Natural hazards · Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi, CO natural hazards

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

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cotopaxi to be higher than in 91% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and wildfires.

Inland flooding69%Wildfire19%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Cotopaxi faces

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

Inland flooding

69% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Wildfire

19% of expected damage

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

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanchesVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamis

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 Cotopaxi flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Fremont County.

Disasters that hit Cotopaxi

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into CotopaxiDeclared for Fremont County only

Fremont County has had 11 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. Cotopaxi 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 Cotopaxi’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Cotopaxi. 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.