Natural hazards · Ocotillo

Ocotillo, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ocotillo 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 Ocotillo?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Ocotillo to be higher than in 86% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes.

Earthquakes84%Inland flooding15%Everything else1%

By hazard

What Ocotillo faces

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

Earthquakes

84% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

15% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 20% 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 Ocotillo flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Ocotillo 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 Ocotillo

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into OcotilloDeclared 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. Ocotillo 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 Ocotillo’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Ocotillo. 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.