Natural hazards · Alpine

Alpine, CO natural hazards

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

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding65%Avalanches24%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Alpine faces

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

Inland flooding

65% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Avalanches

24% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 0% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 15 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Alpine flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Rio Grande County.

Disasters that hit Alpine

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into AlpineDeclared for Rio Grande County only

Rio Grande County has had 7 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

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. Alpine 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 Alpine’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Alpine. 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.