Alcalde’s biggest natural hazard is inland flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Alcalde comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.
What stands out about Alcalde’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Alcalde flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Alcalde. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Alcalde isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Rio Arriba County.How exposed is Alcalde?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 89% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.
Rated higher than 435 of the 528 New Mexico towns we cover.
Alcalde is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Alcalde faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Wildfire
Lightning
Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Rio Arriba County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Alcalde itself in FEMA’s records.
Rio Arriba County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and severe storms.
Get ready for what Alcalde actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- When thunder roars, go indoors.
- Wait 30 minutes after the last thunder.
- Unplug electronics before the storm.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Alcalde and its neighbors
How storm and flood risk compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Rating | Mostly | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Villita | Very high | inland flooding | 0 |
| Alcalde | Very high | inland flooding | 0 |
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in May–July
The month each of Rio Arriba County’s 13 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Alcalde’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Alcalde.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Alcalde.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.