Kanawha, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Amsterdam Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50447. The Survey maps it on the Kanawha quadrangle. 658 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,181 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresKanawha grew from 652 to 658 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 | 652 | |
| 2020 | 658 | +6 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 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 Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1972 USGS Kanawha quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Iowa Falls quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Kanawha in 2006, burning about 5 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 | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 November 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 November 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Kanawha: 1 producer, 1 unknown. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sec 32 Sw4 Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Welch Property | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
40 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kanawha in 40 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 17 hail, 11 thunderstorm wind, 7 heavy rain, 3 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2004 | Hail | Kanawha | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Flood | Kanawha | $75,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Kanawha | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2022 | Tornado (EF0) | Kanawha | $20,000 | The tornado developed just west of Iowa Avenue south of 120th Street west of Kanawha and immediately produced minor damage to outbuildings. The tornado continued east northeast and grazed the northwest edge of Kanawha with tree branches downed along with minor damage to a few houses, mainly from missing shingles. The tornado dissipated not far northeast of the town. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | $20,000 | Public reported trees snapped in town. Report came via social media and time radar estimated. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Hail | Kanawha | $5,000 | Public reported, through local media, golf ball sized hail. Time estimated from radar. |
| August 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | $5,000 | Several 4 to 6 inch diameter tree limbs were blown down by high winds. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | $5,000 | Winds were reported near 60 MPH with hail falling. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Kanawha | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Hail | Kanawha | $3,000 | no account filed |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | $2,000 | Public reported their fence blown down in their yard. This is a delayed report. |
| April 2013 | Hail | Kanawha | $2,000 | Report forwarded from KIMT television. |
| June 2010 | Hail | Kanawha | $2,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Kanawha | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Kanawha | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Hail | Kanawha | $1,000 | Nickel to quarter size hail. |
| May 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | $1,000 | no account filed |
| December 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Kanawha | $500 | This tornado moved from Wright County into Hancock County. Evidence for the tornado was from high resolution satellite imagery and correlation coefficient depression on the WSR-88D radar located in Johnston, IA. There was also some minor tree damage near West Twin Lake in southern Hancock County. The tornado continued northeast for about two more miles past the lake before dissipating. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | - | Gust measured by personal weather station. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | - | Wind gust measured by a personal weather station. |
| April 2022 | Hail | Kanawha | - | Law enforcement reported golf ball sized hail. Time estimated via radar. |
| April 2022 | Hail | Kanawha | - | Public report of golf ball sized hail. |
| April 2022 | Hail | Kanawha | - | Law enforcement reported golf ball sized hail. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kanawha | - | Law enforcement reports trees down in Kanawha. Time estimated via radar. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Kanawha | - | KCCI replayed a report and picture of ping pong ball sized hail near Kanawha. Time estimated via radar. |
| June 2020 | Heavy Rain | Kanawha | - | Coop observer reported a 24 hour rainfall total of 2.54 inches. |
| September 2018 | Heavy Rain | Kanawha | - | Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 3.17 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| September 2016 | Heavy Rain | Kanawha | - | Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 2.26 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| December 2015 | Heavy Rain | Kanawha | - | Coop observer reported heavy rainfall of 2.50 inches over the last 48 hours/storm total so far. |
| July 2014 | Heavy Rain | Kanawha | - | CO-OP observer measured 2.35 inches of rain through 0600 CST. |
| August 2014 | Heavy Rain | Kanawha | - | Rainfall of 1.6 inches in the past 24 hours. |
| May 2013 | Heavy Rain | Kanawha | - | Twenty four hour rainfall total of 1.96 inches, total of 2.44 over the past two days. |
| July 2010 | Funnel Cloud | Kanawha | - | Location estimated of funnel clouds lowering and returning. The cloud was between Corwith and Kanawa. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Kanawha | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Kanawha | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Tornado (F0) | Kanawha | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Kanawha | - | 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.
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 Kanawha | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1931806 | 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 458021. 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.



