guide
A below-average federal record is not a safety guarantee. Use National Weather Service alerts and local emergency-management notices for present conditions, not this historical comparison.
PlainHazard derives this profile from FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries and National Risk Index data. The declaration comparison covers 3,266 U.S. counties and county equivalents in this database, refreshed as of 2026-08-03. Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- FEMA OpenFEMA, Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 - all federally-declared disasters for this county. fema.gov/openfema/disaster-declarations
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) - per-county per-hazard risk ratings and expected annual loss. hazards.fema.gov/nri
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database - state-level storm/severe-weather event records, 2015-2025. ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainHazard Editorial
Verify with FEMA → · Verify with FEMA NRI → · Verify with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.