BlockBefore

Ola, Arkansas

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1992. It stands in Ward Township. It lies in ZIP code area 72853. The Survey maps it on the Ola quadrangle. 934 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 361 feet above sea level.

Ola within Yell County

On record in Ola

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

Ola fell from 1,204 to 934 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
20001,204
20101,281+77 (+6%)
2020934-347 (-27%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 18 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

43 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 43 fires within 5 miles of Ola between 1992 and 2018, burning about 1,297 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 8 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 burning8
Arson/incendiarism8
Equipment and vehicle use6
Natural6
Smoking3

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
5 September 1999Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1998Equipment and vehicle use10 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2005Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2005Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
20 September 2000Smoking7.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
19 September 1999Debris and open burning2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
8 August 2003Debris and open burning1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Yell County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Ola: 8 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Stone. 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
UnkStonePast Producer
UnkClayPast Producer
UnkClayPast Producer
UnkClayPast Producer
UnkSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnkSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unk Gravel Pits 2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unk Gravel Pits 2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Yell County

Storms near this place

36 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ola in 36 storm reports between 1993 and 2021: 14 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 3 tornado. 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
July 2014Thunderstorm WindOla$150,000Trees were blown down in Ola. One tree caused minor damage to a house while another destroyed a mobile home. No one was injured. Elsewhere in Yell County, fallen trees blocked many county roads and knocked down power lines.
April 2008Flash FloodOla$100,000Several residents near Ola were evacuated due to rising waters from a nearby creek. Flood waters reached the interior of one residence and a church in Ola. Arkansas Highway 28 between Rover and Plainview was closed due to rising waters from Porter Creek. Arkansas Highway 28 was closed between Rover and Briggsville due to a culvert being washed out. County roads and secondary roads in Danville were flooded.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindOla$25,000The roof of a chicken house was badly damaged near Ola.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindOla$25,000Part of a roof was torn off, and trees and power lines were blown down.
September 2012Thunderstorm WindOla$10,000Trees were blown down on Arkansas 28.
March 2008Flash FloodOla$10,000South Cook Road was closed and water was over South Fifth and over Old Highway 10. A few low water crossings were covered.
April 2013Thunderstorm WindOla$7,000Roofing was blown off a house, a shed was destroyed, and trees were blown down.
May 2015Tornado (EF1)Ola$5,000Some trees and power lines were blown down.
September 2013Thunderstorm WindOla$5,000A few trees were blown down.
December 2012Thunderstorm WindOla$5,000Trees were blown down.
October 1993Thunderstorm WindOla$5,000Some trees were blown down.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindOla$2,000A tree was blown down on Arkansas 28.
April 2012HailOla-Windows and skylights were broken at Two Rivers High School.
April 2012HailOla-A hailstone measuring 2.25 inches was still on the ground 11 hours after it fell. At the height of the storm, the hail piled up as much as 8 inches deep.
August 2009Flash FloodOla-Water was covering the roadway in the town of Ola.
August 2006Flash FloodOla-Heavy rains flooded several streets in Ola. The high water reached depths of about 2 feet on a few streets, especially on Old Highway 10.
May 2003Tornado (F1)Ola-A weak tornado touched down over eastern Yell County. The tornado tracked across mostly rural areas with a number of trees blown down, including a few large ones.
December 1999Tornado (F1)Ola-A weak tornado was spawned in Yell County. The tornado developed just northwest of Ola and damaged a couple of old chicken houses and flattened an old barn. A few houses suffered some roof damage, with damage to a few outbuildings as well. One house suffered more extensive damage with a broken front porch window, a damaged front porch, and several trees blown onto a metal fence. A few dozen trees, power lines and power poles were also downed before the tornado dissipated about 2 miles northeast of Centerville.
April 1998Thunderstorm WindOla-Thunderstorm winds downed some large tree limbs.
October 2021HailOla-no account filed
May 2020HailOla-no account filed
April 2012HailOla-no account filed
April 2011Funnel CloudOla-no account filed
March 2010HailOla-no account filed
May 2009HailOla-no account filed
April 2005HailOla-no account filed
May 2003Flash FloodOla-no account filed
May 2002HailOla-no account filed
July 2002HailOla-no account filed
April 1999Thunderstorm WindOla-no account filed
November 1998Thunderstorm WindOla-no account filed
April 1998HailOla-no account filed
August 1996Thunderstorm WindOla-no account filed
August 1996HailOla-no account filed
October 1996HailOla-no account filed
April 1993HailOla-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Yell 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
Mickles4.4 miles17
Petit Jean4.6 miles18
Birta4.9 miles18
Plainview4.9 miles12
Kingston5.0 miles17
Mount George5.7 miles18
Centerville6.3 miles18
Alpha6.5 miles17

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 OlaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q79285The 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 81884. 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.