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Merritts Crossroads, Alabama

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Madrid census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36375. It stands on Box Branch. The Survey maps it on the Madrid quadrangle.

Merritts Crossroads within Houston County

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 8 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

61 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 61 fires within 5 miles of Merritts Crossroads between 1994 and 2020, burning about 292 acres in total. None started naturally. 12 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined14
Arson/incendiarism12
Equipment and vehicle use7
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Smoking1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Fireworks1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 1997Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
23 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
14 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
7 August 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry CommissionSER-20140808-002
28 August 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry CommissionSER-20140828-002
30 July 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined9.9 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionSER-20140730-001
30 July 1996Smoking1.5 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 June 2006Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Houston County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Merritts Crossroads: 1 prospect, 1 occurrence, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Gen 1 Clay ProspectClayProspect
UnnamedIronUnknown
Unnamed DepositIronOccurrence

Every working recorded in Houston County

Storms near this place

7 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Merritts Crossroads in 7 storm reports between 2013 and 2023: 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. The reports record 4 deaths. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2017Thunderstorm WindMerritts Crossroads4 killed, $100,000An NWS Survey Team determined that some damage in the Rehobeth area was caused by strong straight line winds on the southern flank of a tornado just to the north. Damage consisted of numerous large trees snapped or uprooted. One mobile home was split by a large tree, resulting in four fatalities. The damage pattern along this path was not convergent and was noticeably south of the path of the tornado vortex. Damage cost was estimated.
July 2016Flash FloodMerritts Crossroads$20,000Cobb Road was reported to have collapsed and was barricaded. Radar estimated that 3-4 inches of rain fell in 1 hour. Damage was estimated.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindMerritts Crossroads$3,000Several trees were blown down along New Hope Road, including one across the road near the intersection with Atwell Road.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindMerritts Crossroads$3,000Power lines were blown down on Skipper Road.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindMerritts Crossroads$2,000The Dothan Eagle reported trees down along Providence Road.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindMerritts Crossroads-Trees blew down along Highway 109 at Providence Road near the Florida line.
September 2018Thunderstorm WindMerritts Crossroads-Several trees and power lines were blown down along Atwell, New Hope, and Providence roads.

Every storm recorded in Houston County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Big Creek3.0 miles8
Rehobeth3.0 miles8
Garretts Crossroads3.7 miles8
Southern Junction4.1 miles8
Roland4.2 miles8
Taylor5.4 miles8
Five Points5.5 miles8
Parker Village5.6 miles8

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikidata item Q122541717The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 156701. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.