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Runnells, Iowa

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1930 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Camp Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50237. The Survey maps it on the Runnells quadrangle. 457 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 807 feet above sea level.

Runnells within Polk County

Population over time

2 figures

Runnells fell from 507 to 457 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
2010507
2020457-50 (-10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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

10 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Runnells between 1993 and 2018, burning about 51 acres in total. 1 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
Debris and open burning8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Natural1

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
24 September 2012Debris and open burning1.6 acresNeal Smith National Wildlife RefugeAMANDA FIRE
18 May 2017Naturalunder an acreNeal Smith National Wildlife RefugeBALE FIRE
9 April 2014Debris and open burning20 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
22 April 2014Debris and open burning10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 April 2014Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
13 April 2018Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 April 2014Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 April 2014Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Polk County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Runnells: 7 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Flagstone. 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
UnknownFlagstonePast Producer
Carlisle Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Fritz PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Kibbey PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Owens Farm PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Robinson PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Stevens PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Polk County

Storms near this place

20 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Runnells in 20 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 12 hail, 4 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood. 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
June 2018FloodRunnells$100,000Flooding continued across eastern portions of the county in and near Runnells and Mitchellville.
April 1999Tornado (F1)Runnells$50,000intermittent track
March 2002Thunderstorm WindRunnells$25,000no account filed
May 2000HailRunnells$10,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindRunnells$5,000no account filed
July 2003HailRunnells$5,000no account filed
June 2002HailRunnells$5,000no account filed
June 2002HailRunnells$5,000no account filed
April 2001HailRunnells$5,000no account filed
June 2002HailRunnells$3,000no account filed
May 2000Tornado (F0)Runnells$1,000Brief touchdown.
May 1998HailRunnells$500no account filed
May 1998HailRunnells$500no account filed
June 2024Funnel CloudRunnells-A brief funnel.
April 2006Tornado (F0)Runnells-Brief tornado touchdown in open fields.
May 1998Tornado (F0)Runnells-Small tornado with brief touchdown
June 2014HailRunnells-no account filed
March 2011HailRunnells-no account filed
July 2003HailRunnells-no account filed
June 2002HailRunnells-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Polk 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
Adelphi4.0 miles11
Woodland Hills6.3 miles11
Ivy6.9 miles11
Avon Lake7.6 miles16
Hastie7.9 miles11
Rising Sun8.7 miles11
Avon8.9 miles16
Levey9.0 miles16

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 RunnellsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1914681The 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 460848. 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.