Vega Baja Municipio, Puerto Rico: Natural Disaster Risk and History
FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025) gives Vega Baja Municipio, Puerto Rico no overall risk score (insufficient data); the hazards with the largest estimated yearly losses are tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes, $58 million a year in all.
OpenFEMA lists 26 federal disaster declarations that included Vega Baja Municipio since 1970, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3610-PR (Tropical Storm Ernesto, declared 13 August 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Vega Baja Municipio from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 54,334 Buildings worth $6.8 billion Area 69 sq mi FIPS 72145
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | $19 million | about once every 18 years | 12 |
| Hurricane | Insufficient Data | — | $18 million | about once every 5.8 years | 42 |
| Earthquake | Insufficient Data | — | $14 million | about once every 23 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Insufficient Data | — | $4.8 million | about once every 1.5 years | 19 |
| Landslide | Insufficient Data | — | $1.1 million | about 1.2 a year | 57 |
| Lightning | Insufficient Data | — | $676,449 | about 65 a year | 110,308 strikes |
| Tornado | Insufficient Data | — | $33,533 | about once every 347 years | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | Insufficient Data | — | $25,575 | about once every 4.7 years | — |
| Hail | Insufficient Data | — | $846 | about once every 38 years | 1.1 |
| Strong wind | Insufficient Data | — | $275 | about once every 201 years | 1 |
| Cold wave | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | 0 |
| Drought | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | 0 |
| Heat wave | Insufficient Data | — | — | about once every 9.5 years | 1.4 |
| Winter weather | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | 0 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Ice storm | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Volcanic activity | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Wildfire | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
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 26
Most common: Hurricane 15, Flood 6, Severe Storm 4, Earthquake 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 4 | Flood ×3, Hurricane |
| 1980s | 3 | Flood ×2, Hurricane |
| 1990s | 3 | Hurricane ×3 |
| 2000s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 8 | Hurricane ×6, Severe Storm ×2 |
| 2020s | 7 | Hurricane ×4, Severe Storm, Flood, Earthquake |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Vega Baja Municipio
- Tropical Storm Ernesto (2024, EM-3610-PR): 78 Puerto Rico counties designated.
- Hurricane Fiona (2022, DR-4671-PR): 78 Puerto Rico counties designated.
- Tropical Storm Fiona (2022, EM-3583-PR): 78 Puerto Rico counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Tropical Storm Ernesto (2024), Hurricane Fiona (2022), Tropical Storm Fiona (2022), Tropical Storm Laura (2020), Tropical Storm Dorian (2019), Hurricane Maria (2017), Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Irene (2011), Tropical Storm Jeanne (2004), Hurricane Lenny (1999), Hurricane Georges (1998), Hurricane Hortense (1996), Hurricane Hugo (1989), Hurricane David (1979), Tropical Storm Elioise (1975).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Puerto Rico also had 3 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 0
No tornado in NOAA's Storm Prediction Center record touched Vega Baja Municipio between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Vega Baja Municipio compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vega Baja Municipio (this page) | — | Insufficient Data | — | — |
| Vega Alta Municipio | 7 km | Insufficient Data | — | — |
| Manatí Municipio | 10 km | Insufficient Data | — | — |
| Morovis Municipio | 13 km | Insufficient Data | — | — |
| Dorado Municipio | 13 km | Insufficient Data | — | — |
| Corozal Municipio | 16 km | Insufficient Data | — | — |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Puerto Rico, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Data Unavailable |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Data Unavailable |
| Community risk factor | — |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $58 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 Vega Baja Municipio's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Puerto Rico · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Tsunami: Tsunamis recorded
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- 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 Vega Baja Municipio
What natural disasters is Vega Baja Municipio, Puerto Rico most at risk from?
FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025) gives Vega Baja Municipio, Puerto Rico no overall risk score (insufficient data); the hazards with the largest estimated yearly losses are tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes, $58 million a year in all.
How many federal disaster declarations has Vega Baja Municipio had?
OpenFEMA lists 26 federal disaster declarations that included Vega Baja Municipio since 1970, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3610-PR (Tropical Storm Ernesto, declared 13 August 2024). Another 3 Puerto Rico declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Vega Baja Municipio?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Vega Baja Municipio 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.