Natural hazards · White Sands

White Sands, NM natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in White Sands comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is White Sands?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in White Sands to be higher than in 59% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding79%Wildfire5%Everything else16%

By hazard

What White Sands faces

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

Inland flooding

79% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 80% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Wildfire

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingTsunamisVolcanic 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 White Sands flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Dona Ana County.

Disasters that hit White Sands

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Dona Ana County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching White Sands itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into White SandsDeclared for Dona Ana County only

Dona Ana 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. White Sands 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 White Sands’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to White Sands. 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.