Natural hazards · Panhandle

Panhandle, TX natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Panhandle comes from drought, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Panhandle?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Panhandle to be higher than in 75% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought.

Drought47%Wildfire12%Tornadoes11%Hail10%Inland flooding7%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Panhandle faces

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

Drought

47% of expected damage

Recorded about 90 times a year in the area

Wildfire

12% of expected damage

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

Tornadoes

11% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Hail

10% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

7% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 10% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Panhandle flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Carson County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

22storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Panhandle

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Panhandle itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Town of Panhandle.

Brought FEMA money into PanhandleDeclared for Carson County only

2000

Severe Winter Ice Storm

$9K to the Town of Panhandle for repairs

Carson County has had 11 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and ice 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. Panhandle 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 Panhandle’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Panhandle. 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.