Chaves County, New Mexico: hazard history
What federal records show has already happened here: disaster declarations, storms, and flood insurance claims. This is a record of the past. It is not a forecast and not a hazard score.
At a glance
What this means
- The event NOAA recorded most often here is Drought, with 242 records.
- The costliest single record is Flash Flood in 2024: $500.0M in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
- The deadliest record is Flash Flood in 1996, with 4 deaths.
- FEMA has declared 9 disasters that named this county, most often for flood.
- The worst year for flood insurance claims was 2024, with 82 claims.
What this can't tell you
- What happens next. Past events do not set the odds of the next one.
- Anything before 1996 from NOAA. That is when NOAA began recording every event type; earlier files hold only tornado, hail and wind, so they are left out on purpose.
- Today's cost. Damage and payments are in the dollars of the year they happened.
- A flood rate. NFIP counts claims but not how many homes were insured, and many flooded homes carry no flood insurance.
- Earthquakes, wildfire perimeters or radar-detected hail. Those records are not tied to counties.
Federal disaster declarations (FEMA)
FEMA declared 9 disasters that named Chaves County between 1997 and 2025.
| Incident type | Disasters | Most recent |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | 3 | 2025 |
| Biological | 2 | 2020 |
| Fire | 2 | 2000 |
| Hurricane | 1 | 2005 |
| Severe Storm | 1 | 1997 |
Most recent declarations
- EM-3628 2025 · Flood · Severe Storms, Flooding, And Landslides
- DR-4843 2024 · Flood · Severe Storm And Flooding
- EM-3460 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
- DR-4529 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
- DR-4152 2013 · Flood · Severe Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides
- EM-3229 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
- DR-1329 2000 · Fire · Severe Forest Fire
- EM-3154 2000 · Fire · Severe Fire Threats
- DR-1202 1997 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm
Not counted above: 37 statewide declarations, which covered every county in New Mexico. A declaration is a decision to send federal help, not a measure of how bad an event was. Records run from 1953. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries.
Storms recorded by NOAA, by type
| Event type | Records | Deaths | Injuries | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drought | 242 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Hail | 225 | 0 | 0 | $311K |
| High Wind | 175 | 0 | 0 | $3.0M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 105 | 1 | 3 | $1.9M |
| Flash Flood | 60 | 6 | 0 | $514.5M |
| Heavy Snow | 41 | 0 | 0 | $5K |
| Tornado | 25 | 0 | 6 | $2.0M |
| Dust Storm | 22 | 1 | 0 | $800K |
| Flood | 17 | 0 | 0 | $1.6M |
| Funnel Cloud | 12 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Winter Storm | 8 | 0 | 0 | $2.5M |
| Winter Weather | 6 | 1 | 2 | $45K |
| Extreme Cold/Wind Chill | 4 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Blizzard | 3 | 0 | 0 | $200.0M |
| Dense Fog | 2 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| Heat | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Heavy Rain | 2 | 0 | 0 | $2K |
| Ice Storm | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Lightning | 2 | 0 | 0 | $75K |
| Strong Wind | 2 | 0 | 0 | $15K |
| Excessive Heat | 1 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
| Wildfire | 1 | 0 | 0 | $10K |
Records start in 1996. Damage is NOAA's estimate at the time, in nominal dollars, and is often rounded; it is not insurance claims data. A storm that crossed two NOAA zones in this county is recorded, and counted, once per zone.
Year by year
NOAA storm event records in Chaves County each year. The busiest year was 2024, with 79 records.
Show the numbers for every year
| Year | Records | Deaths | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 12 | 4 | $0 |
| 1997 | 14 | 0 | $3.3M |
| 1998 | 5 | 0 | $17K |
| 1999 | 22 | 0 | $5K |
| 2000 | 7 | 0 | $0 |
| 2001 | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| 2002 | 9 | 0 | $0 |
| 2003 | 9 | 0 | $5K |
| 2004 | 19 | 0 | $60K |
| 2005 | 26 | 0 | $10K |
| 2006 | 8 | 0 | $0 |
| 2007 | 31 | 0 | $34K |
| 2008 | 29 | 0 | $135K |
| 2009 | 31 | 0 | $420K |
| 2010 | 33 | 0 | $99K |
| 2011 | 40 | 1 | $33K |
| 2012 | 46 | 0 | $5K |
| 2013 | 48 | 1 | $420K |
| 2014 | 50 | 1 | $206K |
| 2015 | 28 | 0 | $200.1M |
| 2016 | 16 | 0 | $20K |
| 2017 | 43 | 0 | $75K |
| 2018 | 35 | 2 | $300K |
| 2019 | 44 | 0 | $4.9M |
| 2020 | 29 | 0 | $60K |
| 2021 | 67 | 0 | $3.4M |
| 2022 | 39 | 0 | $1.6M |
| 2023 | 53 | 0 | $60K |
| 2024 | 79 | 3 | $511.3M |
| 2025 | 68 | 0 | $355K |
| 2026 | 16 | 0 | $0 |
Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.
