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Wheatley, Arkansas

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1940 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Wheatley Township. It lies in ZIP code area 72392. The Survey maps it on the Wheatley quadrangle. 279 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 210 feet above sea level.

Wheatley within St. Francis County

On record in Wheatley

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 within a mile 1 record

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Population over time

2 figures

Wheatley fell from 355 to 279 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
2010355
2020279-76 (-21%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 15 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

11 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Wheatley between 1997 and 2018, burning about 80 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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
Arson/incendiarism3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Debris and open burning2
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2

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
13 September 1997Debris and open burning19 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
9 July 1998Railroad operations and maintenance1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
2 July 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
27 June 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined34 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
18 June 1998Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
6 February 1998Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
2 November 2005Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
17 November 1998Railroad operations and maintenance1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in St. Francis County

Storms near this place

17 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wheatley in 17 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 10 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 tornado, 1 heavy rain. The reports record 13 injuries. 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
January 1999Tornado (F2)Wheatley9 hurt, $500,000The tornado moved into the extreme southwest corner of St. Francis county from Monroe county. It touched down several times and then lifted back into the air. The most severe damage occurred in and near Wheatley. Thirteen homes were completely demolished and six other homes sustained structural damage. Further along its path, the tornado hit a farm about 4.5 miles northeast of Wheatley. The farmhouse lost part of its roof. Two or three machine sheds were demolished, several other outbuildings were damaged, grain storage bins were flatted and blown several hundreds of feet away and irrigation equipment suffered extensive damage.
November 2006Thunderstorm WindWheatley4 hurt, $50,000Straight line winds blew seven tractor trailers off of Interstate 40 near Palestine. 4 injuries were reported from crashes. A motel in Wheatley had some roof damage. In addition...a Dollar General store in Forrest City received structural damage from the winds as the store front window was blown in. Several trees and power lines were also knocked down.
January 2020Thunderstorm WindWheatley$70,000Seven tractor trailers were blown over on Interstate 40 between mile markers 222 and 225 near Wheatley.
May 2013Tornado (EF1)Wheatley$50,000A weak tornado crossed from Monroe County into St. Francis County. A few trees and power lines were knocked down. Two tractor trailers were blown off Interstate 40 before the tornado lifted.
June 1994Thunderstorm WindWheatley$50,000A crop dusting aircraft that was on the ground was damaged.
April 2017Thunderstorm WindWheatley$20,000Power lines down.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindWheatley$5,000Straight line winds produced roof damage to a restaurant in Wheatley.
May 2008HailWheatley$5,000Golf ball size hail fell on Interstate 40 near Wheatley.
April 1998HailWheatley$100no account filed
May 2024Thunderstorm WindWheatley-A tree was knocked down in Wheatley.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindWheatley-A tree was downed in Wheatley.
February 2011Thunderstorm WindWheatley-Straight line winds knocked down several trees in Wheatley.
September 2011Thunderstorm WindWheatley-Straight line winds blew an awning across the parking lot and snapped a power pole at a truck stop located along Interstate 40 in Wheatley near mile marker 221.
December 2009Heavy RainWheatley-Total rainfall from Wheatley was 6.20 inches. The heavy rain produced large areas of standing water.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindWheatley-Straight line winds knocked trees and power lines down across St. Francis County. Twelve structures received minor damage in Forrest City. Additional structures across the county received minor damage as well.
November 2012HailWheatley-no account filed
May 2011HailWheatley-no account filed

Every storm recorded in St. Francis 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
Posey3.0 miles15
Blossom3.6 miles15
Goodwin5.0 miles15
Four Gums8.7 miles12
Palestine11.7 miles14
Slonikers Mill12.2 miles12
Bryanville13.1 miles16
Elcana13.2 miles16

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 WheatleyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q79629The 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 83316. 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.

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.