Sumatra, Florida
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1946 and the latest in 1990. It stands in the East Liberty census division. It lies in ZIP code area 32321. It stands on Hog Branch Black Creek. The Survey maps it on the Sumatra quadrangle. 187 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 26 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1946 to 1990The same ground, surveyed 44 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1946 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresSumatra grew from 148 to 187 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 148 | |
| 2020 | 187 | +39 (+26%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 14 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1946 USGS Sumatra quadrangle1:24000
- 1946 USGS Sumatra quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Tallahassee quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1959 USGS Tallahassee quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Tallahassee quadrangle1:250000
- 1979 USGS Tallahassee quadrangle1:100000
- 1988 USGS Tallahassee quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1990 USGS Sumatra quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
77 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 77 fires within 5 miles of Sumatra between 1992 and 2020, burning about 12,411 acres in total. 36 started naturally. 7 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 36 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1996 | Natural | under an acre | National Forests in Florida | MINI MARK III |
| 30 September 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.6 acres | National Forests in Florida | VOLUNTEER |
| 10 September 1996 | Natural | 99 acres | National Forests in Florida | LITTLE OWL CREEK |
| 1 September 2011 | Natural | 2.5 acres | National Forests in Florida | HOG BRANCH |
| 6 August 1996 | Natural | 12 acres | National Forests in Florida | FLAT |
| 30 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 82 acres | National Forests in Florida | 135-A |
| 23 August 2011 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | National Forests in Florida | BLACK CREEK |
| 20 August 2002 | Natural | 2.0 acres | National Forests in Florida | HOG |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
13 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sumatra in 13 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 2 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2024 | Flash Flood | Sumatra | $50,000 | Flash flooding in the Sumatra area inundated one home. |
| March 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sumatra | $50,000 | The Liberty County Sheriff reported minor damage to homes, as well as downed trees and power lines. |
| January 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Sumatra | $10,000 | A tornado touched down briefly and tossed an unoccupied trailer. It also downed some power lines. Reported by the Liberty County EMA. |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sumatra | $10,000 | Trees fell on power lines. Subsequent power outage disrupted water supply to the Sweetwater community. Reported by the Liberty County Sheriff. |
| October 2014 | Tornado (EF0) | Sumatra | $5,000 | Trees were blown down and a roof was blown off a shed in the vicinity of Sumatra. A tornadic debris signature was also seen by KTLH radar. This tornado was rated EF0 with winds of 65 to 75 mph. Monetary damage was estimated. |
| March 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sumatra | $5,000 | Trees and power lines down on State Highway 65. Reported by the Liberty County Sheriff. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sumatra | $2,000 | Power lines were blown down near Highway 65 and Forest Road 181. |
| September 2024 | Flash Flood | Sumatra | - | Forest Road 120 was flooded. |
| December 2022 | Tornado (EF0) | Sumatra | - | A tornadic debris signature (TDS) tracked through portions of rural Liberty county in the Apalachicola National Forest. Only tree damage occurred in this rural area, and the tornado is rated EF0. |
| February 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sumatra | - | A tree was blown across SR-65 near Sumatra. |
| February 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sumatra | - | Multiple trees were blown down in Sumatra. |
| October 2014 | Tornado (EF0) | Sumatra | - | The KTLH dual-pol radar detected a tornadic debris signature at this location. This is in the middle of the Apalachicola National Forest with no damage to structures reported. The tornado was rated EF0 based on tree damage. |
| December 2011 | Heavy Rain | Sumatra | - | A storm total rainfall of 4.03 inches was measured by the Sumatra RAWS site. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owl Landing | 2.0 miles | 15 | |
| Escambia (historical) | 4.3 miles | 15 | |
| Bon Ami | 6.5 miles | 14 | |
| Kern | 7.6 miles | 13 | |
| Twin Pole | 8.9 miles | 14 | |
| White Oak Landing | 8.9 miles | 15 | |
| Wilma | 9.3 miles | 13 | |
| Central City | 11.9 miles | 13 |
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 Sumatra | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5306648 | 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 306462. 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.







