BlockBefore

Branch, Arkansas

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Donald Township. It lies in ZIP code area 72928. It stands on Spirits Creek. The Survey maps it on the Branch quadrangle. 296 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 466 feet above sea level.

Branch within Franklin County

Population over time

3 figures

Branch fell from 357 to 296 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2000357
2010367+10 (+3%)
2020296-71 (-19%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 19 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

32 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 32 fires within 5 miles of Branch between 1998 and 2020, burning about 798 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 4 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Debris and open burning11
Arson/incendiarism4
Natural3
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
7 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 2005Debris and open burning2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
3 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
22 September 2000Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
11 September 1998Arson/incendiarism70 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
8 August 2012Natural4.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
8 August 2001Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
4 August 2011Natural2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Branch: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Flagstone. 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
Dixie Stone CoFlagstonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Storms near this place

36 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Branch in 36 storm reports between 1995 and 2024: 17 thunderstorm wind, 12 hail, 4 flash flood, 2 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. 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
June 2008Thunderstorm WindBranch1 hurt, $25,000Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour rolled over a mobile home. The occupant was injured.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindBranch$250,000Strong thunderstorm wind destroyed four poultry barns, uprooted numerous large trees, and blew down power poles.
April 2022HailBranch$125,000Baseball size hail damaged homes, businesses, and vehicles.
April 2022HailBranch$75,000Golf ball size hail damaged homes and vehicles.
August 2017Flash FloodBranch$75,000Portions of Highway 41 were flooded and closed, and a couple bridges were washed out.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindBranch$25,000Strong thunderstorm wind blew down a tree onto a home.
May 2011Tornado (EF1)Branch$25,000This is the first of six segments of this tornado. The tornado developed just east of Highway 41 south of Branch where it snapped large tree limbs and caused minor damage to a home. The tornado moved northeast damaging at least one mobile home, snapping power poles, and snapping or uprooting large trees. Maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado based on this damage was about 105 mph. The tornado continued into Logan County, Arkansas.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindBranch$10,000Strong thunderstorm wind severely damaged the roof of a mobile home.
March 2008Thunderstorm WindBranch$10,000Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down a tree. The tree fell on a house.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindBranch$5,000Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down several trees. A tree fell on a house.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindBranch$500Several trees blown down
July 2000Thunderstorm WindBranch$100Thunderstorm winds blew tree down onto Highway 22.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindBranch-Strong thunderstorm wind snapped numerous large tree limbs.
April 2021Flash FloodBranch-Highway 41 was flooded at Gammill Street near Branch.
January 2020Thunderstorm WindBranch-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down a tree on Highway 41, north of Highway 22.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindBranch-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down large trees.
December 2015FloodBranch-Portions of Highway 41 near Highway 22 south of Cecil were closed due to flooding.
May 2015Flash FloodBranch-Several streets were flooded and closed.
May 2015Flash FloodBranch-Eucal Road in Branch was flooded.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindBranch-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down several large tree limbs.
May 2003Thunderstorm WindBranch-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew several trees down.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindBranch-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down numerous trees.
August 2002Thunderstorm WindBranch-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down a few trees.
May 2001Tornado (F0)Branch-A F0 tornado briefly touched down four miles south of Branch. No damage was reported.
July 1995Thunderstorm WindBranch-Thunderstorm winds downed some large tree limbs.
May 2020HailBranch-no account filed
March 2018HailBranch-no account filed
May 2017HailBranch-no account filed
December 2012HailBranch-no account filed
February 2008HailBranch-no account filed
March 2007HailBranch-no account filed
June 2005HailBranch-no account filed
April 2004HailBranch-no account filed
May 2001HailBranch-no account filed
May 1999HailBranch-no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindBranch-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Franklin 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
Donald (historical)1.7 miles19
Fealey (historical)2.6 miles19
Effa (historical)2.6 miles19
Dahoma (historical)3.8 miles19
Peter Pender3.9 miles19
Thessing (historical)3.9 miles22
Charleston4.4 miles22
Leon (historical)5.4 miles23

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.

Wikipedia article on BranchAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q80180The 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 57428. 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.