Lea, NM
Lea County in New Mexico has 2 FEMA disaster declarations on record covering 1992–2005, most recently Hurricane Katrina Evacuation on Sep 7, 2005 (DR-3229). Its flood risk grade is A (Low risk), ranking #2843 of 3,277 U.S. counties, with 5 NFIP flood insurance claims totaling $17,260 in payouts. Flood risk is relatively low compared to the national average.
FEMA Disaster Declarations in Lea County
The 2 most recent federally declared disasters affecting Lea County, NM (1992–2005). Total declarations on record: 2.
| Declared | Incident Type | Title | FEMA Disaster # |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 7, 2005 | Hurricane | Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | DR-3229 |
| Jun 18, 1992 | Flood | Thunderstorms, Hail & Flooding | DR-945 |
Score Breakdown
The composite score of 9 is calculated from four weighted factors. See our methodology for details.
Other Counties in New Mexico
More Counties in New Mexico
Frequently Asked Questions
How many FEMA disaster declarations does Lea County, NM have?
Lea County, NM has 2 federal disaster declarations on FEMA record (1992–2005). The 2 most recent are: Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (declared Sep 7, 2005, DR-3229); Thunderstorms, Hail & Flooding (declared Jun 18, 1992, DR-945). Counts include flood, severe storm, hurricane, and coastal storm declarations from the OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries dataset.
What is the flood risk grade for Lea County, NM?
Lea County is graded A (composite score 9/100, low risk). It ranks #2843 of 3,277 U.S. counties for flood risk in our scoring model. The grade combines NFIP claims density (40%), disaster frequency (25%), claim severity (20%), and year-over-year trend (15%).
How many NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in Lea County?
5 NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in Lea County, NM, totaling $17,260 in payouts. The average claim is $3,452. Source: FEMA FimaNfipClaims v2 dataset.
Has Lea County, NM had any recent flood disasters?
Yes. The most recent FEMA declaration affecting Lea County was Hurricane Katrina Evacuation on Sep 7, 2005 (DR-3229). The county has 2 declared disasters in the OpenFEMA record covering 1992–2005.
For this entity, the underlying data on this page comes from FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims. The breakdown above is the federal record; the paragraphs below add the per-entity context that makes the headline numbers usable for a real decision rather than just a data lookup.
Every number on this page links back to FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims; the methodology page describes the inputs, refresh cadence, and known limitations of the underlying data product.
Practical use of this page is in combination with the comparison and ranking pages elsewhere on the site, which surface the same data for this entity’s peers within U.S. ZIPs, counties, and states. A single-entity reading without peer context can be misleading when an entity is an outlier on one axis but typical on another.
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA datasets, 2026.