Natural hazards · Peñasco

Peñasco, NM natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Peñasco comes from avalanches, 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 Peñasco?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Peñasco to be higher than in 96% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and inland flooding.

Avalanches59%Inland flooding29%Wildfire9%Everything else3%

By hazard

What Peñasco faces

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

Avalanches

59% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 8 years in the area

Inland flooding

29% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Wildfire

9% of expected damage

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

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtTsunamisVolcanic 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 Peñasco flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Taos County.

Disasters that hit Peñasco

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into PeñascoDeclared for Taos County only

Taos County has had 7 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

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