Natural hazards · El Nido

El Nido, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in El Nido comes from drought, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is El Nido?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in El Nido to be higher than in 72% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and earthquakes.

Drought58%Earthquakes24%Inland flooding14%Everything else5%

By hazard

What El Nido faces

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

Drought

58% of expected damage

Recorded about 70 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

24% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 91% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

14% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 48% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsCold wavesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity

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 El Nido flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in El Nido.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Merced County.

Disasters that hit El Nido

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in El Nido itself: aid to households, or repair grants to El Nido.

Brought FEMA money into El NidoDeclared for Merced County only

2022

Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides

1 household applied for aid

Merced County has had 16 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. El Nido 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 El Nido’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to El Nido. 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.