Natural hazards · El Cerro

El Cerro, NM natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in El Cerro comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is El Cerro?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in El Cerro to be higher than in 86% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding85%Earthquakes7%Everything else8%

By hazard

What El Cerro faces

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

Inland flooding

85% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Earthquakes

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 El Cerro flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Valencia County.

Disasters that hit El Cerro

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into El CerroDeclared for Valencia County only

Valencia County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

Around El Cerro

El Cerro and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

El Cerromostly inland floodingVery high

Valenciamostly inland floodingVery high

Los Lunasmostly inland floodingHigh

El Cerro Missionmostly inland floodingModerate

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