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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.

Underwood within Pottawattamie County

Population over time

2 figures

Underwood 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.

YearPeople Change
2010917
2020954+37 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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

3 since 2006

Regional 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 burning2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
13 March 2014Debris and open burningunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 March 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 February 2020Debris and open burning15 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Pottawattamie County

Storms near this place

22 since 1997

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2010Flash FloodUnderwood$20,000Heavy 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 2025HailUnderwood-Emergency manager report of hail measured up to 1.50 in diameter.
April 2025HailUnderwood-Public report of hail estimated up to 2.75 in diameter.
December 2021Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-Emergency manager reported a measured peak wind gust of 80 mph.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-Coop Observer called in with an estimated wind speed of 60 mph. Noted that several large trees were down in their area.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-A barn and a home were damaged by damaging thunderstorm winds. Many trees were also reported blown down by the wind.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-The public reported structural damage, as well as tree and power line damage.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at close to 60 mph downed a large tree onto a road southeast of Underwood.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-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 2010Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-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 2007Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-Thunderstorm winds estimated by a cooperative observer to be 60 mph downed 3 to 4 inch tree limbs.
September 2006Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-A local media report indicated estimated thunderstorm winds of 60 mph near Underwood Iowa.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-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 1997Thunderstorm WindUnderwood-Strong thunderstorm winds damaged a county building.
September 2019HailUnderwood-no account filed
June 2017HailUnderwood-no account filed
June 2016HailUnderwood-no account filed
June 2014HailUnderwood-no account filed
August 2011HailUnderwood-no account filed
May 2010HailUnderwood-no account filed
August 2010HailUnderwood-no account filed
April 2006HailUnderwood-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Pottawattamie 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
Peter2.5 miles12
Bentley3.1 miles11
McClelland4.0 miles12
Weston4.7 miles12
Neola5.4 miles11
York Center6.4 miles11
Quick6.7 miles12
Pigeon7.6 miles12

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 UnderwoodAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q609135The 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.