FEMA Records
20
Above median
New Mexico · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Mora County, NM
20 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very Low. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 20
- FEMA declarations
- 12
- Major disasters
- 39
- NRI risk · Very Low
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Mora County. Its 20 FEMA declarations are 61% above the New Mexico county mean and exceed the count for 46% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 39%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 39%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 20
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 61
- 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 35033 · Mora County 20 declarations · rank 1663/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-HIGH
- DECL-HEAVY 20
- MAJOR-MID 60%
- RANK-LOWER #1,663
- PHOTO-FINISH Monona
- NRI-LOW Very Low
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-HIGH +61%
Nearest declaration peer: Monona, IA (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · New Mexico state profile
Mora County in the declaration-count neighbourhood
FEMA declaration records among Mora County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Cleveland · near 20
Cleveland · near
20 declarations
- Monona · near 20
Monona · near
20 declarations
- Mora · this county 20
Mora · this county
20 declarations
- Tallapoosa · near 20
Tallapoosa · near
20 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Mora County carries 20 FEMA declaration records, ranked 1663 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
How Mora County's FEMA declaration count compares nationally
Mora County vs. all counties in this dataset
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Mora County
20 46th percentile higher than 46% 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
Mora County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Mora County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $4.0M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Very High), while Wildfire carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate). 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 Mora County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 61 paid claims, totaling $459.7K. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $7.5K 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. Mora County's 20 federal records stand 61% 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
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 38.8/100 for this county (Very Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $7.1M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Very Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Among the 18 modeled hazards, Wildfire carries the county's highest rating, a mid-range Relatively Moderate. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 98 years here.
62 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Mora 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
14/30
20 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.0x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
20/25
20 declarations (1.6x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share High
15/25
12 of 20 declarations are major disasters (60%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Mora County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Mora 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
60%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
39
Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Mora 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 Moderate | roughly once every 98 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 147 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1.1 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | an average of 20 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 68 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 1,047 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Hail | Very Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 67 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 8
Flood 5
Severe Storm 4
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Mora County's record, 40% 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 - 12 60.0%
of all 20 declarations
Fire Management - 5 25.0%
of all 20 declarations
Emergency - 3 15.0%
of all 20 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2006 | 3 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 3 | |
| 1999 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1973 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 20 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 20 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5465 | LAS TUSAS FIRE | FM | Fire | 2023-05-10 |
| 4652 | WILDFIRES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, MUDFLOWS, AND DEBRIS FLOWS | DR | Fire | 2022-05-04 |
| 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 |
| 1936 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2010-09-13 |
| 1659 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2006-08-30 |
| 2647 | RIVERA MESA FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-06-21 |
| 2636 | OJO FELIZ FIRE | FM | Fire | 2006-04-12 |
| 3229 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-07 |
| 1514 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2004-04-29 |
| 2415 | NM-CERRO PELADO-6-2-02 | FM | Fire | 2002-06-04 |
| 2310 | NM-LA CUEVA FIRE | FM | Fire | 2000-06-15 |
| 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 |
| 1202 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-01-29 |
| 589 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOWMELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1979-06-23 |
| 380 | SEVERE STORMS, SNOW MELT & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1973-05-11 |
| 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 Mora 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
61
Total Paid
$459.7K
Avg Per Claim
$7.5K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very Low
Score: 38.8/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$7.1M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Drought Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Avalanche Very Low
Hail Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Ice Storm 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: 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 Mora County the two measures on this page point the same way: Wildfire is the county's highest-rated modeled hazard (Relatively Moderate), 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
Mora County's closest FEMA peer: Gilmer County, GA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Mora County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Mora County shows 20 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Mora County: 12 of 20 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Mora County: NRI composite 38.8 (Very 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 Mora County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Mora 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: 38.8 (Very Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 20. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Mora County's NFIP claims file (61 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 Mora County?
The most common disaster type in Mora County is Fire, with 8 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (5), Severe Storm (4), Biological (2).
How does Mora County's FEMA declaration record compare with the New Mexico average?
FEMA lists 20 declaration records for Mora County. That is 61% above the New Mexico county mean of 12.5. Its count is also 3% below 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 Mora County received?
Mora County has received 12 major disaster declarations, representing 60% of all 20 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Mora County filed?
Mora County has 61 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $459.7K in payments, with an average of $7.5K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Mora County?
No. In Mora County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $4.0M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Mora County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Mora County was 2000, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Mora County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Mora County, New Mexico has an overall risk score of 38.8 out of 100 (Very Low). The county's social vulnerability rating is Very High and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $7.1M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Mora County?
FEMA's NRI data points to Mora County is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Landslide (Relatively Low) and Drought (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 98 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 Mora County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · New Mexico profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events