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Valparaiso, Florida

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Niceville-Valparaiso census division. It lies in ZIP code area 32580. It stands on Toms Creek. The Survey maps it on the Valparaiso quadrangle. 4,752 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 46 feet above sea level.

Valparaiso within Okaloosa County

Then and now

1934 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 60 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Valparaiso, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Valparaiso, surveyed 1934

Compare 1934 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Valparaiso fell from 5,036 to 4,752 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
20105,036
20204,752-284 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 19 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

4 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Valparaiso between 1999 and 2006, burning about 1,102 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was 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
Fireworks1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Natural1

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 July 2006Fireworksunder an acreFlorida Forest Service830
9 June 2002Natural1,100 acresEglin Air Force BaseEGLIN COMPLEX
16 October 2001Railroad operations and maintenance1.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
30 January 1999Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Okaloosa County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Valparaiso: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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
Niceville MineSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Okaloosa County

Storms near this place

14 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Valparaiso in 14 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 8 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 lightning, 2 hail. The reports record 6 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
August 2006LightningValparaiso6 hurtA group of recruits were attending Army Ranger Camp and were laying on the ground as a thunderstorm approached them. Evidently, lightning hit a nearby tree and ran through the root system of the tree. Six of the rangers were injured by the strike and were transported to a local hospital and later released. None of them suffered any serious injuries.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindValparaiso$12,000High winds from a thunderstorm blew down several trees and power lines in the Valparaiso area.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindValparaiso$10,000Power lines were reported downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2005Tornado (F0)Valparaiso$5,000A weak tornado developed along the outer bands of hurricane Katrina. The weak tornado blew down several trees and power lines near Valpariaso.
August 1998LightningValparaiso$2,000Lightning struck the Okaloosa county communications center, knocking it off the air for several minutes.
October 1995Tornado (F0)Valparaiso$2,000A tornado briefly touched down near Valparaiso blowing some trees down.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindValparaiso-Measured at the Okaloosa County EOC.
November 2022Thunderstorm WindValparaiso-High winds downed a tree on a house.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindValparaiso-Measured by ASOS at Duke Field on Eglin.
January 2026Thunderstorm WindValparaiso-no account filed
December 2015Thunderstorm WindValparaiso-no account filed
July 2009HailValparaiso-no account filed
April 2009Thunderstorm WindValparaiso-no account filed
August 2000HailValparaiso-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Okaloosa 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
Niceville1.2 miles20
Postil2.3 miles18
Dana Point2.4 miles18
Eglin Village3.7 miles18
Seminole5.3 miles18
Longwood5.6 miles18
Lake Lorraine5.7 miles18
Shalimar5.9 miles18

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 ValparaisoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q614148The 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 305048. 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.