BlockBefore

Flat, Missouri

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1937 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Spring Creek Township. It lies in ZIP code area 65462. The Survey maps it on the Flat quadrangle.

Flat within Phelps County

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 19 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

39 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 39 fires within 5 miles of Flat between 1992 and 2017, burning about 2,776 acres in total. None started naturally. 20 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
Arson/incendiarism20
Debris and open burning8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Smoking2
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
1 September 1995Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMissouri Department of Conservationnot named
12 May 1995Debris and open burning2.0 acresMissouri Department of Conservationnot named
7 April 1995Arson/incendiarism21 acresMark Twain National Forest88
7 April 1992Arson/incendiarism16 acresMark Twain National Forestnot named
25 April 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined21 acresMark Twain National ForestLONNIE
22 April 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1,249 acresMissouri Department of ConservationRUNNING BOY
16 April 2006Arson/incendiarism48 acresMark Twain National ForestRELFE
12 April 1992Arson/incendiarism18 acresMark Twain National Forestnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Phelps County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Flat: 5 prospects, 3 past producers, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Lead. 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
UnkLeadPast Producer
Horse Hollow BankIronOccurrenceSurface
Horse Hollow BankIronProspect
Ozark MineIronPast Producer1880
Ozark MineIronProspect
Pruitt Mountain MineIronPast Producer
See BankIronProspect
UnkIronProspect
UnkIronProspect

Every working recorded in Phelps County

Storms near this place

18 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Flat in 18 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 8 flood, 4 flash flood, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado. 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
December 2015Flash FloodFlat$2,500,000Highway J was closed due to high water at the Spring Creek Arm of the Big Piney River. Numerous roads and bridges were damaged. Approximately 8 homes were destroyed and 22 homed suffered moderate damaged from flood water. This storm report will contain the damage estimates for the entire county for this event.
April 2011Flash FloodFlat$250,000Route J was closed due to flooding.||The total cost estimate for flooding damages for Phelps County for this entire episode has been included. This includes roads, bridges, and structures which were affected.
June 1999Tornado (F1)Flat$100,000no account filed
March 2025Tornado (EF1)Flat$25,000Following a review of satellite and radar imagery, the NWS determined an EF-1 tornado touched down in Phelps County. This tornado was within a larger path of the parent storm that produced additional tornadoes between Diggins, MO through Rolla. This tornado started six miles west of Yancy Milles, MO in the vicinity of County Road 7630 and then tracked through the Mark Twain National Forest before lifting just before Highway 63, three miles north of Vida, MO. Based upon satellite imagery in conjunction to radar data, the endpoint of this tornado was just to the southeast of a subsequent tornado that tracked northeast toward Rolla, MO. Damage was largely to uprooted trees, though a barn damaged on Highway T near the intersection of County Road 7460.
September 2014Thunderstorm WindFlat$1,000A tree was blown down onto a power line at the intersectiong of Highway J and Highway M. A brief fire was started.
April 2025FloodFlat-Route J at Big Piney Creek was flooded and impassable.
June 2024FloodFlat-State Highway J was closed due to flooding of Spring Creek.
June 2024Flash FloodFlat-State Highway J was closed due to flooding of Spring Creek.
March 2023FloodFlat-State Highway J at the Big Piney River was flooded.
March 2023FloodFlat-Highway J near the Big Piney River was closed due to flooding.
April 2022FloodFlat-Highway J at Smokey Hollow was flooded and impassable.
May 2022FloodFlat-Highway J at the low water crossing on Smokey Hollow Creek was flooded and impassable.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindFlat-A National Weather Service storm survey confirmed that straight line winds downed multiple trees across county road 6380.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindFlat-High winds were reported by a trained spotter.
August 2022HailFlat-Quarter sized hail was reported to fall for over a minute.
February 2018FloodFlat-State Highway J was closed due to flooding.
July 2015Flash FloodFlat-Route J was closed one mile north of Route M at the Big Piney River.
November 2015FloodFlat-The low water crossing at Route J was closed due to flooding near Spring Creek and the Big Piney River.

Every storm recorded in Phelps 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
Edgar Springs4.3 miles19
Spring Creek5.2 miles22
Yancy Mills5.9 miles26
Duke7.3 miles23
Beulah8.4 miles20
Craddock8.5 miles19
Blooming Rose9.4 miles20
Clementine10.2 miles20

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 729488. 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.