Natural hazards · El Refugio

El Refugio, TX natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in El Refugio comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 11 claims here since 1998.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is El Refugio?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in El Refugio to be higher than in 57% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves65%Inland flooding26%Everything else9%

By hazard

What El Refugio faces

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

Cold waves

65% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 77% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

26% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 El Refugio flood?

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

11paid claims since 1998

$521Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19982026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Starr County.

Disasters that hit El Refugio

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into El RefugioDeclared for Starr County only

Starr County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.

Around El Refugio

El Refugio and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

El Refugiomostly cold wavesModerate

La Puertamostly cold wavesModerate

Garza-Salinas IImostly cold wavesModerate

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. El Refugio covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to El Refugio’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to El Refugio. 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 El Refugio total about $1.5M 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.