Natural hazards · Rock Springs

Rock Springs, NM natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Rock Springs?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Rock Springs to be higher than in 4% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding42%Cold waves38%Lightning11%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Rock Springs faces

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

Inland flooding

42% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 18% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

38% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 36% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 19 years in the area

Lightning

11% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 24% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong wind

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Rock Springs flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: McKinley County.

Disasters that hit Rock Springs

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Rock SpringsDeclared for McKinley County only

McKinley County has had 8 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. Rock Springs 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 Rock Springs’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Rock Springs. 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.