Natural hazards · Thousand Palms

Thousand Palms, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Thousand Palms comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 45 claims here since 1999.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Thousand Palms?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Thousand Palms to be higher than in 96% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes64%Inland flooding36%

By hazard

What Thousand Palms faces

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

Earthquakes

64% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

36% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

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 Thousand Palms flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Thousand Palms, from FEMA’s records.

45paid claims since 1999

$2.1Mpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19992026

Biggest named events

Tropical Storm Hilary: 10 claims, $896K
December California Flooding: 6 claims, $263K
Winter storm: 1 claim, $2K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Thousand 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 Thousand Palms

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Thousand PalmsDeclared for Riverside County only

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

Around Thousand Palms

Thousand Palms and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Palm Desertmostly inland floodingVery high

Thousand Palmsmostly earthquakesVery high

Desert Palmsmostly inland floodingVery high

Cathedral Citymostly inland floodingVery high

Sky Valleymostly earthquakesVery 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. Thousand Palms covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Thousand Palms’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Thousand 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 Thousand Palms total about $13.0M 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.