Elk Creek, Nebraska
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Todd Creek precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 68348. It stands on Todd Creek. The Survey maps it on the Tecumseh quadrangle. 69 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,076 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresElk Creek fell from 98 to 69 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 98 | |
| 2020 | 69 | -29 (-30%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 10 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1955 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Tecumseh quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Beatrice quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
26 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 26 fires within 5 miles of Elk Creek between 2007 and 2020, burning about 1,222 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 21 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 July 2007 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 5 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 35 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 4 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | 50 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 16 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | 80 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 16 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 80 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 16 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 16 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 80 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 13 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | 50 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Elk Creek: 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Niobium (Columbium). Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elk Creek | Niobium (Columbium) | Prospect |
Storms near this place
11 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elk Creek in 11 storm reports between 2003 and 2026: 6 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Hail | Elk Creek | - | Trained spotter report of hail estimated up to 1 inch in diameter mixed with a lot of pea sized hail near Elk Creek, NE. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Creek | - | Public reported several tree limbs down. |
| May 2019 | Heavy Rain | Elk Creek | - | Spotters reported 3.40 inches of rain south of Tecumseh. |
| June 2018 | Tornado (EF0) | Elk Creek | - | A short lived tornado that produced minor tree branch damage and was over a field for part of its path. It traveled for less than a tenth of a mile moving west to east and was located 3 3/4 north northeast of Elk Creek. |
| September 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Creek | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 70 mph downed a lot of large tree limbs in the Elk Creek area and the fallen limbs caused some shingle and other damage. At least one window was blown out of a local business. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Creek | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 60 mph broke a large tree limb which fell on a roof causing damage in town. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Elk Creek | - | no account filed |
| April 2012 | Hail | Elk Creek | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Elk Creek | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Elk Creek | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Elk Creek | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tecumseh | 6.6 miles | 10 | |
| Graf (historical) | 8.0 miles | 10 | |
| Vesta | 12.0 miles | 10 | |
| Saint Mary | 12.8 miles | 10 | |
| Cook | 15.5 miles | 13 | |
| Crab Orchard | 15.9 miles | 10 | |
| Helena (historical) | 16.1 miles | 13 | |
| Sterling | 17.8 miles | 10 |
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 Elk Creek | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2345142 | The 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 829052. 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.




