Natural hazards · Sundance

Sundance, NM natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sundance 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 Sundance?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sundance to be higher than in 10% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding47%Cold waves33%Lightning10%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Sundance faces

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

Inland flooding

47% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 30% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

33% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 19 years in the area

Lightning

10% of expected damage

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

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windAvalanchesVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtTsunamis

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 Sundance flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Sundance 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 Sundance

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SundanceDeclared for McKinley County only

McKinley County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Sundance

Sundance and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Gallupmostly inland floodingLow

Church Rockmostly inland floodingVery low

Sundancemostly inland floodingVery low

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