Natural hazards · Portales

Portales, NM natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Portales comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 20 claims here since 1981.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Portales?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Portales to be higher than in 92% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and wildfires.

Inland flooding68%Wildfire15%Everything else17%

By hazard

What Portales faces

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

Inland flooding

68% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Wildfire

15% of expected damage

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

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Portales flood?

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

20paid claims since 1981

$317Kpaid to owners

3homes flooded more than once

19812026

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

🏷️ 05% off flood insurance. Portales is in FEMA’s Community Rating System (class 9) for its flood-proofing work.

Insurance rates: Roosevelt County.

Disasters that hit Portales

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into PortalesDeclared for Roosevelt County only

Roosevelt County has had 5 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and hurricanes.

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. Portales covers 3 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Portales’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Portales. 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 Portales total about $14.5M 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.