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.
Population over time
2 figuresRunnells 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 507 | |
| 2020 | 457 | -50 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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.
- 1930 USGS Mitchellville quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Runnells quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
10 since 1993Regional 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 burning | 8 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.6 acres | Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge | AMANDA FIRE |
| 18 May 2017 | Natural | under an acre | Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge | BALE FIRE |
| 9 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 22 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 13 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 11 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 11 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Flagstone | Past Producer | ||
| Carlisle Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Fritz Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Kibbey Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Owens Farm Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Robinson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Stevens Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
20 since 1998Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2018 | Flood | Runnells | $100,000 | Flooding continued across eastern portions of the county in and near Runnells and Mitchellville. |
| April 1999 | Tornado (F1) | Runnells | $50,000 | intermittent track |
| March 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Runnells | $25,000 | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Runnells | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Runnells | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Runnells | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Runnells | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Runnells | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Runnells | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Runnells | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Runnells | $1,000 | Brief touchdown. |
| May 1998 | Hail | Runnells | $500 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Runnells | $500 | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Funnel Cloud | Runnells | - | A brief funnel. |
| April 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Runnells | - | Brief tornado touchdown in open fields. |
| May 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Runnells | - | Small tornado with brief touchdown |
| June 2014 | Hail | Runnells | - | no account filed |
| March 2011 | Hail | Runnells | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Runnells | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Runnells | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelphi | 4.0 miles | 11 | |
| Woodland Hills | 6.3 miles | 11 | |
| Ivy | 6.9 miles | 11 | |
| Avon Lake | 7.6 miles | 16 | |
| Hastie | 7.9 miles | 11 | |
| Rising Sun | 8.7 miles | 11 | |
| Avon | 8.9 miles | 16 | |
| Levey | 9.0 miles | 16 |
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 Runnells | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1914681 | 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 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.






