BlockBefore

Cliff, 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 May Branch. The Survey maps it on the Prestonsburg quadrangle. It stands 623 feet above sea level.

Cliff within Floyd County

On record in Cliff

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register within a mile 5 records

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

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.

Fires near this place

182 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 182 fires within 5 miles of Cliff between 1997 and 2020, burning about 6,555 acres in total. None started naturally. 39 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 burning63
Arson/incendiarism39
Missing data/not specified/undetermined38
Recreation and ceremony37
Smoking2
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
9 September 2010Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryABBOTT MTN
8 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
8 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
7 September 2007Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
4 September 2007Debris and open burning50 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
25 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
30 August 2007Debris and open burning3.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
29 August 2007Debris and open burning2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Floyd County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Cliff: 1 past producer, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Silica, Clay. 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
East Point RoadcutClayProspect
Levisa Fork Sandstone PitSilicaPast Producer

Every working recorded in Floyd County

Storms near this place

6 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cliff in 6 storm reports between 2014 and 2025: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2024Thunderstorm WindCliff$1,200A telephone pole was downed by winds along Cliff Road in Prestonsburg. The exact location along Cliff Road was not given.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindCliff-The 911 call center relayed a report of trees that were downed along North Central Avenue behind the Wendy's in Prestonsburg.
June 2025HailCliff-A trained spotter reported hail 1 inch in diameter, along with 2.8 inches of rain from the storm that passed over the East Kentucky Science Center, located on the Big Sandy Community and Technical College campus.
March 2021FloodCliff-Route 1427 is blocked at several spots due to high water across the road near Abbott Creek.
September 2018FloodCliff-Local Emergency Management observed portions of Kentucky Highway 321 and Abbott Creek Road in Prestonsburg being inundated with water, causing each roadway to be impassable.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindCliff-One tree was blown down and was blocking Old KY 114.

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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
West Prestonsburg0.7 miles17
Prestonsburg1.2 miles17
Lancer2.5 miles18
Bays Branch2.9 miles17
Bull Creek3.0 miles18
Watergap3.6 miles18
Auxier4.0 miles17
Sloan4.4 miles17

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 CliffAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q5132510The 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 489665. 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.