Underwood, Iowa
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Norwalk Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51576. The Survey maps it on the Underwood quadrangle. 954 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,070 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresUnderwood grew from 917 to 954 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 | 917 | |
| 2020 | 954 | +37 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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.
- 1954 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Underwood quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Underwood quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
3 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Underwood between 2006 and 2020, burning about 16 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 March 2014 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 March 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 29 February 2020 | Debris and open burning | 15 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
22 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Underwood in 22 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 1 flash 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 2010 | Flash Flood | Underwood | $20,000 | Heavy rain of around 2 inches fell in about an hours time in the Underwood area. The rain caused a lot of lowland flooding around the Underwood area with several roads under water for a time. Some water damage was also noted around town either by it entering basements or collecting on flat rooftops. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Underwood | - | Emergency manager report of hail measured up to 1.50 in diameter. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Underwood | - | Public report of hail estimated up to 2.75 in diameter. |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | Emergency manager reported a measured peak wind gust of 80 mph. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | Coop Observer called in with an estimated wind speed of 60 mph. Noted that several large trees were down in their area. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | A barn and a home were damaged by damaging thunderstorm winds. Many trees were also reported blown down by the wind. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | The public reported structural damage, as well as tree and power line damage. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at close to 60 mph downed a large tree onto a road southeast of Underwood. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph caused scattered tree and outbuilding damage in the Underwood area. Trees were downed, some power poles were snapped and others tipped and a few sheds were blown away. The entire town lost power for a while because of the storm. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph blew a truck and camper and a semi off of Interstate 80 near Underwood. The winds also downed a few trees and power lines in Underwood. Around 3000 customers lost power in the Hancock and Underwood area. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | Thunderstorm winds estimated by a cooperative observer to be 60 mph downed 3 to 4 inch tree limbs. |
| September 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | A local media report indicated estimated thunderstorm winds of 60 mph near Underwood Iowa. |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 60 mph downed 4 power poles and some 6 inch diameter tree branches in town. The downed power poles caused a loss of power to many residents near Underwood. |
| September 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Underwood | - | Strong thunderstorm winds damaged a county building. |
| September 2019 | Hail | Underwood | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Underwood | - | no account filed |
| June 2016 | Hail | Underwood | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Underwood | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Underwood | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Underwood | - | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Hail | Underwood | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Underwood | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter | 2.5 miles | 12 | |
| Bentley | 3.1 miles | 11 | |
| McClelland | 4.0 miles | 12 | |
| Weston | 4.7 miles | 12 | |
| Neola | 5.4 miles | 11 | |
| York Center | 6.4 miles | 11 | |
| Quick | 6.7 miles | 12 | |
| Pigeon | 7.6 miles | 12 |
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 Underwood | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q609135 | 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 462415. 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.





