Natural hazards · Rifle

Rifle, CO natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Rifle comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 5 claims here since 1993.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Rifle?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Rifle to be higher than in 42% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding81%Lightning7%Earthquakes6%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Rifle faces

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

Inland flooding

81% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 71% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lightning

7% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 34% of U.S. places

Earthquakes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windDroughtVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Rifle flood?

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

5paid claims since 1993

$45Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19932026

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Garfield County.

Disasters that hit Rifle

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into RifleDeclared for Garfield County only

Garfield County has had 10 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. Rifle covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Rifle’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Rifle. 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 Rifle total about $1.4M 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.