Notable events
Costliest records
- Flash Flood · Oct 19, 2024$500.0MNOAA name: CHAVES · 2 deaths · NOAA record 1212790
- Blizzard · Dec 26, 2015$100.0MNOAA name: CHAVES COUNTY PLAINS · NOAA record 605936
- Blizzard · Dec 26, 2015$100.0MNOAA name: SOUTHWEST CHAVES COUNTY · NOAA record 606847
- Flash Flood · Oct 19, 2024$10.0MNOAA name: CHAVES · NOAA record 1212804
- Winter Storm · Dec 21, 1997$2.5MNOAA name: CHAVES COUNTY PLAINS · NOAA record 5625081
Deadliest records
- Flash Flood · Jul 14, 19964 deathsNOAA name: CHAVES · NOAA record 5568310
- Dense Fog · Sep 28, 20182 deathsNOAA name: CHAVES COUNTY PLAINS · NOAA record 776881
- Flash Flood · Oct 19, 20242 deathsNOAA name: CHAVES · $500.0M damage · NOAA record 1212790
- Thunderstorm Wind · Jul 14, 20111 deathNOAA name: CHAVES · $15K damage · NOAA record 310803
- Winter Weather · Nov 22, 20131 deathNOAA name: CHAVES COUNTY PLAINS · $20K damage · 2 injuries · NOAA record 478960
Each line is one NOAA record, linked to its page at NOAA. One large storm can appear more than once if NOAA recorded it in several zones of this county. Dollars are nominal.
Flood insurance claims (NFIP)
The National Flood Insurance Program paid $8.2M on 127 claims in Chaves County from 1978 to 2024.
| Year | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 82 | $8.0M |
| 2013 | 8 | $86K |
| 2014 | 5 | $85K |
| 2009 | 4 | $16K |
| 1981 | 4 | $14K |
A count of claims, not a rate: NFIP publishes no count of insured homes beside it, and most flood damage is uninsured. Nominal dollars. Records run from 1978 to 2024; claims filed without a county code are not on any county page. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims.
Hazard vulnerability analysis: the probability column for a facility in Chaves County
A hazard vulnerability analysis rates each hazard for probability, impact, preparedness and response. Probability is the one column the county’s federal record can fill — NCEI storm events from 1996 to 2026 and FEMA declarations naming the county — and this is what it says for a facility here, on the 0–3 scale of the all-hazards structure surveyors expect. The other six columns are the facility’s own judgment about its building, and Calchis leaves them blank.
| Hazard | Prob. | Basis, from the county record |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Thunderstorm | 3 | 332 NCEI events over 31 years (10.71/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Flood, External | 3 | 79 NCEI events over 31 years (2.55/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm | 3 | 60 NCEI events over 31 years (1.94/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Drought | 3 | 242 NCEI events over 31 years (7.81/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| High Wind (non-convective) | 3 | 177 NCEI events over 31 years (5.71/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Hurricane / Tropical Storm | 2 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county. |
| Tornado | 2 | 25 NCEI events over 31 years (0.81/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Temperature Extremes | 2 | 7 NCEI events over 31 years (0.23/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Wild Fire | 2 | 1 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/yr). 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Epidemic | 2 | 2 federal disaster declarations naming the county. |
| Earthquake | 1 | No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Landslide | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Tidal Wave / Tsunami | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Volcano | 1 | No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
| Dam Inundation | 1 | No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county. |
A dash means the record does not speak to that hazard; it is not a zero. Whether a finished document satisfies the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule is the facility’s finding and its surveyor’s. Complete the HVA for a facility in Chaves County — the technological, human and hazardous-materials rows, the six facility columns, the approval and the printed document — or read the sample analysis on that page first.
How this page was made
- Every figure is counted from public federal records held by Calchis: NOAA NCEI Storm Events, FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations, and FEMA NFIP claims. Nothing is modeled or estimated.
- NOAA files some events by county and others by forecast zone, and names both. Records are counted as Chaves County when their NOAA name is this county's name, alone or with a word like “Coastal” or “Inland” in front. The county codes NOAA also publishes have not been loaded for New Mexico yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: CHAVES, CHAVES COUNTY PLAINS, GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF CHAVES COUNTY, SOUTHWEST CHAVES COUNTY. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 44% of New Mexico's NOAA records.
- Counts last rebuilt from the source records on Sep 15, 2026.
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Recorded history from federal public records. Not a hazard score, a risk score, or a forecast, and not a substitute for professional actuarial or emergency-management assessment. Decision-support intelligence — not a primary alerting or dispatch system. Verify against official sources.