Natural hazards · Grants

Grants, NM natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Grants comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 21 claims here since 1992. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Grants?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Grants to be higher than in 70% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding80%Cold waves8%Lightning6%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Grants faces

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

Inland flooding

80% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 60% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 19 years in the area

Lightning

6% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 19% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Grants flood?

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

21paid claims since 1992

$593Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19922026

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Cibola County.

Disasters that hit Grants

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Grants itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the City of Grants.

Brought FEMA money into GrantsDeclared for Cibola County only

2013

Severe Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides

$5K to the City of Grants for repairs

2011

Flooding

$95K to the City of Grants for repairs

Cibola County has had 6 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Grants

Grants and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Milanmostly inland floodingVery high

Grantsmostly inland floodingHigh

San Rafaelmostly inland floodingModerate

Mount Taylormostly 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. Grants covers 3 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Grants’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Grants. 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 Grants total about $4.4M 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.