Risk-assessment baseline packet. County FIPS 72055. Release 2026-10, data as of 2026-09-30.
Summary
Plan status as of 2026-09-30: Approved, expires 2029-08-11. Plan: Guánica 2024 (FEMA plan 110220), approved 2024-08-12.
Since the plan was approved on 2024-08-12: 1 new hazard declaration (1 incident) and 11 NOAA Storm Events records; details under "What changed since your last plan".
Highest expected annual loss (FEMA National Risk Index, modeled total; see B1-a): Hurricane ($6,647,235 a year), Earthquake ($4,447,556) and Inland Flooding ($876,655).
The packet's tables are organized by the items of FEMA's Local Mitigation Plan Review Tool, Element B (B1-a to B2-c); the summaries below follow the same order.
What the packet contains
Sections in FEMA checklist order; each heading names the review item its tables support. Full tables are in the downloads above.
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-a Hazard identification
15 of the 18 National Risk Index hazards apply here.
Not applicable to this county per NRI, with no federal declaration and no Storm Events record since 1996: avalanche and ice storm. That is the evidence for leaving them out of the plan.
Highest expected annual loss (NRI, modeled): Hurricane, Earthquake and Inland Flooding.
Not covered by NRI (local data needed): dam failure (incl. upstream dams); levee failure; flash flood as its own subtype; ice jams; debris flows; erosion (riverine and coastal); land subsidence and sinkholes; expansive soils.
The state hazard mitigation plan also lists hazards for this county; FEMA asks the plan to explain any hazard it leaves out.
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-b Hazard location
- Coastal Flooding and Inland Flooding: the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) is the required location source for flooding. See the FEMA Flood Map Service Center (https://msc.fema.gov) for this county.
- Cold Wave, Drought, Hail, Heat Wave, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather: affects the whole county; national data give no location within it.
- Earthquake, Hurricane, Landslide, Tornado, Tsunami, Volcanic Activity and Wildfire vary within the county; the packet lists the highest-rated census tracts for each.
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-c Hazard extent
Storm Events records for 12 of the 20 NOAA event-type groups mapped to the 18 hazards, with the scale, observed range and worst recorded event for each; the others say which local data are needed.
Worst recorded tornado, hail and thunderstorm wind (the three event types on record since the 1950s; the packet has every group):
- Thunderstorm Wind: No wind speed recorded in 1 record.
- Tornado: No tornado record can stand as this county's worst: the 1 record reached this county only through an NWS zone that covers more than one county, so the tornado may have occurred outside this county (zone-level); it is counted as an occurrence.
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-d Previous occurrences
Federal declarations for this area: 28 declarations covering 23 separate hazard incidents counted in this packet; each with type, dates and county Public Assistance dollars.
New since the last plan (approved 2024-08-12): EM-3610-PR.
3 statewide declarations listed separately.
Hazards with no Storm Events record and no federal declaration are stated as such (6 of 18).
Storm Events history: 79 records (notable ones in the PDF, all of them in the Excel file).
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-e Probability of future events
FEMA annualized frequency (modeled) for each hazard, with a descriptor from a scale defined in the packet.
- Highly likely: Lightning
- Likely: Hurricane, Inland Flooding and Wildfire
- Possible: Coastal Flooding, Drought, Hail, Heat Wave and Landslide
- Unlikely: Strong Wind and Tornado
Historical frequency by intensity band (tornado, hail, wind): 9 bands from Storm Events.
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-f Hazards that vary across jurisdictions
Range of census tract risk scores within the area for 16 of the 18 hazards (7 tracts; rated tracts only).
1 jurisdiction: plan clock, repeat-flood count, Public Assistance dollars and event records naming the place (starting figures from federal data).
Supports FEMA checklist items B2-a and B2-b Vulnerability and potential impacts
The packet's table gives county-level starting figures; the plan describes impacts for each jurisdiction and its own assets.
Storm Events damage since 2024-08-12: $5,500 in county-coded records (2 records); $0 reported for the zone (9 zone records). Data through 2026-06-30; nominal dollars.
Local data needed
To gather:
- Critical facilities and lifelines per hazard
- A problem statement per jurisdiction per hazard
- Changes in development in hazard-prone areas since the last approval, or a statement of none (E1-a)
- Future assets
Supports FEMA checklist item B2-a Vulnerability (county context)
Population 13,761; building value $2,066,853,478 and agriculture value $0 (total, not at risk).
National Risk Index rating Insufficient Data; social vulnerability Data Unavailable; community resilience Data Unavailable.
Supports FEMA checklist item B2-c Repetitive loss properties
Repetitive-loss properties, FMA definition (44 CFR 77.2): 0 repetitive loss, 0 severe repetitive loss. NFIP insurance definition: 3 and 0.
Mitigated 0; insured 0; NFIP data as of 2026-08-02. Counts by occupancy group and for each jurisdiction are in the packet.