Natural hazards · Watkins

Watkins, CO natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Watkins comes from hail, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Watkins?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Watkins to be higher than in 69% of U.S. communities, mostly from hail and inland flooding.

Hail33%Inland flooding27%Wildfire19%Tornadoes12%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Watkins faces

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

Hail

33% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

27% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 21% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Wildfire

19% of expected damage

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

Tornadoes

12% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 12 years in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtVolcanic 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 Watkins flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Arapahoe County.

Disasters that hit Watkins

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into WatkinsDeclared for Arapahoe County only

Arapahoe County has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Watkins

Watkins and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Watkinsmostly hailHigh

Auroramostly hailModerate

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