Pocahontas, Arkansas

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Demun Township. It lies in ZIP code area 72455. It stands on Marr Creek. The Survey maps it on the Pocahontas quadrangle. 7,371 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 302 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Pocahontas within Randolph County

On record in Pocahontas

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 10 records

Black River Bridgelisted 1990
Cedar Grove School #81listed 2004
Marr's Creek Bridgelisted 2008
Old Randolph County Courthouselisted 1973
Pocahontas Commercial Historic Districtlisted 2009
Pocahontas Post Officelisted 2002
Randolph County Courthouselisted 1996
St.Mary's AME Church-Pocahontas Colored Schoollisted 2002
Bispham-Brown Houselisted 2022
Pocahontas Federal Savings and Loanlisted 2019

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 12 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.

1935 USGS Reyno quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1957 USGS Poplar Bluff quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1959 USGS Poplar Bluff quadrangle1:250000
1960 USGS Poplar Bluff quadrangle1:250000
1966 USGS Pocahontas quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1984 USGS Paragould quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Fires near this place

48 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 48 fires within 5 miles of Pocahontas between 1997 and 2019, burning about 739 acres in total. None 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
Debris and open burning	35
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	7
Arson/incendiarism	4
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	1

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

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
28 September 1998	Debris and open burning	17 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
28 September 1998	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
2 September 2014	Debris and open burning	12 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	RAN28393895
17 September 2000	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
12 September 2005	Debris and open burning	8.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
31 August 2007	Debris and open burning	13 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
13 August 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
12 August 2005	Misuse of fire by a minor	20 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Randolph 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 Pocahontas: 3 unknowns, 1 past producer, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Unk	Stone	Unknown
H M Bishop Farm	Iron	Prospect
Unk	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unk	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unknown Iron	Iron	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Randolph County

