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Helena-West Helena, Arkansas

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1939 and the latest in 1990. It stands in St. Francis Township. It lies in ZIP code area 72342. It stands on Porter Bayou. The Survey maps it on the Helena quadrangle. 9,519 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 197 feet above sea level.

Helena-West Helena within Phillips County

On record in Helena-West Helena

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 6 records

Population over time

2 figures

Helena-West Helena fell from 12,282 to 9,519 between 2010 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
201012,282
20209,519-2,763 (-22%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 16 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

10 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Helena-West Helena between 1992 and 2011, burning about 157 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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/undetermined4
Arson/incendiarism2
Recreation and ceremony2
Equipment and vehicle use1
Debris and open burning1

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
9 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsBLAIR
17 September 2000Arson/incendiarism60 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
6 May 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsCANE
7 March 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsTURKEY
18 February 2002Debris and open burning88 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsBYRD
10 February 2002Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsCASTEWAY
29 December 2002Arson/incendiarismunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsMIDAS
7 October 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsLAKE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Phillips County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Helena-West Helena: 5 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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
UnkClayPast Producer
Helena RevetmentSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Miss River PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Phillips Cnty Hiwy DeptSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
ThompsonSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Phillips County

Storms near this place

18 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Helena-West Helena in 18 storm reports between 2008 and 2025: 12 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 2 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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
May 2009Flash FloodHelena - West Helena$500,000Heavy rain produced flash flooding across portions of Phillips County including Helena-West Helena, Elaine, Marvell, Barton and Lake View. Numerous roads were closed and several homes were inundated with water. The police department in Marvell had three to four feet of water inside.
January 2012Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$100,000Several mobile homes were destroyed on the west side of West Helena. One mobile home was flipped on the southwest side of a neighborhood on the outskirts of town. The bottom frame of the home struck a tree behind the home 15 feet in the air. The mobile home landed on its roof and was completely destroyed. Cars were damaged by flying debris and trees were also blown down. Another neighborhood southwest of town was damaged as well. In this neighborhood, two mobile homes were flipped. One was blown into another mobile home and a wood house. Power lines and irrigation systems were blown down in the fields between the two neighborhoods. In West Helena, only minor damage was noted to the Junior High School roof and the roof and siding of a few motels. A few storage sheds were blown over but had not been secured to the ground.
June 2020Flash FloodHelena - West Helena$50,000Vehicles were stranded in floodwaters. Water rescues were necessary.
March 2022Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$25,000Powerlines and trees down on Waverly Wood Drive, Springdale Road, and Oakland Avenue, along with other various locations in Helena-West Helena. Storage buildings also suffered damage on Highway 49 near Helena Regional Hospital.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$10,000Trees were knocked down, and a tree landed on a home at the 300 block of Waverly Road in Helena, AR.
March 2019Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$10,000Large tree down on building, snapped at the base of the tree.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$5,000Downed trees and powerlines in between Highland St and Arkansas St in Helena-West Helena.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$4,000Trees downed in Helena-West Helena.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$4,000Straight line winds blew several trees and power lines down near Helena-West Helena.
August 2008Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$4,000Straight line winds knocked several trees and large limbs down in Helena-West Helena.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$3,000Trees down blocking Phillips Street in Helena-West Helena.
January 2010Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena$250Straight line winds knocked a large billboard for a high school down in Helena-West Helena. Debris was also strewn across the city.
June 2023HailHelena - West Helena-Quarter size hail fell in Helena - West Helena.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena-Trees and powerlines were knocked down on Springdale Road.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindHelena - West Helena-Straight line winds knocked a tree down on Military Road in Helena-West Helena. In addition, several trees were knocked down across eastern sections of Helena-West Helena.
April 2011Flash FloodHelena - West Helena-Heavy rain caused flash flooding in Helena-West Helena. A block and a half of Highway 49 was flooded.
April 2011HailHelena - West Helena-Golf ball size hail fell at the Helena Bridge.
July 2010Flash FloodHelena - West Helena-Heavy rain produced flash flooding near Helena-West Helena. As a result, ditches overflowed flooding many streets.

Every storm recorded in Phillips 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
Helena0.1 miles16
Oak Forest1.2 miles16
Midland Heights1.9 miles16
Holiday Hills2.0 miles16
Helena Crossing2.4 miles16
West Helena3.1 miles16
Huma4.4 miles16
Preston Place4.7 miles15

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 Helena-West HelenaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q79676The 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 2101418. 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.