Natural hazards · Palmer Lake

Palmer Lake, CO natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Palmer Lake comes from wildfires, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 2015. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Palmer Lake?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Palmer Lake to be higher than in 93% of U.S. communities, mostly from wildfires and inland flooding.

Wildfire60%Inland flooding19%Avalanches9%Tornadoes5%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Palmer Lake faces

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

Wildfire

60% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

19% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 56% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Avalanches

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 30 years in the area

Tornadoes

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 75% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 13 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtTsunamis

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 Palmer Lake flood?

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

1paid claims since 2015

$3Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20152026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: El Paso County.

Disasters that hit Palmer Lake

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Palmer Lake itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Town of Palmer Lake.

Brought FEMA money into Palmer LakeDeclared for El Paso County only

2006

Snow

$2K to the Town of Palmer Lake for repairs

1999

Co-Flooding 4/30/99

$27K to the Town of Palmer Lake for repairs

El Paso County has had 16 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and fires.

Around Palmer Lake

Palmer Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Palmer Lakemostly wildfiresVery high

Monumentmostly wildfiresHigh

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. Palmer Lake 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 Palmer Lake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Palmer Lake. 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.