BlockBefore

Norphlet, Arkansas

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Norphlet Township. It lies in ZIP code area 71730. The Survey maps it on the Smackover quadrangle. 766 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 180 feet above sea level.

Norphlet within Union County

On record in Norphlet

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 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

Norphlet fell from 822 to 766 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
2000822
2010844+22 (+3%)
2020766-78 (-9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 17 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

155 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 155 fires within 5 miles of Norphlet between 1997 and 2019, burning about 1,069 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 21 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/undetermined70
Debris and open burning31
Arson/incendiarism21
Equipment and vehicle use14
Railroad operations and maintenance7
Natural6
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Smoking2

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
6 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 1997Debris and open burning1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 1997Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
28 September 1997Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
21 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
19 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
19 September 2007Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Union 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 Norphlet: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay, Bromine, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
UnkBrominePast Producer
UnkSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Union County

Storms near this place

12 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Norphlet in 12 storm reports between 2009 and 2023: 4 flash flood, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 flood. 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
April 2011Tornado (EF1)Norphlet$150,000The National Weather Service conducted a storm survey in Union County Arkansas and concluded that storm damage was the result of an EF1 tornado. The tornado touched down at around 10:12 AM, in the town of Norphlet. An old gas station cover was blown down and several trees were snapped along Black street eastward across Hayes St. Some minor roof damage occurred to homes along Hayes street. The tornado continued eastward crossing N Tate Road where a carport collapsed on a vehicle and several trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado continued along the south side of Tate Road snapping trees and peeling shingles from several homes. The tornado lifted east of a pasture where several hardwood and softwood trees were snapped or uprooted. A small metal outbuilding suffered structural damage as well. Maximum winds are estimated at 90-100 mph.
January 2023Tornado (EF1)Norphlet$25,000An EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 105 mph touched down about 3 miles southwest of Norphlet, just southwest of the intersection of Murphy Loop and Shady Grove Road. The tornado tracked northeast over the span of approximately one minute, snapping and uprooting several hardwood and softwood trees and causing minor damage to structures resulting mainly from the impacts of the fallen trees. The damage path ended just to the southeast of the intersection of Shady Grove Road, Murphy Loop, and Burchfield Road.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindNorphlet-Large tree limbs and power lines were downed across Highway 335 in the Norphlet community.
July 2022Heavy RainNorphlet-A personal rain gauge in Norphlet measured a storm total rainfall of 9.12 inches.
July 2022Flash FloodNorphlet-Multiple pictures were posted to social media of portions of the 300-400 block of North Tate Street and the 500-600 block of East Padgett Street in Norphlet were washed out. A personal electronic rain gauge in Norphlet measured 9.12 inches of rain from this event.
July 2022Flash FloodNorphlet-High water entered multiple buildings on West Hillsboro Street in El Dorado. Numerous roads were flooded throughout the city.
April 2019Flash FloodNorphlet-A video posted to Facebook indicated that multiple roads were flooded in El Dorado.
April 2019Flash FloodNorphlet-Numerous streets were flooded across El Dorado. Report via social media.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindNorphlet-Trees were downed in Norphlet and along Hwy. 7 near Seven Brothers Road.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindNorphlet-A large tree was blown down across Mount Holly Road near the intersection of Hwy. 335.
May 2009FloodNorphlet-Major flooding developed on the Ouachita River in southern Arkansas with stages comparable to those of March of 2001. Felsenthal Lock and Dam crested at a pool stage of 84.3 feet during May 23rd, the fifth highest crest of record. Downstream on the Ouachita River, moderate flooding developed at Monroe, Louisiana with a crest comparable to that of March of 2001. One event to note that during the morning hours of May 24th, two levee breaches developed near the Louisiana - Arkansas state line at the Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana. Stages receded dramatically some eight inches in some eight hours from Felsenthal, Arkansas downstream through Sterlington, Louisiana. The Ouachita River flooding required considerable relocation of livestock and cut off some homes near the Wildlife Refuge and near Monroe, Louisiana. Roads that had to be closed included Hamilton Lake, Moon Lake, Horseshoe Lake, Old Wall Lake Road, Bayou D'Arbonne Drive, Kent Drive, Jones Road, Browder Road, Philpot Road and Kins Lake Road/Austin Bend. Overall...the flooding in May across all of southern and southwest Arkansas will be remembered by many. The governer of the state included 5 southern Arkansas counties a disaster area which would allow these counties to receive money from the Federal Government. These counties included Little River, Hempstead, Miller, Lafayette, and Union counties.
April 2014HailNorphlet-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Union 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
Sandy Land2.4 miles17
Kenova3.4 miles17
Quinn3.5 miles15
Herma4.4 miles15
Smackover4.7 miles17
Nugulf4.9 miles19
Dumas City6.3 miles16
Calion6.7 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 NorphletAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q79500The 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 58272. 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.