Rolla, Kansas
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1983. It stands in Rolla Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67954. The Survey maps it on the Rolla quadrangle. 384 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,320 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresRolla fell from 442 to 384 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 | 442 | |
| 2020 | 384 | -58 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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.
- 1955 USGS Dodge City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Dodge City quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Dodge City quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Rolla quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Hugoton quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
21 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 21 fires within 5 miles of Rolla between 1994 and 2020, burning about 1,612 acres in total. 5 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 August 1995 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Pike and San Isabel National Forest | not named |
| 2 August 2005 | Smoking | under an acre | Pike and San Isabel National Forest | BROOM CORN |
| 13 August 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.0 acres | Pike and San Isabel National Forest | CR M |
| 7 July 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Morton County | ROLLA WEST |
| 4 July 1994 | Natural | under an acre | Pike and San Isabel National Forest | not named |
| 31 July 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Pike and San Isabel National Forest | DUSTY |
| 19 July 1997 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Pike and San Isabel National Forest | ALUMNI DANCE |
| 10 July 2001 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Pike and San Isabel National Forest | BREAD |
Storms near this place
60 of 114 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rolla in 114 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 79 hail, 14 thunderstorm wind, 10 heavy rain, 6 tornado. The reports record 2 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2001 | Tornado (F2) | Rolla | 2 hurt, $100,000 | Rapidly moving tornado completely destroyed a mobile home. Female occupant ended up in some bushes and had a broken arm. Male occupant had debris in his eye. Their truck was rolled into trees and nearby outbuildings were demolished. Location of this home was north of Rolla. Elsewhere, 20 power poles were taken down, damage was done to buildings in Rolla with a garage losing its roof. Several silos were damaged or destroyed in the path of the tornado. |
| August 2006 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | $250,000 | 7.12 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. Many stranded motorists. Many basements were flooded. |
| May 1996 | Hail | Rolla | $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 1995 | Hail | Rolla | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Hail | Rolla | - | A public report of 1 inch hail. |
| August 2024 | Hail | Rolla | - | One diameter inch hail was reported by the public. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | Three large oil tanks weight about 4 to 5 tons ere displaced as far as 70 yards due to the high winds. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Rolla | - | The hail was nickel to quarter sized. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH. |
| June 2018 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | - | Rainfall of 5.09 inches was measured. |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | Rolla | - | Water was observed over Road J and Road 22. |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | Rolla | - | Water was reported over the road. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | Also had dime sized hail. |
| August 2017 | Hail | Rolla | - | Winds of 65 MPH accompanied the hail. |
| April 2016 | Tornado (EF0) | Rolla | - | There was nothing to damage by this tornado. It was verified by a storm chaser with pictures and video of the tornado that appeared to be at least 1/4 mile wide. |
| September 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH. |
| August 2011 | Hail | Rolla | - | Wind gusts to 50 MPH were observed with the hail. |
| September 2011 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | - | Rainfall of 1.50 was reported in 20 minutes. Streets in Rolla were flooded and a few barricades had to be put up. |
| September 2011 | Hail | Rolla | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 45 mph while the hail fell. Very heavy flooding rains were also reported. |
| May 2011 | Hail | Rolla | - | The hail covered the ground. |
| April 2010 | Hail | Rolla | - | There was also a lot of smaller hail falling. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | Shingles were torn off roofs and tree limbs were broken. |
| July 2008 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | - | Rainfall of 2.43 fell 1 mile SSW of Rolla. This person said that heavier rain fell southeast of him and he knew of water over roads approximately 1 to 2 miles southeast of his location. |
| August 2008 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | - | Rainfall of 2.46 fell overnight. |
| June 2007 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | - | Rainfall of 2.45 inches was reported overnight at a location 6 miles southeast-southeast of Rolla. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | The roof of the Rolla post office was taken off by the high wind. Also had several four inch diameter tree branches broken. |
| August 2006 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | - | 6.61 inches of rain fell since 7 AM. Three inches fell in just over 1 hour. Also had water in basements on the southwest side of Rolla. |
| August 2006 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | - | 4.00 inches of rainfall. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | There were one inch diameter tree branches broken by the high wind. |
| June 2004 | Flash Flood | Rolla | - | Water was flowing over highway 51 |
| August 2004 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | - | 2.60 inches of rain fell overnight. |
| April 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | The high wind gust was measured at a weatherlab. |
| May 2003 | Heavy Rain | Rolla | - | 4.7 inches of rain was recorded. |
| June 2002 | Hail | Rolla | - | The hail covered the ground. |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rolla | - | Cimarron National Grasslands |
| May 2001 | Hail | Rolla | - | On the county line 20 nw of Hugoton. |
| May 2001 | Tornado (F1) | Rolla | - | The tornado partially took the roof off an outbuilding. |
| June 1999 | Hail | Rolla | - | Relayed by the NWS - Amarillo |
| July 1998 | Hail | Rolla | - | Most windows broken out. |
| July 1998 | Hail | Rolla | - | Corn was stripped and broken over. |
| July 1998 | Flash Flood | Rolla | - | Water was over highway 27. |
| July 1998 | Flash Flood | Rolla | - | The north fork of the Cimarron river was 1.5 above the bridge. |
| June 2023 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| April 2022 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| April 2022 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| September 2021 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| May 2020 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| May 2020 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| June 2019 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| July 2018 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| May 2018 | Hail | Rolla | - | no account filed |
| March 2017 | Hail | Rolla | - | 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.
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 Rolla | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2464911 | 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 470646. 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.




