Natural hazards · El Paso

El Paso, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in El Paso comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate 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 El Paso?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding58%Tornadoes15%Strong wind10%Cold waves7%Hail6%Everything else4%

By hazard

What El Paso faces

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

Inland flooding

58% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

15% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Strong wind

10% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 26% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Hail

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 El Paso flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Pierce County.

Disasters that hit El Paso

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into El PasoDeclared for Pierce County only

2001

Flooding, Severe Storms and Tornadoes

$12K to the Town of El Paso for repairs

Pierce County has had 11 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around El Paso

El Paso and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Rock Elmmostly inland floodingHigh

El Pasomostly inland floodingModerate

Salemmostly inland floodingModerate

Gilmanmostly inland floodingModerate

Ellsworthmostly inland floodingLow

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 Paso 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 El Paso’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of El Paso. 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.