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Waucoma, Iowa

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Eden Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52171. The Survey maps it on the Waucoma quadrangle. 229 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,043 feet above sea level.

Waucoma within Fayette County

Population over time

2 figures

Waucoma fell from 257 to 229 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
2010257
2020229-28 (-11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 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

2 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Waucoma between 2010 and 2017, burning about 5 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 burning1
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
23 March 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources1247 315TH AVE, FORT ATKINSON, IOWA
22 March 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fayette County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Waucoma: 6 past producers, 3 producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Alpha PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Reisner PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Brockway QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Love QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Miller QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
St Lucas QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Waucoma QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Fayette County

Storms near this place

23 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Waucoma in 23 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 9 hail, 6 flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud. 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
July 2017FloodWaucoma$1,080,000After the initial flash flooding, the flood waters lingered across much of Fayette County into Sunday, July 23rd. On Saturday morning, numerous roads were reported to be impassable in Fairbank because of the flood waters. Sandbagging was occurring around several businesses. State Highway 3 was closed between Oelwein and Oran. In the town of Fayette, around 80 percent of the homes had water in their basements and a park in town was closed because of the flooding.
July 2017Flash FloodWaucoma$1,000,000After heavy rains dropped 4 to 8 inches of rain, flash flooding occurred across the southern sections of Fayette County. East of Wadena, the bridge over the Volga River on Acorn Road failed. Otter Creek went out if its banks in Oelwein.
August 2016FloodWaucoma$50,000Runoff from heavy rain pushed the Little Turkey River out of its banks in Waucoma. The flood waters damaged the town's wastewater treatment facility.
August 2021FloodWaucoma$20,000Flood waters from the Little Turkey River prompted officials to evacuate half of Waucoma. The flood waters caused minor damage to some buildings.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindWaucoma$20,000no account filed
May 2013FloodWaucoma$10,000The driver of a vehicle was able to escape before it sank after attempting to drive through flood waters from a local creek in Waucoma.
May 2000HailWaucoma$10,000no account filed
May 2000HailWaucoma$3,500no account filed
July 2017Thunderstorm WindWaucoma$2,000Trees were blown down in Waucoma.
March 2010FloodWaucoma$2,000Minor flooding of low lying areas, as well as along small streams and creeks, was reported across portions of Fayette county from the evening of March 10th through early morning on March 13th. Also, some secondary roads were reported to have been underwater or have minor damage due to running water.
September 2025HailWaucoma-The public reported 1 mile south of Waucoma. The report was relayed by media via NWS Chat.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindWaucoma-Trees reported down in northwestern Fayette County. The time was estimated by radar.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindWaucoma-A private weather station measured a 67 mph wind gust in Waucoma.
August 2018HailWaucoma-Golf ball sized hail fell just east of Waucoma.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindWaucoma-An estimated 58 mph wind gust occurred in Waucoma.
September 2016Heavy RainWaucoma-In Waucoma, 3.91 inches of rain fell.
June 2014FloodWaucoma-Heavy rain caused officials in Fayette County to close 21 roads across the county. Most of these were gravel roads that were water covered. In addition, all county parks were closed.
June 2014HailWaucoma-no account filed
March 2011HailWaucoma-no account filed
August 2008HailWaucoma-no account filed
April 2002HailWaucoma-no account filed
April 2002HailWaucoma-no account filed
June 2002Funnel CloudWaucoma-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fayette 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
Alpha4.2 miles9
Saint Lucas5.3 miles11
Richfield7.5 miles9
Douglass9.2 miles11
Hawkeye9.2 miles12
Eldorado10.5 miles11
West Union13.6 miles12
Donnan13.8 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 WaucomaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q972636The 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 462749. 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.