FEMA Records
14
Low volume
New Mexico · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Torrance County, NM
14 FEMA disaster declarations (1985-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 14
- FEMA declarations
- 6
- Major disasters
- 46
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Torrance County. Its 14 FEMA declarations are 12% above the New Mexico county mean and exceed the count for 20% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it safer than 46%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Safer than 46%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 14
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 1
- 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 35057 · Torrance County 14 declarations · rank 2526/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-LIGHT · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-ABOVE
- DECL-MID 14
- MAJOR-LIGHT 43%
- RANK-LOWER #2,526
- PHOTO-FINISH Pulaski
- NRI-LOW 46
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-ABOVE +12%
Nearest declaration peer: Pulaski, IL (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · New Mexico state profile
Torrance County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Torrance County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Franklin (city) · near 14
Franklin (city) · near
14 declarations
- Harris · near 14
Harris · near
14 declarations
- Pulaski · near 14
Pulaski · near
14 declarations
- Torrance · this county 14
Torrance · this county
14 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Torrance County carries 14 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2526 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Torrance County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Torrance County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Torrance County
14 20th percentile higher than 20% 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
Torrance County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Torrance County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $6.0M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively Low), 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 Torrance County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 46.2/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $8.9M 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 577 years here.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 1 claim and $4.8K paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Torrance County's 14 federal records stand 12% 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.
48 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
Torrance 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
10/30
14 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.7x national county average)
County Disaster Density High
14/25
14 declarations (1.1x state county average of 12)
Major Disaster Share Moderate
11/25
6 of 14 declarations are major disasters (43%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Torrance County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Torrance 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
43%
Mixed major share
NRI risk score
46
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Torrance 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 577 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 109 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 13 times per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | roughly once every 404 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | roughly once every 1 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 60 times per year |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | roughly once every 5 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Cold Wave | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.2 modeled event-days per year |
| Tornado | Very Low | roughly once every 3 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 4 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 7
Biological 2
Flood 2
Severe Storm 2
Hurricane 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Torrance County's record, 50% 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 - 6 42.9%
of all 14 declarations
Fire Management - 5 35.7%
of all 14 declarations
Emergency - 3 21.4%
of all 14 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 3 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 14 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 14 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5461 | ECHO RIDGE FIRE, NM FMAG | FM | Fire | 2023-04-02 |
| 4529 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-05 |
| 3460 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 5127 | DOG HEAD FIRE | FM | Fire | 2016-06-16 |
| 4152 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2013-10-29 |
| 2777 | BIG SPRINGS FIRE | FM | Fire | 2008-06-25 |
| 2762 | TRIGO FIRE | FM | Fire | 2008-04-21 |
| 2741 | OJO PEAK FIRE | FM | Fire | 2007-11-21 |
| 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 |
| 1202 | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-01-29 |
| 731 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1985-01-18 |
Storm Events in New Mexico
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Torrance 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
1
Total Paid
$4.8K
Avg Per Claim
$4.8K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 46.2/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$8.9M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Wildfire Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Hail Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Earthquake Relatively Low
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Ice Storm Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Cold Wave Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Tornado Very Low
Strong Wind 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 Torrance 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
Torrance County's closest FEMA peer: Columbia County, GA
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Torrance County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Torrance County shows 14 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Torrance County: 6 of 14 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Torrance County: NRI composite 46.2 (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 Torrance County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Torrance 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: 46.2 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 14. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Most disaster-prone counties
With 14 FEMA declarations, Torrance County sits in the high-volume declaration band - see how that count ranks against other U.S. counties.
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 Torrance County?
The most common disaster type in Torrance County is Fire, with 7 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Flood (2), Severe Storm (2).
How does Torrance County's FEMA declaration record compare with the New Mexico average?
FEMA lists 14 declaration records for Torrance County. That is 12% above the New Mexico county mean of 12.5. Its count is also 32% 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 Torrance County received?
Torrance County has received 6 major disaster declarations, representing 43% of all 14 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Torrance County filed?
Torrance County has 1 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $4.8K in payments, with an average of $4.8K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Torrance County?
No. In Torrance County, Wildfire has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively Moderate), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $6.0M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Torrance County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Torrance County was 2008, with 3 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1985 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Torrance County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Torrance County, New Mexico has an overall risk score of 46.2 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $8.9M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Torrance County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for Torrance County as of the latest release is Wildfire (risk rating: Relatively Moderate). Other significant hazards include Drought (Relatively Moderate) and Hail (Relatively Low). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts wildfire here at roughly once every 577 years. 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 Torrance County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · New Mexico profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events