BlockBefore

Decatur, Nebraska

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Decatur Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68020. It stands on Elm Creek. The Survey maps it on the Onawa SW quadrangle. 410 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,070 feet above sea level.

Decatur within Burt County

On record in Decatur

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

2 figures

Decatur fell from 481 to 410 between 2010 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
2010481
2020410-71 (-15%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 9 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

17 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Decatur between 2002 and 2017, burning about 1,685 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Smoking3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Fireworks2
Arson/incendiarism1
Debris and open burning1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
7 April 2002Smoking40 acresWinnebago AgencyA1302015
7 April 2002Debris and open burning6.0 acresWinnebago AgencyA1302016
7 April 2002Smoking11 acresWinnebago AgencyA1302027
6 April 2002Equipment and vehicle use12 acresWinnebago AgencyA1302014
6 April 2002Fireworks13 acresWinnebago AgencyA1302028
5 April 2002Fireworks11 acresWinnebago AgencyA1302029
5 April 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined12 acresWinnebago AgencyA1302025
29 April 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined260 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Burt County

Storms near this place

34 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Decatur in 34 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 21 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 flood, 1 flash flood. 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
June 2011FloodDecatur$100,000Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened over the area during June as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the river. In Burt county the flooding generally began during the first week of the month as the gauge at Decatur didn't surpass flood stage until around June 6th. However, by the middle of the month the gauge had climbed above 38 feet and reached around 40 feet by the end of the month. Flood stage at Decatur is 35 feet. Flooding in Burt county especially affected agricultural lowlands, recreation areas and roads near the river but also forced evacuation of 150 to 200 homes. Late in the month the Highway 175 bridge over the Missouri between Decatur and Onawa was closed due to erosion of the abutment on the Iowa side of the bridge. The flooding persisted into July.
July 2011FloodDecatur$50,000Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened over the area during June and continued into July as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the River. In Burt county the flooding generally began during the first week of June as the gauge at Decatur didn't surpass flood stage until around June 6th. The level climbed to around 40 feet by the end of June and remained around that level through July. Flood stage at Decatur is 35 feet. Flooding in Burt county especially affected agricultural lowlands, recreation areas and roads near the river but also forced evacuation of 150 to 200 homes. Late in June the Highway 175 bridge over the Missouri between Decatur and Onawa was closed due to erosion of the abutment on the Iowa side of the bridge. The flooding persisted into August.
June 2024FloodDecatur$10,000River flooding from upstream excessive rain impacted the region, bringing the Missouri River to moderate flood stage. The Missouri River crested at 37.55 feet at the Decatur gauge at 03:45 CDT on 6/26. Flood stage at this gauge is 35.0 feet.
August 2011FloodDecatur$5,000Flooding along the Missouri River continued into August as record releases from Gavins Point Dam, initially due to heavy rain and snow melt, and then to mostly heavy rain brought widespread flooding along the River. However, by the end of the month the river fell drastically as releases from Gavins Point Dam were cut way back and the river gauge at Decatur dropped below its 35 foot flood stage late on Aug. 31. Earlier in the summer flooding in Burt county affected agricultural lowlands, recreation areas and roads near the river and also forced evacuation of 150 to 200 homes. Late in June the Highway 175 bridge over the Missouri between Decatur and Onawa was closed due to erosion of the abutment on the Iowa side of the bridge and the bridge remained closed during August.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindDecatur-The Burt County Emergency Manager reported a 65 miles per hour wind gust on the north side of Decatur, Nebraska.
June 2024Tornado (EF0)Decatur-An EF-0 tornado developed just north of Decatur, breaking tree limbs and bringing down power lines. The tornado lasted approximately 1 minute and was approximately 75 yards wide according to video and eyewitness reports.
May 2023HailDecatur-Public reported 1-inch hail via mPing.
August 2022HailDecatur-Public reported a lot of hail, most of it nickel size with some stones up to 1 inch.
August 2022HailDecatur-Trained spotter reported 1 inch hail.
March 2019FloodDecatur-This is for flooding along the Missouri River. The river gage at Decatur, operated by the USGS, peaked at 36.59 feet at 5 pm on March 17th. Minor flood stage is 35 feet. Preliminary this was the 3rd highest crest on record.
November 2012Thunderstorm WindDecatur-Dime size hail also accompanied winds.
November 2012HailDecatur-Dime-size hail was accompanied by wind gusts estimated at around 60 mph.
June 2012Flash FloodDecatur-Rainfall estimated at around 3 inches in several hours caused flash flooding across parts of Highway 75 near Decatur for a few hours. Damage was apparently minimal, but the flooding did detour traffic for a while.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindDecatur-Thunderstorm winds of around 60 mph downed a few large branches in town.
June 2008HailDecatur-Hail around 3/4 of an inch in diameter fell for a little under 10 minutes in Decatur.
September 2007Thunderstorm WindDecatur-Numerous trees were blown down and windows in a house were blown in at a location 6 miles west and 3 miles south of Decatur. Winds estimated to be over 80 mph.
August 2007HailDecatur-Hail up to golf ball size was accompanied by heavy rain with 2.00 inches in 60 minutes.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindDecatur-Thunderstorm wind gusts downed a large tree which briefly blocked Highway 51 west of Decatur.
July 2002HailDecatur-A storm spotter reported hail up to golfball size caused "extreme damage" in town.
June 2018HailDecatur-no account filed
June 2018HailDecatur-no account filed
March 2017HailDecatur-no account filed
July 2016HailDecatur-no account filed
September 2015HailDecatur-no account filed
August 2008HailDecatur-no account filed
July 2003HailDecatur-no account filed
June 2003HailDecatur-no account filed
July 2002HailDecatur-no account filed
June 2001HailDecatur-no account filed
June 2001HailDecatur-no account filed
June 2001HailDecatur-no account filed
April 1998HailDecatur-no account filed
June 1998HailDecatur-no account filed
August 1996Thunderstorm WindDecatur-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Burt 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
Basford (historical)6.1 miles9
Bertha9.8 miles8
Riverside (historical)10.3 miles8
Lyons13.0 miles8
Arizona14.7 miles9
Tekamah15.9 miles9
Craig16.5 miles9
Oakland16.5 miles8

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 DecaturAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2512082The 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 828631. 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.