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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.

Kanawha within Hancock County

Population over time

2 figures

Kanawha 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.

YearPeople Change
2010652
2020658+6 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 9 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

2 since 2006

Regional 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/undetermined2

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
4 November 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 November 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hancock County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Sec 32 Sw4 PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Welch PropertySand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Hancock County

Storms near this place

40 since 1997

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2004HailKanawha$100,000no account filed
June 1998FloodKanawha$75,000no account filed
August 2004HailKanawha$25,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindKanawha$25,000no account filed
April 2022Tornado (EF0)Kanawha$20,000The 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 2015Thunderstorm WindKanawha$20,000Public reported trees snapped in town. Report came via social media and time radar estimated.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindKanawha$10,000no account filed
August 2018HailKanawha$5,000Public reported, through local media, golf ball sized hail. Time estimated from radar.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindKanawha$5,000Several 4 to 6 inch diameter tree limbs were blown down by high winds.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindKanawha$5,000Winds were reported near 60 MPH with hail falling.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindKanawha$5,000no account filed
June 1997HailKanawha$5,000no account filed
April 2013HailKanawha$3,000no account filed
July 2018Thunderstorm WindKanawha$2,000Public reported their fence blown down in their yard. This is a delayed report.
April 2013HailKanawha$2,000Report forwarded from KIMT television.
June 2010HailKanawha$2,000no account filed
May 2004HailKanawha$2,000no account filed
June 1997HailKanawha$2,000no account filed
April 2013HailKanawha$1,000Nickel to quarter size hail.
May 2005Thunderstorm WindKanawha$1,000no account filed
December 2021Tornado (EF0)Kanawha$500This 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 2025Thunderstorm WindKanawha-Gust measured by personal weather station.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindKanawha-Wind gust measured by a personal weather station.
April 2022HailKanawha-Law enforcement reported golf ball sized hail. Time estimated via radar.
April 2022HailKanawha-Public report of golf ball sized hail.
April 2022HailKanawha-Law enforcement reported golf ball sized hail.
April 2022Thunderstorm WindKanawha-Law enforcement reports trees down in Kanawha. Time estimated via radar.
July 2020HailKanawha-KCCI replayed a report and picture of ping pong ball sized hail near Kanawha. Time estimated via radar.
June 2020Heavy RainKanawha-Coop observer reported a 24 hour rainfall total of 2.54 inches.
September 2018Heavy RainKanawha-Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 3.17 inches over the last 24 hours.
September 2016Heavy RainKanawha-Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 2.26 inches over the last 24 hours.
December 2015Heavy RainKanawha-Coop observer reported heavy rainfall of 2.50 inches over the last 48 hours/storm total so far.
July 2014Heavy RainKanawha-CO-OP observer measured 2.35 inches of rain through 0600 CST.
August 2014Heavy RainKanawha-Rainfall of 1.6 inches in the past 24 hours.
May 2013Heavy RainKanawha-Twenty four hour rainfall total of 1.96 inches, total of 2.44 over the past two days.
July 2010Funnel CloudKanawha-Location estimated of funnel clouds lowering and returning. The cloud was between Corwith and Kanawa.
June 2022HailKanawha-no account filed
August 2004HailKanawha-no account filed
June 1999Tornado (F0)Kanawha-no account filed
June 1999HailKanawha-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hancock 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
Denhart4.6 miles9
Stilson8.5 miles7
Goodell9.4 miles9
Corwith9.5 miles9
Britt11.0 miles7
Klemme11.2 miles7
Hutchins11.6 miles7
Duncan12.3 miles7

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 KanawhaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1931806The 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.