Harding County, New Mexico: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Harding County, New Mexico has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 0.4 out of 100, among the lowest of all US counties, with wildfires, drought and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $592,793 a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 6 federal disaster declarations that included Harding County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4152-NM (Severe Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides, declared 29 October 2013). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 8 tornadoes touching Harding County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for New Mexico All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 656 Buildings worth $293 million Area 2,147 sq mi Risk rank in New Mexico 33 of 33 FIPS 35021
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 | 67.9 | $121,389 | about once every 388 years | — |
| Drought | Very Low | 22.4 | $5,620 | about 109 a year | 2,765 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 20.7 | $103 | about once every 2.7 years | — |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 19.9 | $14,225 | about 12 a year | 233 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 7.9 | $4 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 5.3 | $15,168 | about once every 2.1 years | 9 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 5.1 | $4,844 | about once every 1.9 years | 10 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 5.1 | $4,067 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hail | Very Low | 4.9 | $9,481 | about 1.8 a year | 68 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 4.4 | $11,659 | about 56 a year | 46,462 strikes |
| Tornado | Very Low | 3.5 | $8,118 | about once every 3.1 years | 8 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 2.8 | $389,919 | about once every 7.0 years | 4 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 2.2 | $8,139 | about once every 1.9 years | 20 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 0.0 | $59 | about once every 20 years | 3 |
| Volcanic activity | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 1 |
| 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 6
Most common: Flood 2, Severe Storm 1, Hurricane 1, Fire 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Drought, Flood |
| 2000s | 3 | Severe Storm, Hurricane, Fire |
| 2010s | 1 | Flood |
The last 6
Widest declarations that included Harding County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3229-NM): 33 New Mexico counties designated.
- Severe Fire Threats (2000, EM-3154-NM): 33 New Mexico counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides (2013, DR-4152-NM): 23 New Mexico 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. New Mexico also had 14 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 8
| Tornadoes touching the county | 8 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (4) |
| Deadliest | 14 May 1977, F3, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 2 injured |
| Longest path | 17 May 1962, F2, 10.8 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Most recent | 8 May 2017, EF0, 0.2 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 3 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
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 Harding County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harding County (this page) | — | Very Low | 0.4 | Wildfire |
| Union County | 76 km | Very Low | 12.1 | Drought |
| Quay County | 87 km | Very Low | 26.0 | Drought |
| San Miguel County | 99 km | Relatively Low | 74.6 | Wildfire |
| Mora County | 103 km | Very Low | 38.8 | Wildfire |
| Hartley County, TX | 110 km | Very Low | 33.1 | Drought |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in New Mexico, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 62.9 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 18.5 |
| Community risk factor | 1.27 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $592,793 |
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 Harding County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for New Mexico · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Drought: Drought monitor for New Mexico
- 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 Harding County
What natural disasters is Harding County, New Mexico most at risk from?
Harding County, New Mexico has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 0.4 out of 100, among the lowest of all US counties, with wildfires, drought and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $592,793 a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Harding County had?
OpenFEMA lists 6 federal disaster declarations that included Harding County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4152-NM (Severe Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides, declared 29 October 2013). Another 14 New Mexico declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Harding County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 8 tornadoes touching Harding County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 14 May 1977, F3, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 2 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.