FEMA Records
35
Very high volume
New Mexico · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Lincoln County, NM
35 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2025), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 35
- FEMA declarations
- 18
- Major disasters
- 79
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Lincoln County. Its 35 FEMA declarations are 181% above the New Mexico county mean and exceed the count for 93% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 21%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 21%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 35
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 269
- 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 35027 · Lincoln County 35 declarations · rank 218/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-HIGH
- DECL-HEAVY 35
- MAJOR-MID 51%
- RANK-UPPER #218
- PHOTO-FINISH Okeechobee
- NRI-LOW 79
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-HIGH +181%
Nearest declaration peer: Okeechobee, FL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · New Mexico state profile
Lincoln County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Lincoln County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Brunswick · near 35
Brunswick · near
35 declarations
- Indian River · near 35
Indian River · near
35 declarations
- Lincoln · this county 35
Lincoln · this county
35 declarations
- Okeechobee · near 35
Okeechobee · near
35 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Lincoln County carries 35 FEMA declaration records, ranked 218 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Lincoln County ranks in the national declaration registry
Lincoln County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Lincoln County
35 Top 7% higher than 93% 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
Lincoln County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does Lincoln County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 269 paid claims, totaling $17.1M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $63.5K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Lincoln County's 35 federal records stand 181% above the New Mexico county mean of 12.5. That comparison describes how often federal action was recorded, including any Major Disaster, Emergency, and Fire Management entries shown on this page; it does not convert the count into future probability.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 79.5/100 (Relatively Low). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively Low (roughly $27.8M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Very High and community resilience Very Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Wildfire stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 71 years here.
76 /100
Historical Activity Index
Very High historical activity
Lincoln 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) Very High
25/30
35 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
25/25
35 declarations (2.8x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
18 of 35 declarations are major disasters (51%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Lincoln County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Lincoln 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
51%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
79
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Lincoln 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively High | roughly once every 71 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively High | an average of 8.4 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 59 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.3 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | an average of 1.8 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 4 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Hail | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 921 years |
| Drought | Very Low | 108 modeled event-days per year |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 8 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.4 modeled event-days per year |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 17
Flood 9
Severe Storm 6
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Lincoln County's record, 49% of its declarations. Wildfire is the one hazard here with its own dedicated federal instrument: the Fire Management Assistance Grant, which appears in this data as an FM record. An FMAG can be authorised while a fire is still burning, on a timescale of hours, because its purpose is to reimburse the cost of fighting a fire that threatens to become a major disaster.
That distinction matters when comparing counties. An FM declaration is not a presidential major disaster declaration and does not carry the same assistance programmes, so a fire-heavy county's total is not directly comparable with a hurricane-heavy county's total unless the declaration types are separated, which is why they are listed separately on this page.
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 - 18 51.4%
of all 35 declarations
Fire Management - 13 37.1%
of all 35 declarations
Emergency - 4 11.4%
of all 35 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 | |
| 2024 | 4 | |
| 2022 | 3 | |
| 2021 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 3 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
Show 6 earlier declaration years
| 2000 | 3 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 2 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 35 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 35 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 |
| 3628 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2025-07-10 |
| 4795 | SOUTH FORK FIRE, SALT FIRE, AND FLOODING | DR | Fire | 2024-06-20 |
| 5498 | SALT FIRE | FM | Fire | 2024-06-18 |
| 5497 | SOUTH FORK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2024-06-17 |
| 5492 | BLUE 2 FIRE | FM | Fire | 2024-05-26 |
| 4652 | WILDFIRES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, MUDFLOWS, AND DEBRIS FLOWS | DR | Fire | 2022-05-04 |
| 5432 | MCBRIDE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2022-04-12 |
| 5433 | NOGAL CANYON FIRE | FM | Fire | 2022-04-12 |
| 5386 | THREE RIVERS FIRE | FM | Fire | 2021-04-27 |
| 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 |
| 4197 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2014-10-06 |
| 4152 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-10-29 |
| 4079 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2012-08-24 |
| 2979 | LITTLE BEAR FIRE | FM | Fire | 2012-06-09 |
| 2935 | DONALDSON FIRE | FM | Fire | 2011-06-30 |
| 2880 | WHITE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2011-04-03 |
| 1962 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND EXTREME COLD TEMPERATURES | DR | Severe Storm | 2011-03-24 |
Show 15 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1783 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2008-08-14 |
| 1659 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-08-30 |
| 3229 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 2518 | PEPPIN FIRE | FM | Fire | 2004-05-25 |
| 2398 | NM-KOKOPELLI FIRE COMPLEX-3-23-02 | FM | Fire | 2002-03-23 |
| 2364 | NM -TRAP AND SKEET FIRE - 06/02/2001 | FM | Fire | 2001-06-03 |
| 1329 | SEVERE FOREST FIRE | DR | Fire | 2000-05-13 |
| 3154 | SEVERE FIRE THREATS | EM | Fire | 2000-05-10 |
| 2296 | CREE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2000-05-08 |
| 1202 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-01-29 |
| 731 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1985-01-18 |
| 722 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1984-09-06 |
| 589 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-06-23 |
| 571 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-01-29 |
| 202 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1965-07-01 |
Storm Events in New Mexico
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Lincoln 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
269
Total Paid
$17.1M
Avg Per Claim
$63.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 79.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively Low
$27.8M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively High
Winter Weather Relatively High
Lightning Relatively High
Riverine Flooding Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Moderate
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Hail Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Earthquake Very Low
Drought Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Heat Wave 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: Wildfire
Wildfire risk in the model reflects fuel, terrain, weather and how much development sits in the wildland-urban interface. It is one of the few hazards where the exposure is materially changed by land management and building choices, not only by where the county happens to be.
For Lincoln County the two measures on this page point the same way: Wildfire is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively High), and Fire declarations also lead its federal record. Where the model and the declaration history agree, the reading is comparatively straightforward, the hazard is both expected and repeatedly realised.
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
Lincoln County's closest FEMA peer: Evangeline Parish, LA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Lincoln County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Lincoln County shows 35 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Lincoln County: 18 of 35 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Lincoln County: NRI composite 79.5 (Relatively Low).
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 Lincoln County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Lincoln 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: 79.5 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 35. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Lincoln County's NFIP claims file (269 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 Lincoln County?
The most common disaster type in Lincoln County is Fire, with 17 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (9), Severe Storm (6), Biological (2).
How does Lincoln County's FEMA declaration record compare with the New Mexico average?
FEMA lists 35 declaration records for Lincoln County. That is 181% above the New Mexico county mean of 12.5. Its count is also 69% above the national county mean of 20.7. A larger declaration history records more federal actions; it is not a forecast of the county's next hazard.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Lincoln County received?
Lincoln County has received 18 major disaster declarations, representing 51% of all 35 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Lincoln County filed?
Lincoln County has 269 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $17.1M in payments, with an average of $63.5K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in Lincoln County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Lincoln County was 2024, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2025.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Lincoln County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Lincoln County, New Mexico has an overall risk score of 79.5 out of 100 (Relatively Low). On social vulnerability the county rates Very High; on community resilience, Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively Low, representing $27.8M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Lincoln County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Lincoln County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Winter Weather (Relatively High) and Lightning (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 71 years. 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.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Lincoln County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · New Mexico profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events