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Letts, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1948 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Grandview Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52754. The Survey maps it on the Letts quadrangle. 363 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 679 feet above sea level.

Letts within Louisa County

Population over time

2 figures

Letts fell from 384 to 363 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
2010384
2020363-21 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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

17 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Letts between 2008 and 2019, burning about 185 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/undetermined10
Debris and open burning7

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
16 June 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 April 2014Debris and open burning6.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 2014Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
10 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 March 2013Debris and open burning92 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
18 March 2017Debris and open burning30 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 March 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Louisa County

Storms near this place

12 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Letts in 12 storm reports between 1999 and 2026: 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 2 hail, 1 heavy rain. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 1999Thunderstorm WindLetts2 hurt, $20,000no account filed
July 2010FloodLetts$125,000no account filed
April 2001Heavy RainLetts$5,000According to a newspaper report, city officials blamed heavy rain during the day for the collapse of the roof at the abandoned school building in Letts.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindLetts$2,000no account filed
April 2026Thunderstorm WindLetts-Power lines blown down.
April 2024Thunderstorm WindLetts-The time of the event was estimated using radar.
October 2018FloodLetts-Major flooding on the Mississippi River at New Boston LD17 began at 11 AM, October 8th, when it exceeded 18.5 feet. It crested at 21.3 feet, 430 PM, October 13th, before falling below 18.5 feet, which is major flood stage, at 9 PM, October 22nd.||In addition, Major flooding on the Mississippi River was also recorded at Keithsburg, Illinois. It rose above 17 feet, at 6 AM, October 8th, and crested at 19.8 feet at 230 AM, October 14th. It feel below 17 feet, which is major flood stage, at 10 PM, October 23rd.
March 2008HailLetts-A trained spotter reported penny size hail fell for 10 minutes that covered the ground.
June 2007Flash FloodLetts-Indian Creek overflowed during torrential rain and flooded streets in Letts. Time is estimated.
June 1999Thunderstorm WindLetts-Numerous trees and power lines downed.
March 2026HailLetts-no account filed
April 2013FloodLetts-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Louisa 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
Grandview4.4 miles9
Fredonia6.2 miles7
Bard (historical)6.6 miles7
Hillsboro (historical)7.2 miles7
Lafayette (historical)7.2 miles7
Columbus Junction7.4 miles7
Port Louisa8.3 miles11
Columbus City8.7 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 LettsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1510327The 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 458297. 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.