Natural hazards · Desert Shores

Desert Shores, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Desert Shores comes from earthquakes, 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 Shores?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Desert Shores to be higher than in 85% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes50%Inland flooding47%Everything else3%

By hazard

What Desert Shores faces

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

Earthquakes

50% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

47% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingIce stormsCold wavesAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Shores flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Imperial County.

Disasters that hit Desert Shores

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Desert ShoresDeclared for Imperial County only

Imperial County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

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 Shores is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

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

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.