Greenlee County, Arizona: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Greenlee County, Arizona has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 12.4 out of 100, higher than about 12% of US counties, with wildfires, lightning and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $5.3 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 11 federal disaster declarations that included Greenlee County since 1966, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-2915-AZ (Wallow Fire, declared 2 June 2011). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Greenlee County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Arizona All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 9,527 Buildings worth $1.6 billion Area 1,866 sq mi Risk rank in Arizona 15 of 15 FIPS 04011
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 82.5 | $531,061 | about once every 302 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 77.6 | $652,880 | about 66 a year | 42,886 strikes |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 63.4 | $3,422 | about 1.7 a year | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 60.4 | $588,860 | about 3.1 a year | 34 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 43.6 | $332 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 31.9 | $31,175 | about 84 a year | 2,590 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 29.6 | $3.5 million | about once every 1.1 years | 26 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 28.5 | $27,825 | about 9.1 a year | 172 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 22.0 | $33,665 | about once every 847 years | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 12.7 | — | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 7.4 | $630 | about once every 43 years | 3 |
| Hail | Very Low | 4.1 | $8,797 | about once every 9.1 years | 4.2 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 3.7 | $3,967 | about once every 32 years | 0.6 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 2.4 | $10,947 | about once every 5.1 years | 8 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 1.2 | $849 | about once every 54 years | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Ice storm | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
Score: FEMA's percentile among US counties that face the hazard (higher = more risk). Expected loss: FEMA's modelled average yearly loss to buildings, people (as a statistical value) and crops. How often: FEMA's annualised frequency of the hazard in the county; for some hazards it counts event-days, so it is a rough guide, not a forecast. "Not Applicable" means FEMA does not model that hazard here.
Federal disaster declarations 11
Most common: Flood 6, Severe Storm 3, Fire 1, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 3 | Flood ×3 |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 2 | Fire, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Greenlee County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3241-AZ): 15 Arizona counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding (1993, DR-977-AZ): 13 Arizona counties designated.
- Severe Storms & Flooding (1983, DR-691-AZ): 11 Arizona counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Arizona also had 27 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 0
No tornado in NOAA's Storm Prediction Center record touched Greenlee County between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Greenlee County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenlee County (this page) | — | Very Low | 12.4 | Wildfire |
| Graham County | 68 km | Relatively Low | 64.6 | Heat wave |
| Grant County, NM | 96 km | Relatively Low | 74.1 | Wildfire |
| Catron County, NM | 110 km | Very Low | 36.6 | Wildfire |
| Hidalgo County, NM | 153 km | Very Low | 8.9 | Drought |
| Cochise County | 156 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.8 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Arizona, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 37.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 22.3 |
| Community risk factor | 1.05 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $5.3 million |
FEMA scales expected losses up where social vulnerability is high (people who may find it harder to prepare, evacuate or recover) and down where community resilience is high. A factor above 1 raises the risk score. For social vulnerability a high rating is worse; for resilience a high rating is better.
Prepare for Greenlee County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Arizona · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Arizona
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Your property's flood zone: FEMA Flood Map Service Center ↗ — this page cannot tell you that.
- Official preparedness guidance: Ready.gov ↗ and your county emergency management office.
What this page shows, and what it misses
FEMA's National Risk Index rates a whole county against every other US county; it is a planning-level estimate for nationwide comparison, not a flood-zone map and not a substitute for a local risk assessment or the risk to one home. Declarations are presidential disaster, emergency and fire management declarations that named this county; state declarations and SBA or USDA designations are not included. Tornadoes are counted when the county is one of up to four listed on the track; 670 tornadoes that crossed a state line carry no county list in NOAA's file and are left out.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Risk Index Dataset: National Risk Index Counties - v1.20.0 (December 2025). Retrieved from https://services.arcgis.com/XG15cJAlne2vxtgt/ArcGIS/rest/services/National_Risk_Index_Counties/FeatureServer/0/query on November 2, 2026, 1:20 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2, retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries on November 2, 2026, 1:21 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Tornado records: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, Severe Weather Database, tornadoes 1950–2025 (https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/data/1950-2025_actual_tornadoes.csv, downloaded 2 November 2026). Public domain; not endorsed by NOAA. Compiled by Global Incident Tracker.
Questions about Greenlee County
What natural disasters is Greenlee County, Arizona most at risk from?
Greenlee County, Arizona has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 12.4 out of 100, higher than about 12% of US counties, with wildfires, lightning and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $5.3 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Greenlee County had?
OpenFEMA lists 11 federal disaster declarations that included Greenlee County since 1966, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-2915-AZ (Wallow Fire, declared 2 June 2011). Another 27 Arizona declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Greenlee County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Greenlee County from 1950 to 2025.
Is the National Risk Index a flood zone map?
No. The National Risk Index is a planning-level estimate for a whole county, built for nationwide comparison. It does not tell you the flood zone or the risk of a single property: for that, look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) and ask your local floodplain manager.