Natural hazards · Desert Palms

Desert Palms, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Desert Palms comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Desert Palms?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Desert Palms to be higher than in 92% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and earthquakes.

Inland flooding54%Earthquakes45%

By hazard

What Desert Palms faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Inland flooding

54% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

45% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingIce stormsCold wavesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamis

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Desert Palms flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Desert Palms.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Desert Palms isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Riverside County.

Disasters that hit Desert Palms

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Riverside County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Desert Palms itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Desert PalmsDeclared for Riverside County only

Riverside County has had 61 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

Around Desert Palms

Desert Palms and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Bermuda Dunesmostly inland floodingVery high

Thousand Palmsmostly earthquakesVery high

Indiomostly earthquakesVery high

Desert Palmsmostly inland floodingVery high

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Desert Palms covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Desert Palms’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Desert Palms. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Desert Palms total about $7.6M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.