El Paso County, Colorado: Natural Disaster Risk and History
El Paso County, Colorado has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 94.1 out of 100, higher than about 94% of US counties, with winter storms, wildfires and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $213 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included El Paso County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4731-CO (Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes, declared 25 August 2023). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 97 tornadoes touching El Paso County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 729,693 Buildings worth $120 billion Area 2,151 sq mi Risk rank in Colorado 3 of 64 FIPS 08041
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter weather | Very High | 99.9 | $5.5 million | about 15 a year | 276 |
| Wildfire | Relatively High | 99.3 | $42 million | about once every 189 years | — |
| Hail | Relatively High | 99.1 | $18 million | about 6.7 a year | 254 |
| Lightning | Very High | 98.9 | $6.0 million | about 59 a year | 818,616 strikes |
| Tornado | Relatively High | 96.8 | $25 million | about 1.5 a year | 71 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 95.0 | $105 million | about 4.1 a year | 115 |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 90.2 | $2.9 million | about once every 1.1 years | 34 |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | 79.1 | $456,669 | about once every 30 years | 1 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 77.7 | $1.9 million | about once every 1.4 years | 5.7 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 75.1 | $1.6 million | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 74.8 | $3.8 million | about 1.6 a year | 30 |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 71.7 | $172 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 64.5 | $233,816 | about once every 64 years | 1 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 44.4 | $140,171 | about 48 a year | 1,708 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 42.8 | $1,148 | about once every 2.0 years | — |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | 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 18
Most common: Flood 7, Fire 5, Snowstorm 2, Coastal Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Flood, Tornado |
| 1970s | 3 | Flood ×2, Drought |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 4 | Snowstorm ×2, Coastal Storm, Fire |
| 2010s | 7 | Fire ×4, Flood ×3 |
| 2020s | 1 | Flood |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included El Paso County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3224-CO): 64 Colorado counties designated.
- Wildfires (2002, DR-1421-CO): 58 Colorado counties designated.
- Drought (1977, EM-3025-CO): 42 Colorado 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. Colorado also had 12 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 97
| Tornadoes touching the county | 97 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×2 |
| Peak month | June (44) |
| Deadliest | 28 May 2001, F2, 0.3 mi path, 0 killed, 5 injured |
| Longest path | 9 Jun 1990, F0, 20 mi path |
| Most recent | 5 Aug 2023, unrated, 2.2 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 19 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 63 | 21 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 6 | 14 | 6 | 36 | 15 | 14 | 3 |
Deaths and injuries are for each tornado's whole path, which can run beyond this county. F-scale ratings before February 2007, Enhanced Fujita (EF) after.
How El Paso County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Paso County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 94.1 | Winter weather |
| Teller County | 55 km | Very Low | 38.8 | Wildfire |
| Elbert County | 61 km | Very Low | 36.6 | Wildfire |
| Douglas County | 65 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.7 | Lightning |
| Pueblo County | 73 km | Relatively Moderate | 82.5 | Lightning |
| Crowley County | 86 km | Very Low | 3.9 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Colorado, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 58.0 |
| Community risk factor | 0.73 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $213 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 El Paso County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Colorado · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Hail: Weather alerts for Colorado
- 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 El Paso County
What natural disasters is El Paso County, Colorado most at risk from?
El Paso County, Colorado has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 94.1 out of 100, higher than about 94% of US counties, with winter storms, wildfires and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $213 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has El Paso County had?
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included El Paso County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4731-CO (Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes, declared 25 August 2023). Another 12 Colorado declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit El Paso County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 97 tornadoes touching El Paso County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 28 May 2001, F2, 0.3 mi path, 0 killed, 5 injured (deaths and injuries are for the whole path).
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.