BlockBefore

Portal, Georgia

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1921 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Portal census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30450. The Survey maps it on the Portal quadrangle. 638 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 295 feet above sea level.

Portal within Bulloch County

On record in Portal

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Portal grew from 638 to 638 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
2010638
20206380 (0%)

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

259 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 259 fires within 5 miles of Portal between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,252 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 34 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 burning180
Arson/incendiarism34
Natural15
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Equipment and vehicle use7
Recreation and ceremony6
Smoking3
Misuse of fire by a minor3

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
7 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2011-BULLOCH-001
29 September 1993Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
22 September 2001Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2002-BULLOCH-008
21 September 2019Debris and open burning1.3 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2020BULLOCH009
20 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2011-BULLOCH-004
19 September 2001Debris and open burning2.3 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2002-BULLOCH-007
18 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.8 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2012-BULLOCH-015
12 September 2018Natural2.1 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2019BULLOCH004

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bulloch County

Storms near this place

33 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Portal in 33 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 21 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 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
April 2011Thunderstorm WindPortal$75,000An emergency manager reported that four structures received damage with multiple trees down near the intersection of Pecan Grove Road and CL Woods Road. One Church had steeple and porch damage. One mobile home was rolled over and destroyed. One tree fell on another home. One house had a front porch collapse. All damage was due to straight line winds.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindPortal$37,500Law enforcement reported a destroyed mobile home on Pecan Grove Road.
May 1993Thunderstorm WindPortal$5,000Numerous trees and tree limbs were blown down from thunderstorm winds.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindPortal$1,250A Bulloch County emergency manager reported power lines down along the 400 Block of Johnson Street.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindPortal$1,000Law enforcement reported a tree down near the intersection of Willow Hill Road and Westside Road.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindPortal$1,000Two trees were reported down on Willow Hill Road.
October 2010Thunderstorm WindPortal$500Law enforcement reported a tree down in Portal, Georgia.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindPortal$500Law Enforcement reported a tree down along Westside Road near Portal Road, 10 miles west-northwest of Statesboro, Georgia.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindPortal$500The Bulloch County warning point reported an oak tree down on Claudia Street in downtown Portal, Georgia.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindPortal$100Small tree limbs were reported down near Portal with winds estimated around 40 mph.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindPortal-Bulloch County Emergency Management reported a tree down at the intersection of Metter Road and Westside Road.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindPortal-The Bulloch County 911 Call Center reported a tree down on Cowboy Way.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindPortal-A trained spotter reported a tree down near the intersection of Metter Road and Brack Road.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindPortal-A trained spotter measured a 62 mph wind gust.
March 2019HailPortal-A picture on Facebook was relayed by the broadcast media of hail up to the size of quarters in Portal.
June 2019HailPortal-A trained spotter reported hail the size of ping pong balls near the intersection of Metter Road and Banks Dairy Road.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindPortal-A trained spotter reported multiple trees and tree limbs down along Metter Road near the intersection with Banks Dairy Road.
May 2014Thunderstorm WindPortal-A mobile home on Ben Grady Collins Road had windows blown out due to a thunderstorm wind gust. Skirting was also ripped off the mobile home and a tricycle was blown into a tree.
June 2008HailPortal-A report of nickel size hail was received from Lake Collins, Georgia. The hail lasted for around 5 minutes.
September 2004Tornado (F0)Portal-A weak tornado knocked trees and large limbs down.
February 2003Thunderstorm WindPortal-Numerous trees, large limbs, power lines and highway signs were down.
March 2003Thunderstorm WindPortal-Several trees were down.
March 2001Thunderstorm WindPortal-Large limbs down and damage to a building.
April 1999Funnel CloudPortal-Two funnel clouds sighted by the public.
May 2014HailPortal-no account filed
May 2007HailPortal-no account filed
July 2005Thunderstorm WindPortal-no account filed
July 2002HailPortal-no account filed
May 1999HailPortal-no account filed
May 1999HailPortal-no account filed
April 1999HailPortal-no account filed
May 1998HailPortal-no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindPortal-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Bulloch 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
Kites Spur (historical)1.3 miles15
Piddleville1.9 miles15
Bland (historical)2.7 miles15
Aaron3.8 miles15
Hopeulikit4.5 miles15
Colfax (historical)5.6 miles17
Akins Mill6.4 miles15
Westchester8.5 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 PortalAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q605771The 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 332735. 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.