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Mortons Gap, Kentucky

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Madisonville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42440. The Survey maps it on the Nortonville quadrangle. 728 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 472 feet above sea level.

Mortons Gap within Hopkins County

On record in Mortons Gap

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 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

Mortons Gap fell from 952 to 728 between 2000 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
2000952
2010863-89 (-9%)
2020728-135 (-16%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 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

42 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 42 fires within 5 miles of Mortons Gap between 1997 and 2017, burning about 627 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 5 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 burning14
Missing data/not specified/undetermined9
Recreation and ceremony6
Railroad operations and maintenance5
Arson/incendiarism5
Smoking1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Natural1

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
6 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryB & K SAWMILL
6 September 2010Recreation and ceremony10 acresKentucky Division of ForestryLABOR
20 August 2007Debris and open burning74 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
10 August 2002Railroad operations and maintenance10 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
23 July 2008Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
1 July 2012Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreKentucky Division of ForestryROCK SPARK
27 June 2012Debris and open burning3.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryWHITECITY
24 May 2012Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreKentucky Division of ForestryEARLINGTON

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hopkins County

Storms near this place

19 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mortons Gap in 19 storm reports between 2006 and 2021: 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 flood, 2 hail, 2 heavy rain. 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
April 2008FloodMortons Gap$150,000Near Mortons Gap, the entrance to the southbound Pennyrile Parkway on-ramp was under two to three feet of water. Highway 813 at Mortons Gap was under an inch of water. Countywide, many roads were covered with water. Roads were closed, especially in the north portion of the county. Highway 109 was closed for a few days. Main Street in Madisonville was partially closed. Flooding caused significant damage to at least three businesses in a mall in Madisonville. Up to six inches of water on the floor of a grocery store damaged inventory. Additional damage to inventory occurred when power was cut to the mall for safety reasons. The mall parking lot was flooded up to a depth of three feet, and a car was submerged over the headlights.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindMortons Gap$50,000The roof was blown off a house in Mortons Gap. Around White Plains, trees were blown down on some roads. Utility poles were snapped in Nortonville.
September 2011Thunderstorm WindMortons Gap$30,000A trailer was overturned near Mortons Gap.
April 2021Flash FloodMortons Gap$10,000One foot of water was flowing over Flat Creek Road, making it impassable. There was some flooding of a nearby logging business.
May 2009Heavy RainMortons Gap$10,000In Madisonville, stormwater ditches became clogged with debris, causing local flooding of yards, streets, and some outbuildings. In one neighborhood, water was up to seven inches deep in a garage. Several roads near Hanson were briefly under water. At Mortons Gap, water was flowing across U.S. Highway 41.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindMortons Gap$5,000Power lines were blown down.
April 2011Tornado (EF0)Mortons Gap$2,000Tree limbs were blown down, along with small signs. This very brief tornado, which was witnessed by trained spotters, contained estimated winds of 70 mph.
March 2009Thunderstorm WindMortons Gap$1,000Tree limbs were down on a road.
January 2021FloodMortons Gap-Three inches of water covered Highway 813 near exit 108 of the Pennyrile Parkway / Interstate 69.
October 2017FloodMortons Gap-Flat Creek Road off of Highway 813 was flooded.
April 2016Funnel CloudMortons Gap-A trained spotter reported a funnel cloud just west of Mortons Gap.
July 2016FloodMortons Gap-The on-ramp to Interstate 69 from Highway 813 near Mortons Gap was under 6 to 12 inches of water.
March 2015FloodMortons Gap-Near Mortons Gap, a southbound ramp of the Pennyrile Parkway interchange was closed due to flooding. Numerous roads were flooded and closed elsewhere around the county, including State Route 270.
June 2007Heavy RainMortons Gap-Minor flooding was reported.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindMortons Gap-At Mortons Gap, a trained spotter estimated wind gusts to 60 MPH. Several trees were down just east of White Plains along Highway 62.
April 2018Funnel CloudMortons Gap-no account filed
May 2009HailMortons Gap-no account filed
October 2007Thunderstorm WindMortons Gap-no account filed
June 2006HailMortons Gap-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hopkins 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
Barnsley1.6 miles12
Flat Creek (historical)1.8 miles12
Oak Hill2.1 miles12
Little Valley2.5 miles12
Earlington3.2 miles14
Homestead (historical)3.3 miles12
Nortonville3.4 miles12
West Side Heights3.8 miles14

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 Mortons GapAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3179750The 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 498645. 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.