BlockBefore

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.

Rolla within Morton County

Population over time

2 figures

Rolla 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.

YearPeople Change
2010442
2020384-58 (-13%)

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

21 since 1994

Regional 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/undetermined7
Natural5
Debris and open burning3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Smoking1
Recreation and ceremony1

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
30 August 1995Natural2.0 acresPike and San Isabel National Forestnot named
2 August 2005Smokingunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestBROOM CORN
13 August 2016Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresPike and San Isabel National ForestCR M
7 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresMorton CountyROLLA WEST
4 July 1994Naturalunder an acrePike and San Isabel National Forestnot named
31 July 2001Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresPike and San Isabel National ForestDUSTY
19 July 1997Natural2.0 acresPike and San Isabel National ForestALUMNI DANCE
10 July 2001Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestBREAD

Every fire recorded in Morton County

Storms near this place

60 of 114 shown

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2001Tornado (F2)Rolla2 hurt, $100,000Rapidly 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 2006Heavy RainRolla$250,0007.12 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. Many stranded motorists. Many basements were flooded.
May 1996HailRolla$250,000no account filed
June 1995HailRolla$10,000no account filed
June 2025HailRolla-A public report of 1 inch hail.
August 2024HailRolla-One diameter inch hail was reported by the public.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindRolla-Three large oil tanks weight about 4 to 5 tons ere displaced as far as 70 yards due to the high winds.
June 2019HailRolla-The hail was nickel to quarter sized.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindRolla-Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
June 2018Heavy RainRolla-Rainfall of 5.09 inches was measured.
June 2018Flash FloodRolla-Water was observed over Road J and Road 22.
June 2018Flash FloodRolla-Water was reported over the road.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindRolla-Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindRolla-Also had dime sized hail.
August 2017HailRolla-Winds of 65 MPH accompanied the hail.
April 2016Tornado (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 2012Thunderstorm WindRolla-Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
August 2011HailRolla-Wind gusts to 50 MPH were observed with the hail.
September 2011Heavy RainRolla-Rainfall of 1.50 was reported in 20 minutes. Streets in Rolla were flooded and a few barricades had to be put up.
September 2011HailRolla-Wind gusts were estimated at 45 mph while the hail fell. Very heavy flooding rains were also reported.
May 2011HailRolla-The hail covered the ground.
April 2010HailRolla-There was also a lot of smaller hail falling.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindRolla-Shingles were torn off roofs and tree limbs were broken.
July 2008Heavy RainRolla-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 2008Heavy RainRolla-Rainfall of 2.46 fell overnight.
June 2007Heavy RainRolla-Rainfall of 2.45 inches was reported overnight at a location 6 miles southeast-southeast of Rolla.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindRolla-The roof of the Rolla post office was taken off by the high wind. Also had several four inch diameter tree branches broken.
August 2006Heavy RainRolla-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 2006Heavy RainRolla-4.00 inches of rainfall.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindRolla-There were one inch diameter tree branches broken by the high wind.
June 2004Flash FloodRolla-Water was flowing over highway 51
August 2004Heavy RainRolla-2.60 inches of rain fell overnight.
April 2003Thunderstorm WindRolla-The high wind gust was measured at a weatherlab.
May 2003Heavy RainRolla-4.7 inches of rain was recorded.
June 2002HailRolla-The hail covered the ground.
April 2001Thunderstorm WindRolla-Cimarron National Grasslands
May 2001HailRolla-On the county line 20 nw of Hugoton.
May 2001Tornado (F1)Rolla-The tornado partially took the roof off an outbuilding.
June 1999HailRolla-Relayed by the NWS - Amarillo
July 1998HailRolla-Most windows broken out.
July 1998HailRolla-Corn was stripped and broken over.
July 1998Flash FloodRolla-Water was over highway 27.
July 1998Flash FloodRolla-The north fork of the Cimarron river was 1.5 above the bridge.
June 2023HailRolla-no account filed
April 2022HailRolla-no account filed
April 2022HailRolla-no account filed
September 2021HailRolla-no account filed
May 2020HailRolla-no account filed
May 2020HailRolla-no account filed
June 2019HailRolla-no account filed
June 2018HailRolla-no account filed
June 2018HailRolla-no account filed
June 2018HailRolla-no account filed
June 2018HailRolla-no account filed
June 2018HailRolla-no account filed
June 2018HailRolla-no account filed
June 2018HailRolla-no account filed
July 2018HailRolla-no account filed
May 2018HailRolla-no account filed
March 2017HailRolla-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Morton 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
Wilburton8.1 miles7
Richfield12.8 miles7
Elkhart15.7 miles7

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 RollaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2464911The 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.