1 flood insurance claims·$4,797 paid·2 federal flood & hurricane disasters
Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.
Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Torrance County, New Mexico. Zoomed out they are simplified; at street level the map switches to FEMA’s exact layer. Tap anywhere to check that spot, or search an address above.
Flash flooding from summer thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Torrance County, New Mexico. Over the past 30 years, NOAA records show 27 flash flood events compared to just one general flood event.
Recent NOAA storm narratives illustrate typical conditions that trigger these events in the region. A June 2024 event was driven by a burst of monsoon moisture surging through gaps in the central mountain chain, while another event in June 2024 involved record-level monsoonal moisture interacting with a backdoor frontal boundary to produce scattered afternoon thunderstorms over high terrain. A June 2025 event was preceded by daytime heating, higher moisture east of a dryline, and upper-level northwest flow that produced severe storms.
National Flood Insurance Program records reflect limited historical claims, with a single claim recorded in the unshaded Zone X reporting an average water depth of 1 inch and an average payout of $4,797. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists monitoring property risk in the county should pay the most attention to properties situated in unshaded Zone X areas where localized flash flooding from convective summer storms can still produce shallow water accumulation.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 1 inches.
Drawn to scale against an 80-inch door. Even a few inches soaks flooring, the bottom of the drywall and anything plugged in near the floor.
Average of the depths reported on claims (zero and implausible values left out); FEMA’s record doesn’t say exactly where each depth was measured. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
16 NOAA storm reports from Torrance County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the New Mexico flood stories →
14 federal disaster declarations since 1985, 2 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Echo Ridge Fire, Nm Fmag | Apr 2, 2023 |
| Dog Head Fire | Jun 14, 2016 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Sep 9, 2013 |
| Big Springs Fire | Jun 25, 2008 |
| Trigo Fire | Apr 21, 2008 |
| Ojo Peak Fire | Nov 18, 2007 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jul 26, 2006 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
28 since 1996: 27 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 9, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 6, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 25, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2022 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 9, 2025. Daytime heating combined with higher moisture east of a dryline and upper level northwest flow across the northern and central Rockies and Great Plains resulted in the development of severe storms with large hail across Colfax, Union and far northeast Harding Counties during the late afternoon and evening hours before exiting into West Texas after midnight. A more potent shortwave at the base of an upper low over…
Flash Flood · Jun 29, 2024. A burst of record level monsoonal moisture flowed into NM coupled with a backdoor frontal boundary moving through eastern NM. This yielded scattered to numerous afternoon thunderstorms developing over the high terrain of central and western NM on June 29th. One batch developed directly over the new South Fork burn scar along the Lincoln and Otero County line just west of Ruidoso. This storm expanded in coverage ea…
Flash Flood · Jun 19, 2024. A burst of monsoon moisture surged into eastern NM the morning of June 19th and surged through the gaps of the central mountain chain bringing high wind gusts of up to 58 miles per hour to parts of the Albuquerque metro that afternoon and evening. The strong east canyon wind during the evening resulted in a downed tree in the northeast heights of Albuquerque. The monsoon moisture surged through western NM and to t…
Flash Flood · Aug 8, 2024. A backdoor front pushed through northern and eastern NM during the morning of August 8th, settling along the east slopes of the central mountain chain. This front replenished monsoon moisture across this part of the state. Showers and storms developed across the northern and central mountains midday spreading to surrounding lower elevations later in the day. Heavy rainfall from storms resulted in flash flooding on…
National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.
If a building in Torrance County is in a high-risk zone (A or V) and its mortgage comes from a federally regulated or insured lender, or is federally backed, flood insurance is required.
Outside those zones it is optional, and often worth having: from 2014 to 2024 nearly one-third of NFIP claims came from outside the high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area. Since Risk Rating 2.0, NFIP premiums are set for each building, so the only reliable price is a quote: FloodSmart.gov or a local agent.