Otero, CO
Otero County in Colorado has 2 FEMA disaster declarations on record covering 1997–2005, most recently Hurricane Katrina Evacuation on Sep 5, 2005 (DR-3224). Its flood risk grade is A (Low risk), ranking #2887 of 3,277 U.S. counties, with 3 NFIP flood insurance claims totaling $11,166 in payouts. Flood risk is relatively low compared to the national average.
FEMA Disaster Declarations in Otero County
The 2 most recent federally declared disasters affecting Otero County, CO (1997–2005). Total declarations on record: 2.
| Declared | Incident Type | Title | FEMA Disaster # |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 5, 2005 | Coastal Storm | Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | DR-3224 |
| Aug 1, 1997 | Flood | Severe Storms, Heavy Rain, Flash Floods, Flooding, Mudslides | DR-1186 |
Score Breakdown
The composite score of 9 is calculated from four weighted factors. See our methodology for details.
Other Counties in Colorado
More Counties in Colorado
Frequently Asked Questions
How many FEMA disaster declarations does Otero County, CO have?
Otero County, CO has 2 federal disaster declarations on FEMA record (1997–2005). The 2 most recent are: Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (declared Sep 5, 2005, DR-3224); Severe Storms, Heavy Rain, Flash Floods, Flooding, Mudslides (declared Aug 1, 1997, DR-1186). Counts include flood, severe storm, hurricane, and coastal storm declarations from the OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries dataset.
What is the flood risk grade for Otero County, CO?
Otero County is graded A (composite score 9/100, low risk). It ranks #2887 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 Otero County?
3 NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in Otero County, CO, totaling $11,166 in payouts. The average claim is $3,722. Source: FEMA FimaNfipClaims v2 dataset.
Has Otero County, CO had any recent flood disasters?
Yes. The most recent FEMA declaration affecting Otero County was Hurricane Katrina Evacuation on Sep 5, 2005 (DR-3224). The county has 2 declared disasters in the OpenFEMA record covering 1997–2005.
The this entity record above pulls directly from FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims. What follows is the per-entity context — how this entity sits in the broader U.S. flood risk, NFIP claims, and disaster declarations distribution and which underlying factors drive the headline numbers.
The methodology behind every numeric value on this page is publicly documented on the FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims portal and described in detail on this site’s methodology page. Refresh cadence varies by underlying series; the page surfaces the as-of date for each number so readers can trace any figure back to the source release.
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.