Bonanza, Kentucky

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Prestonsburg census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41653. It stands on State Road Fork. The Survey maps it on the Prestonsburg quadrangle. It stands 686 feet above sea level.

Bonanza within Floyd County

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 17 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.

1886 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:125000
1892 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
1915 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:62500
1915 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:48000
1918 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1954 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:24000
1957 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
1960 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
1962 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:24000
1978 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:24000
1982 USGS Williamson quadrangle1:100000
1992 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:24000

Fires near this place

179 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 179 fires within 5 miles of Bonanza between 1997 and 2019, burning about 16,342 acres in total. None started naturally. 47 were 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	63
Arson/incendiarism	47
Recreation and ceremony	34
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	33
Misuse of fire by a minor	1
Railroad operations and maintenance	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
9 September 2019	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	COLEMAN BRANCH
9 September 2010	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	ABBOTT MTN
8 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
7 September 2007	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
5 September 2007	Debris and open burning	170 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	MIDDLE FORK
4 September 2007	Debris and open burning	50 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
25 September 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
16 September 2019	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	ABBOTT CREEK

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Floyd County

Storms near this place

30 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bonanza in 30 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 12 flash flood, 11 flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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
August 2014	Flash Flood	Bonanza	$1,000,000	Severe flash flooding occurred across parts of Floyd County as three to four inches of rain fell in one to two hours. Flash flood reports first came in from Lancer where eight inches to a foot of water was flowing across a roadway. Flood waters was reported to have entered homes and vehicles along Spradlin Branch and Mays Branch near Prestonsburg and Main Street and North Lake Drive were closed in downtown Prestonsburg. Highway 1427 was washed out by flood waters and the Creekside Subdivision near the confluence of Potts Branch and Abbott Creek was evacuated due to rising water. Flood water washed partially washed out the road at the junction of Highway 979 and 1426 near Harold. Flood waters were reported to be covering all four lanes of US 23 near Auxier as late as midnight.
March 2021	Flood	Bonanza	$40,000	Spotter reported 5 feet of water now over KY 1427 (Abbott Creek Rd) just west of Prestonsburg. Water was also continuing to rise.
February 2021	Flood	Bonanza	$40,000	Spotter reported 5 feet of water now over KY 1427 (Abbott Creek Rd) just west of Prestonsburg. Water was also continuing to rise.
March 2020	Flood	Bonanza	$30,000	Emergency Management reported water from Abbott Creek was approaching the foundation of several low lying homes along Kentucky Highway 1427 east of Bonanza. Over one foot of water made it into a few homes, causing major damage.
February 2021	Flood	Bonanza	$25,000	KY 1427 (Abbott Creek Rd) about 3 miles west of U.S. 23 was impassable with 2.5 to 3 feet of water estimated to be flowing over it. A vehicle was stranded in the flood waters in this location. This is a very flood prone area.
April 2025	Flash Flood	Bonanza	$20,000	A creek is out of it's banks and inundating homes near Creekside Drive along Abbott Creek near Prestonsburg.
March 2021	Flood	Bonanza	$20,000	KY 1427 (Abbott Creek Rd) about 3 miles west of U.S. 23 was impassable with 2.5 to 3 feet of water estimated to be flowing over it. A vehicle was stranded in the flood waters in this location. This is a very flood prone area.
May 2009	Flash Flood	Bonanza	$8,000	Abbott Creek was causing flash flooding in Bonanza. Water was also knee deep and flooding a car in Bonanza.
May 2009	Flash Flood	Bonanza	$3,000	A tree and mud slid onto the road due to a mudslide on Route 1750 between Bonanza and Hagar Hill.
May 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Bonanza	$2,000	Two trees were blown down by thunderstorm wind gusts.
April 2015	Flash Flood	Bonanza	$1,000	An adult with four children were temporarily stranded in a car after the vehicle was drive into flood waters from Abbott Creek. They were able to escape without being rescued.
April 2015	Flood	Bonanza	$1,000	The left fork of Abbott Creek Rd was closed due to flooding from Abbott Creek.
April 2015	Flash Flood	Bonanza	$1,000	Highway 1427 was under at least a foot and a half of swiftly moving water and the water was still rising.
January 2025	Flood	Bonanza	-	KY-1427 (Abbott Creek Road) was impassable due to low-lying area flooding between mile markers 4 and 5, around and just east of Bonanza.
February 2023	Flood	Bonanza	-	A trained spotter reported 18 inches of flowing water over KY-1427 (Abbott Creek Road) near Creek Side Drive. This is a highly flood prone area.
August 2022	Flash Flood	Bonanza	-	Water was over the road on the creek-side of Abbott Creek Rd near Bonanza.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Bonanza	-	A large tree was blown down and onto Highway 1427.
May 2022	Flood	Bonanza	-	Water was reported flowing over Highway 1427 near the community of Bonanza.
July 2022	Flash Flood	Bonanza	-	Trained storm spotter near Bonaza, KY reported that 1.5 to 2 feet of water was flowing down Abbott Creek Road.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Bonanza	-	Numerous trees were down along Abbott Creek Road (KY-1427) near the community of Bonanza.
March 2021	Flash Flood	Bonanza	-	Raging water flowing down Abbott Creek Road with water rescues ongoing.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Bonanza	-	Trees were blown down.
January 2013	Flood	Bonanza	-	Little Abbott Creek Road flooded.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Bonanza	-	Two 18 inch diameter water birch trees were snapped off. One of the trees was lying in a field while the other was partially blocking a roadway.
July 2011	Heavy Rain	Bonanza	-	The county judge executive reported that an estimated 4 inches of rain had fallen on portions of northern Floyd county between 6 and 8 am.
January 2010	Flood	Bonanza	-	Six to eight inches of water was reported over Kentucky 1427 and Abbott Creek Road 2 miles east of Bonanza.
May 2010	Flash Flood	Bonanza	-	Highway 1427 was under a foot of flowing water from Abbott Creek 1 mile southwest of Bonanza.
May 2010	Flash Flood	Bonanza	-	Flood water from Abbott Creek was reported by and ambulance service to be up to the back door of a home in the Creekside subdivision.
May 2009	Flash Flood	Bonanza	-	Streams were flowing over roads and bridges in and around Prestonsburg.
May 1996	Hail	Bonanza	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Floyd 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Whitaker	2.3 miles	17
Brainard	2.6 miles	16
Dotson	3.1 miles	17
Cliff	4.5 miles	17
West Prestonsburg	4.6 miles	17
Blue River	5.1 miles	17
Prestonsburg	5.2 miles	17
Bays Branch	5.5 miles	17

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 Bonanza	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4941139	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 507547. 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.