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Elba, Nebraska

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Elba precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 68835. It stands on Auger Creek. The Survey maps it on the Elba quadrangle. 192 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,860 feet above sea level.

Elba within Howard County

On record in Elba

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

Elba fell from 215 to 192 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
2010215
2020192-23 (-11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 11 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

1 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Elba in 2013, burning about 3 acres in total. None started naturally. None 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
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
26 January 2013Power generation/transmission/distribution3.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Howard County

Storms near this place

37 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elba in 37 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 27 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 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
July 2022HailElba$500,000Hail up to the size of baseballs was reported. A CoCoRaHS observer noted in comments that crops and trees were damaged and did not look good.
April 2024Tornado (EF2)Elba$400,000Through a roughly 10 minute process, during which the parent supercell did not move much, a fourth tornado formed in northern Howard County before crossing into Greeley County. This tornado was rated an EF2 with estimated peak wind speeds of 135 MPH based upon metal power pole damage just west of the Highway 281 and 22 junction near Wolbach. The tornado had previously destroyed a metal building to the southwest, and would go on to destroy a couple of wood framed outbuildings to the northeast of Highway 281. The south edge of the tornado likely passed just north of the Highway 281 and 22 junction. It was in this general area and along the county line that the tornado was at least one-half mile wide. The tornado marched northeast, causing damage to at least one residence, outbuildings, trees, and center irrigation pivots. As the supercell slowed down north of Wolbach, this tornado diminished (damage noted was much less severe and sparse), and the supercell began the process of developing another tornado to the east.
May 2012HailElba$75,000no account filed
May 2004HailElba$50,000no account filed
June 1998HailElba$40,000no account filed
July 2022HailElba$25,000Hail up to the size of quarters was accompanied by wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH. This wind resulted in tree damage in Elba, including tree limbs near one foot in diameter downed and whole trees blown over.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindElba$25,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH resulted in tree damage in Elba, including tree limbs near one foot in diameter downed and whole trees blown over. Hail up to the size of quarters accompanied this wind.
May 2014Thunderstorm WindElba$25,000Tree damage, with some power outages, was reported in Elba.
June 2004HailElba$25,00060 mph winds were reported in the Elba area along with the hail.
August 2012HailElba$25,000no account filed
June 2011HailElba$25,000no account filed
October 2001HailElba$10,000no account filed
May 2004Flash FloodElba$5,000A road was washed out just west of Elba after heavy rains fell in the area.
July 2000HailElba$2,000no account filed
August 2021HailElba-Nickel size hail was reported three miles south of Elba on Highway 11.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindElba-An NeRAIN observer near Dannevirke estimated gusts to around 65 MPH.
August 2017Heavy RainElba-A 24-hour precipitation amount of 3.35 inches was recorded 3 miles west of Elba.
June 2015HailElba-Pea to quarter size hail lasted around 10 minutes.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindElba-Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH by an NeRAIN observer.
May 2013Tornado (EF0)Elba-This tornado briefly touched down approximately 6 miles northeast of Ashton, with a maximum wind speed estimated to be 75 MPH. No damage was reported with this tornado.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindElba-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 MPH.
April 2022HailElba-no account filed
September 2014HailElba-no account filed
May 2013HailElba-no account filed
May 2012HailElba-no account filed
May 2012HailElba-no account filed
August 2012HailElba-no account filed
June 2010HailElba-no account filed
June 2010HailElba-no account filed
February 2007FloodElba-no account filed
April 2006HailElba-no account filed
April 2006HailElba-no account filed
May 2004HailElba-no account filed
July 2003HailElba-no account filed
May 2002HailElba-no account filed
June 2001HailElba-no account filed
July 1994HailElba-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Howard 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
Midway4.9 miles12
Farwell5.8 miles12
Cotesfield6.0 miles12
Saint Paul7.6 miles14
Dannevirke7.9 miles12
Paplin (historical)9.0 miles12
Cushing10.6 miles14
Nysted10.7 miles12

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 ElbaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2277330The 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 829037. 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.