Galva, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Galva Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51020. It stands on Halfway Creek. The Survey maps it on the Galva quadrangle. 435 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,299 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGalva grew from 434 to 435 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 | 434 | |
| 2020 | 435 | +1 (+0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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.
- 1954 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Galva quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Storm Lake quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
1 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Galva in 2006, burning about 20 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 March 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Galva: 5 past producers, 1 producer. 1 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galva Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Voltmer Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
39 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Galva in 39 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 20 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 1 flash flood. The reports record 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2008 | Lightning | Galva | 2 hurt, $5,000 | Lightning struck a car, slightly injuring the two occupants, and damaging the car's engine and electrical system. |
| June 2014 | Flood | Galva | $500,000 | Repeated heavy rains caused record flooding of the Maple River. Most of the flooding was to farmland and roads, but a few homes and businesses were flooded, mainly in basements, especially in the communities of Galva and Ida Grove. The river crested at a record 6.37 feet above flood stage near Galva on June 17th. |
| June 1994 | Tornado (F1) | Galva | $500,000 | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF1) | Galva | $100,000 | A tornado severely damaged a farmstead; taking the roof off of a house and destroying numerous outbuildings. The tornado also damaged outbuildings at another farmstead, snapped at least 5 power poles, and damaged an outbuilding at an ethanol plant. The tornado also caused tree damage. |
| December 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Galva | $75,000 | The tornado developed 2 miles north-northwest of Galva, one-half mile southwest of the intersection of 120th Street and Landmark Avenue. The tornado tracked northeast to a farmstead on the northeast corner of the intersection, where a hoop barn was destroyed and the roof partially removed from a residence. The tornado exited Ida County 4 miles north of Galva just east of Marshal Avenue at 1700CST. The tornado clipped the far southeast corner of Cherokee County, then entered Buena Vista County at 1701CST, where the tornado lifted one mile southwest of Alta at 1706CST. The tornado was rated EF0 in Ida County, EFU in Cherokee County, and EF1 in Buena Vista County. The average path width in Ida County was 50 yards and the maximum estimated wind speed was 85 mph. Property damage costs are a rough estimate. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | $10,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew the roof off a barn, blew down power lines, and caused tree damage. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | $5,000 | no account filed |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | A 58 mph thunderstorm wind gust was measured by a personal weather station. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts were measured by a personal weather station. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts were measured by a personal weather station. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | Thunderstorm winds downed a few 6- to 9-inch diameter tree limbs. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | Thunderstorm winds damaged several outbuildings and downed several trees. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | Thunderstorm winds downed a large tree. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | Thunderstorm winds uprooted or snapped several trees. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Galva | - | Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several large trees blown down. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several trees blown down. Tree debris blocked U.S. Highway 20. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Galva | - | Heavy rain caused flash flooding of several roads. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several trees blown down. The winds also blew down road signs. |
| August 2025 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| September 2019 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| April 2016 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Galva | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Galva | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holstein | 6.9 miles | 8 | |
| Ida Grove | 11.5 miles | 8 | |
| Arthur | 12.4 miles | 8 | |
| Battle Creek | 16.3 miles | 9 |
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 Galva | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q994835 | 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 456815. 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.




