Natural hazards · Ouray

Ouray, CO natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ouray comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 5 claims here since 1982.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Ouray?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Ouray to be higher than in 90% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and avalanches.

Inland flooding43%Avalanches39%Landslides11%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Ouray faces

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

Inland flooding

43% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Avalanches

39% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Landslides

11% of expected damage

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

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesStrong 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 Ouray flood?

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

5paid claims since 1982

$33Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19822026

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Ouray County.

Disasters that hit Ouray

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into OurayDeclared for Ouray County only

Ouray County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and fires.

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