BlockBefore

Polk, Nebraska

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1985. It stands in West Pleasant Home precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 68654. The Survey maps it on the Polk quadrangle. 346 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,742 feet above sea level.

Polk within Polk County

Population over time

2 figures

Polk grew from 322 to 346 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
2010322
2020346+24 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 13 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

20 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 20 fires within 5 miles of Polk between 2005 and 2020, burning about 111 acres in total. 1 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
Debris and open burning5
Equipment and vehicle use5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Arson/incendiarism1
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Recreation and ceremony1
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
29 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
29 September 2012Equipment and vehicle use25 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
28 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
27 September 2009Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
2 September 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
5 April 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
22 April 2020Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
21 April 2020Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Polk County

Storms near this place

39 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Polk in 39 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 14 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 7 flash flood, 4 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
October 2001Tornado (F3)Polk$1,800,000A strong tornado entered Polk County from Hamilton County.
December 2021Tornado (EF1)Polk$400,000This Polk County tornado touched down southeast of Polk and crossed Highway 66 about two miles east of town. The estimated maximum wind speed of 100 MPH was based upon multiple stretches of snapped power poles. Several irrigation pivots were overturned along and near its path.
May 2016Flash FloodPolk$75,000Training, slow moving thunderstorms with torrential rainfall resulted in flash flooding across northern Hamilton, far southwestern Polk and far north-northwestern York Counties. Hamilton County was the hardest hit, with radar estimates of 5 to 8 inches of rain. Numerous county roads were covered with water and were closed. One home near Marquette in Hamilton County had about 2 feet of water inside and around the house. Animals at the farmstead had to be moved, and witnesses claimed the horses were nearly belly-deep in water at one point. This water moved downstream into Polk and York Counties, causing flooding along the Big Blue River.
May 2008Flash FloodPolk$50,000Thunderstorms rolled across Polk County during the nighttime hours and dumped several inches of rain. This caused roads and small creeks to quickly flood.
June 2002HailPolk$50,000no account filed
June 2008Flash FloodPolk$40,000Southern Polk County had 4 to 7 inches of rainfall that sent water rushing across highways 92 and 81 near Osceola. Water was over the highways in all four directions out of Osceola.
May 2011Flash FloodPolk$25,000Water was reported over a number of county roads, and while the primary flooding threat ended during the late evening hours and water then began to recede, area creeks continued to run high and ditches were full well into the morning hours of May 13th.
July 2011Flash FloodPolk$25,000Early morning heavy rain resulted in reports of 5 to 6 inches across the area. This heavy rain caused water to run over a portion of Highway 66, and several county roads were under water.
August 2005HailPolk$25,00060 mph winds were also reported with the hail in the town of Polk.
May 2004HailPolk$25,000no account filed
September 2006HailPolk$20,000no account filed
May 1998HailPolk$20,000no account filed
August 2015Flash FloodPolk$10,000Many roads were flooded. Around 25 to 30 county roads (many were gravel roads) were closed in north central and northeastern portions of Polk County. At least one paved road had water running over it a few miles west of the Highway 81 and 64 junction. Some gravel roads were washed out in spots. Gauge readings and radar estimation indicated a narrow swath of six to 10 inches of rain fell in separate rounds over the course of roughly 30 hours. Minor flooding occurred along Clear Creek within northeast portions of the county. An NeRAIN observer seven miles north of Osceola reported 6.69 inches of rain between the evening of August 16th and the early morning of August 18th. The majority of the rain fell between 930 p.m. CDT August 17th through 1230 a.m. August 18th. Also, an unofficial public report of 8.50 of storm total rain occurred six miles south of Duncan.
August 2015FloodPolk$10,000Around 25 to 30 county roads (many were gravel roads) were closed due to standing water in north central and northeastern portions of Polk County. At least one paved road had water running over it a few miles west of the Highway 81 and 64 junction. Some gravel roads were washed out in spots. Gauge readings and radar estimation indicated a narrow swath of six to 10 inches of rain fell in separate rounds over the course of roughly 30 hours. Minor flooding occurred along Clear Creek within northeast portions of the county. An NeRAIN observer seven miles north of Osceola reported 6.69 inches of rain between the evening of August 16th and the early morning of August 18th. The majority of the rain fell between 930 p.m. CDT August 17th through 1230 a.m. August 18th. Also, an unofficial public report of 8.50 of storm total rain occurred six miles south of Duncan.
September 2000HailPolk$10,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindPolk$5,000no account filed
May 2006Thunderstorm WindPolk$5,000no account filed
April 2025Thunderstorm WindPolk-Minor damage was reported to roof and farm equipment.
June 2024FloodPolk-Based on radar estimation and various totals from NWS/NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers, widespread rainfall of 2.50-4.50 inches fell across mainly the northern half of the county mainly between 10 p.m. CDT on the 21st and 3 a.m. CDT on the 22nd. Among the known impacts, Davis Creek flooded in and near Osceola, spilling onto and closing at least one lane of Highway 81/92 near the west edge of town for several hours.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindPolk-A wind gust of 61 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located in Polk.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindPolk-NWS Cooperative Observer reported damaging winds with some tree limbs downed.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindPolk-A wind gust of 63 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located two miles east of Polk.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindPolk-A 60 MPH wind gust was measured by a mesonet station located 2 miles east of Polk.
October 2016Heavy RainPolk-A daily rainfall total of 4.05 inches was reported from separate rounds of morning and afternoon thunderstorms.
July 2011Flash FloodPolk-Rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches fell over a short period of time across central and southern portions of Polk County, which resulted in water running over Highway 81/92 just west of Osceola as well as a few area rural roads.
March 2009HailPolk-Accompanied by estimated winds of 50 mph.
August 2007Heavy RainPolk-Storm total of 4.11 inches.
October 2001Tornado (F0)Polk-Tornado was briefly in Polk County coming from Hamilton County.
July 1995HailPolk-Large hail, driven by thunderstorm winds of 50 mph, damaged crops in a one mile wide swath from west of Clarks to north of Polk.
February 2011FloodPolk-no account filed
May 2011HailPolk-no account filed
March 2011FloodPolk-no account filed
June 2011HailPolk-no account filed
June 2011HailPolk-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindPolk-no account filed
May 2005Funnel CloudPolk-no account filed
June 2003HailPolk-no account filed
April 2001HailPolk-no account filed
October 2001HailPolk-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Polk 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
Durant6.4 miles13
Swedehome8.7 miles13
Stromsburg10.1 miles13
Osceola14.4 miles14
Shelby20.6 miles11

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 PolkAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2184107The 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 832297. 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.