Hidalgo County, New Mexico: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Hidalgo County, New Mexico has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 8.9 out of 100, higher than about 8% of US counties, with drought, wildfires and heat waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.3 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Hidalgo County since 1972, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-1659-NM (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 30 August 2006). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Hidalgo County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 4,134 Buildings worth $906 million Area 3,482 sq mi Risk rank in New Mexico 29 of 33 FIPS 35023
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 83.8 | $863,539 | about 125 a year | 3,150 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 83.0 | $421,244 | about once every 144 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 56.3 | $367,372 | about 2.6 a year | 50 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 42.7 | $131,433 | about 54 a year | 53,700 strikes |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 33.3 | $101 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 33.1 | $72,575 | about once every 465 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 14.9 | $1.3 million | about once every 4.0 years | 7 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 11.5 | $6,778 | about 3.3 a year | 63 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 11.0 | $65,591 | about once every 21 years | 0.9 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 10.9 | $24 | about once every 1.6 years | — |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 7.1 | $332 | about once every 122 years | 2 |
| Hail | Very Low | 4.5 | $7,624 | about once every 9.5 years | 4 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 3.7 | $1,098 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 2.4 | $3,229 | about once every 28 years | 1 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 1.6 | $4,246 | about once every 5.5 years | 7 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Volcanic activity | 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 8
Most common: Flood 5, Severe Storm 1, Hurricane 1, Fire 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1980s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1990s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 3 | Severe Storm, Hurricane, Fire |
The last 8
Widest declarations that included Hidalgo 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 and Flooding (2006, DR-1659-NM): 19 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 3
| Tornadoes touching the county | 3 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×1 |
| Peak month | June (1) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 15 Oct 2005, F0, 0.5 mi path |
| Most recent | 1 Sep 2016, unrated, 0.4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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 Hidalgo County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hidalgo County (this page) | — | Very Low | 8.9 | Drought |
| Luna County | 96 km | Relatively Low | 51.6 | Drought |
| Grant County | 97 km | Relatively Low | 74.1 | Wildfire |
| Cochise County, AZ | 98 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.8 | Wildfire |
| Greenlee County, AZ | 153 km | Very Low | 12.4 | Wildfire |
| Graham County, AZ | 158 km | Relatively Low | 64.6 | Heat wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in New Mexico, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 68.9 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 1.2 |
| Community risk factor | 1.42 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $3.3 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 Hidalgo County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for New Mexico · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Drought: Drought monitor for New Mexico
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- 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 Hidalgo County
What natural disasters is Hidalgo County, New Mexico most at risk from?
Hidalgo County, New Mexico has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 8.9 out of 100, higher than about 8% of US counties, with drought, wildfires and heat waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.3 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Hidalgo County had?
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Hidalgo County since 1972, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-1659-NM (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 30 August 2006). Another 14 New Mexico declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Hidalgo County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Hidalgo 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.