Natural hazards · Southern Ute

Southern Ute, CO natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Southern Ute comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Southern Ute?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Southern Ute to be higher than in 39% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and inland flooding.

Avalanches38%Inland flooding36%Wildfire18%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Southern Ute faces

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

Avalanches

38% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Inland flooding

36% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 40% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Wildfire

18% of expected damage

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

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong 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 Southern Ute flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: La Plata County.

Disasters that hit Southern Ute

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Southern UteDeclared for La Plata County only

La Plata County has had 8 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. Southern Ute covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Southern Ute’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Southern Ute. 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 Southern Ute total about $4.8M 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.