County Hazards

States › New Mexico › Lea County › ZIP 88240

ZIP code 88240, Lea County, New Mexico

National Flood Insurance Program claims and payouts recorded for this ZIP code, with county context.

NCEI notes that Storm Data is compiled from a variety of sources including the National Weather Service, other federal, state and local agencies, the media and the public; that property and crop damage figures are estimates; and that some events are recorded by NWS forecast zone rather than by county. FEMA notes that NFIP claim records are redacted and aggregated to protect the privacy of policyholders. NFIP claims as of 8 Sep 2026.

OpenFEMA lists 186 NFIP claims for ZIP 88240 (Lea County, New Mexico), with $856K paid on 130 claims since 1978.

That is 89.4% of the 208 claims recorded across Lea County. The average paid claim in the ZIP is $7K, close to the county average of $7K and the New Mexico average of $37K.

FEMA counts 4 repetitive-loss properties and 1 severe repetitive-loss property in the ZIP (properties with two or more paid flood claims); their locations are not published.

At county level FEMA counts 715 residential flood policies in force, covering 2.8% of residential structures.

186NFIP claims since 1978
130paid claims
$856Ktotal paid
$7Kaverage paid claim

Compared with the county and state

MeasureZIP 88240LeaNew MexicoUS
Claims since 19781862081,9382,680,429
Share of claims paid70%67%59%78%
Average paid claim$7K$7K$37K$43K
Share of county claims89.4%100%——
Repetitive-loss properties4574—

Claims by year of loss

197820022026
NFIP claims in ZIP 88240 by year of loss, 1978 to 2026.
DecadeClaimsPaid
1970s3$344
1980s58$97,238
1990s92$597,842
2000s11$20,284
2010s19$121,433
2020s3$18,383
Year of lossClaimsPaid claimsAmount paidAverage paid
202310$0—
202211$13,938$13,938
202111$4,445$4,445
201932$11,753$5,876
201810$0—
20161210$107,642$10,764
201510$0—
201021$2,038$2,038
200810$0—
200711$14,020$14,020
200620$0—
200510$0—
200431$1,877$1,877
200321$3,939$3,939
200211$449$449
199620$0—
19951615$66,879$4,459
199422$5,244$2,622
19926951$523,744$10,269
199131$1,974$1,974
19882116$64,779$4,049
1985118$12,012$1,502
19841911$15,548$1,413
198122$1,055$528
198053$3,844$1,281
197932$344$172

Claims are counted by year of loss as recorded in OpenFEMA's redacted NFIP claims file; amounts combine building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments. ZIP codes in the file are the policyholder's reported ZIP.

County context: Lea County

Lea County has 1,022 weather events in the NCEI record since 1950 (14 in the last 12 months), 7 federal disaster declarations, and an overall National Risk Index rating of "Relatively Moderate". Flood-type events recorded in the county: 96; hurricane-strength tracks within 50 miles: 0.

Hail: 514 · Tornado: 97 · Flood: 96 · Wind: 282 · Winter: 5 — full county page.

Questions and answers

How many flood insurance claims have been filed in ZIP 88240?

186 claims since 1978 in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file, 130 of them with a payment.

How much has the NFIP paid out in ZIP 88240?

$856K across 130 paid claims (building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments combined), about $7K per paid claim.

Which year had the most flood claims in 88240?

1992, with 69 claims and $524K paid.

What county is ZIP 88240 in?

Most claims in this ZIP carry the county code for Lea County, New Mexico; ZIP codes can cross county lines. The county page carries the storm record, declarations and risk index for the area.

Provenance

OpenFEMA NfipClaims v3 (as of 8 Sep 2026) and NfipMultipleLossProperties v1 (2 Aug 2026), aggregated by ZIP code and year of loss on this site; no property-level record is shown. County storm figures from NOAA NCEI through 30 Jun 2026. Built 1 Oct 2026. See the guide to redacted NFIP claims and the methodology.