Storms near this place

60 of 134 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pocahontas in 134 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 44 flood, 37 thunderstorm wind, 35 hail, 14 flash flood. The reports record 2 deaths and 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
April 2008	Flood	Pocahontas	1 killed, $2,250,000	Heavy rain produced flooding in March along the Black River and it's tributaries. The flooding provided intense pressure on the county's levees. Two breaches occurred, one of them on the Scaggs-Ferry Levee. Numerous roads were closed from the high water including Arkansas 90, U.S.Highway 62, Arkansas 166, Arkansas 93, Arkansas 328, Arkansas 304, and U.S. Highway 67 South from Pocahontas into Lawrence County. By the beginning of April, over forty buildings including some houses and a senior citizen complex received damage from the flooding. Of those, ten houses were destroyed, thirty-four houses had major damage, and twelve had minor damage. Randolph County was declared a state disaster area. One death occurred. A teenager drowned when the boat he was in capsized in a flooded area outside the main channel of the Black River near the Noland community.
May 2011	Flood	Pocahontas	1 killed, $525,000	Heavy rain from numerous rounds of severe storms brought the Black River at Pocahontas to record levels during late April which continued through the end of May. The crest surpassed the Flood of 1915. Two levees broke sending water further away from its normal banks. Much of the area around Pocahontas was flooded as a result. U.S. Highway 67 was flooded between Pocahontas and Walnut Ridge. The Current River was also extremely high in Eastern Randolph County. Numerous homes and businesses were flooded. Roads and bridges were flooded and/or damaged. Evacuations occurred in Pocahontas and East Pocahontas. A woman drowned when she drove her vehicle into flood waters on Highway 67 between Pocahontas and the Lawrence County line during the early morning hours of May 3rd.
January 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	1 hurt, $50,000	Several houses had their roofs blown off. One truck was blown off the road injuring the driver. Several trees were knocked down as well.
May 2017	Flash Flood	Pocahontas	$3,000,000	The levee east of Pocahontas broke in several places during the morning hours of May 3rd. Water poured south along the Big Running Water Creek across thousands of acres of farmland. Many small communities were flooded. Several water rescues occurred at the intersection of Highway 67 and Highway 90 in Shannon.
March 2008	Flood	Pocahontas	$2,250,000	Heavy rain produced flooding along the Black River and it's tributaries. The flooding provided intense pressure on the county's levees. Two breaches occurred, one of them on the Scaggs-Ferry Levee. Numerous roads were closed from the high water including Arkansas 90, U.S.Highway 62, Arkansas 166, Arkansas 93, Arkansas 328, Arkansas 304, and U.S. Highway 67 South from Pocahontas into Lawrence County. Over forty buildings including some houses and a senior citizen complex received damage from the flooding. Of those, ten houses were destroyed, thirty-four houses had major damage, and twelve had minor damage. Randolph County was declared a state disaster area.
April 1999	Tornado (F2)	Pocahontas	$2,000,000	The tornado touched down on the east side of Paragould and moved northeast. The tornado hit a commercial area with several restaurants and other businesses damaged or destroyed. Several trees and power lines were blown down as well.
April 2006	Tornado (F3)	Pocahontas	$1,000,000	A tornado began 3 miles south of Pocahontas and tracked east into Greene County. In Shannon, three businesses and five homes were destroyed. Another two businesses and two homes had major damage. Eighteen other homes had minor damage. The tornado produced F1 type damage in Randolph County.
April 2011	Flood	Pocahontas	$525,000	Heavy rain from numerous rounds of severe storms brought the Black River at Pocahontas to record levels during late April which continued through the end of May. The crest surpassed the Flood of 1915. Two levees broke sending water further away from its normal banks. Much of the area around Pocahontas was flooded as a result. U.S. Highway 67 was flooded between Pocahontas and Walnut Ridge. The Current River was also extremely high in Eastern Randolph County. Numerous homes and businesses were flooded. Roads and bridges were flooded and/or damaged. Evacuations occurred in Pocahontas and East Pocahontas.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$100,000	Partial structural damage to factory. Trees and power lines down.
October 2009	Flash Flood	Pocahontas	$78,000	Several roads were closed due to flooding.
February 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$75,000	A tree fell on a house north of Pocahontas. A roof was blown off a factory building in Pocahontas and numerous power lines were downed.
January 2007	Flash Flood	Pocahontas	$50,000	Heavy rain produced flash flooding as a result 13 roads across Randolph county were flooded.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$50,000	Thunderstorm winds downed numerous trees and damaged several buildings.
September 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$50,000	Thunderstorm winds downed some trees and power lines.
February 2018	Flash Flood	Pocahontas	$30,000	Several roads across town are under water.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$25,000	Radio station KPOC had part of the roof damaged. Several buildings along Highway 67 had significant structural damage. Several large trees and power lines were knocked down. Some of the trees fell on some houses. Some of the down trees caused some gas lines to rupture.
April 2017	Flash Flood	Pocahontas	$20,000	Several reports of roads underwater in the western portion of Pocahontas.
June 2009	Flash Flood	Pocahontas	$20,000	Heavy rain caused widespread flash flooding around Randolph County including in the cities of Pocahontas and Maynard. One low water crossing bridge was damaged and few rice levees broke due to the high water.
April 2006	Hail	Pocahontas	$15,000	no account filed
May 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$10,000	A large tree was blown down on a home and winds from an observation site near town measured between 45 and 50 mph around that time.
April 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$10,000	Straight line winds severely damaged two camper trailers when winds blew one into the other near Pocahontas.
October 2004	Tornado (F0)	Pocahontas	$10,000	The tornado touched down in Pocahontas and moves east. Several businesses were damaged.
October 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$10,000	Several power lines were knocked down.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$10,000	Several large trees were knocked down. One tree fell on a car.
October 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$5,000	Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down on Highway 67 in Pocahontas. Trees were also blown down across Highway 67 and Townsend Lane.
November 2006	Hail	Pocahontas	$5,000	Nickel to quarter size hail fell 1 mile west-northwest of Pocahontas.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$5,000	Two trees were blown down on top of a house.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$5,000	Several trees were knocked down.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$5,000	Some power lines were blown down.
May 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$5,000	A couple of power lines were knocked down.
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$5,000	Some power lines were knocked down.
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$5,000	A couple of trees were blown down.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$5,000	Several trees and power lines were knocked down.
April 2008	Hail	Pocahontas	$5,000	no account filed
January 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$5,000	no account filed
March 1996	Hail	Pocahontas	$5,000	no account filed
July 1995	Hail	Pocahontas	$5,000	no account filed
August 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$3,000	Several trees down north of Pocahontas. North Thomasville Street and Olive Street is the main area of damage.
November 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$2,500	Trees and power lines were knocked down from straight line winds 1 mile west-northwest of Pocahontas.
November 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$2,500	Straight line winds knocked down trees and power lines across the city of Pocahontas.
September 2006	Hail	Pocahontas	$2,500	no account filed
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$2,000	Large tree down near the First Baptist Church on North Thomasville Road.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$2,000	Straight line winds knocked trees down on Highway 62, 3 miles west of Pocahontas.
September 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$2,000	Straight line winds knocked down trees 5 miles west of Pocahontas.
February 2008	Hail	Pocahontas	$2,000	no account filed
October 2009	Flash Flood	Pocahontas	$1,000	A bridge off Millcreek Road had water covering it. Over three inches of rain fell in the area over several hours.
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$1,000	Several large tree limbs were blown down.
May 2002	Flash Flood	Pocahontas	$1,000	A few streets were flooded.
January 1999	Flood	Pocahontas	$1,000	Some street flooding occurred in Pocahontas due to heavy rains.
August 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$1,000	A few trees were knocked down.
July 1998	Flood	Pocahontas	$1,000	Several roads had water over them.
March 2008	Hail	Pocahontas	$1,000	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Pocahontas	$1,000	no account filed
July 2003	Hail	Pocahontas	$750	no account filed
April 2003	Hail	Pocahontas	$750	no account filed
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Pocahontas	$500	A large tree was blown down, blocking Highway 251.
April 2006	Hail	Pocahontas	$100	no account filed
May 1998	Hail	Pocahontas	$100	no account filed
September 2001	Hail	Pocahontas	$50	no account filed
October 2004	Hail	Pocahontas	$10	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Randolph 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
East Pocahontas	0.9 miles	12
Shannon	3.7 miles	12
Skaggs	3.8 miles	12
Poluca (historical)	3.8 miles	12
Lorine	4.5 miles	8
Manson	4.7 miles	12
Running Lake (historical)	4.7 miles	12
Cedar Grove	5.1 miles	12

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 Pocahontas	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q80054	The 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 78067. 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.