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Cranks, Kentucky

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1977. It stands in the Cawood census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40820. It stands on Mill Creek. The Survey maps it on the Evarts quadrangle. It stands 1,467 feet above sea level.

Cranks within Harlan County

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 24 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

88 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 88 fires within 5 miles of Cranks between 1995 and 2020, burning about 5,509 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 28 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 burning34
Arson/incendiarism28
Missing data/not specified/undetermined18
Recreation and ceremony3
Natural2
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
23 September 2008Arson/incendiarism25 acresVirginia Department of Forestrynot named
16 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
11 September 1999Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
10 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
27 August 2007Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreVirginia Department of Forestrynot named
25 June 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
23 June 2008Debris and open burning5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
6 May 2005Arson/incendiarismunder an acreVirginia Department of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Harlan County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Cranks: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron. 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
Ben Hur MineIronPast ProducerHematite
Noes Siding MineIronPast ProducerHematite
Truro MineIronPast ProducerHematite

Every working recorded in Harlan County

Storms near this place

11 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cranks in 11 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 5 flood, 3 flash flood, 3 thunderstorm wind. 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
February 2018FloodCranks$500,000Numerous roads in Cranks, Evarts, and Harlan and elsewhere around the county were closed or impassable due to flooding. A written state of emergency was declared for Harlan County during the height of the flooding.
April 2013Flash FloodCranks$200,000Highway 421 was flooded near Cranks.
November 1996Flash FloodCranks$5,000no account filed
January 1997Thunderstorm WindCranks$3,000no account filed
June 2011Thunderstorm WindCranks$250A three inch diameter limb was broken out of a five foot tall tree.
May 2023Thunderstorm WindCranks-NWS storm survey showed straightline winds with damage consistent with approximately 65 to 70 mph wind gusts. There were a few felled trees (some partially uprooted) and other trees with large branches broken off. Winds followed the direction of the valley floor along KY-568. One resident stated that the winds lasted only a few minutes.
March 2021FloodCranks-Pictures on social media showed water surrounding a house in the Cranks community.
April 2017Flash FloodCranks-Emergency Management officials reported water swiftly flowing over roadways from Cranks to Smith as around two inches of rain fell.
April 2017FloodCranks-Emergency management reported water from Cranks Creek spilling over onto U.S. Highway 421 in Cranks, along with water from Martins Fork flowing over Kentucky Highway 987 in Smith.
January 2013FloodCranks-Highway 421 near Cranks was closed for a time due to flooding.
December 2009FloodCranks-Highway 421 was closed for a couple of hours due to flooding.

Every storm recorded in Harlan 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
Crummies1.8 miles24
Cawood3.3 miles24
Bobs Creek4.4 miles24
Three Point4.7 miles25
Smith5.0 miles26
Mary Helen5.5 miles25
Lenarue5.8 miles25
Ten Spot5.9 miles24

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 CranksAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q5182192The 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 490292. 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.