Ragan, Nebraska
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Antelope Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68949. The Survey maps it on the Ragan quadrangle. 22 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,329 feet above sea level.
On record in Ragan
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
Turkey Creek Bridgelisted 1992
Population over time
2 figuresRagan fell from 38 to 22 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 | 38 | |
| 2020 | 22 | -16 (-42%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 13 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.
- 1896 USGS Holdrege quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Grand Island quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Grand Island quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Grand Island quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Ragan quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Holdrege quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
5 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Ragan between 2008 and 2019, burning about 8 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/undetermined | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 July 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 1 July 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 5 June 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 3 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 20 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Storms near this place
42 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ragan in 42 storm reports between 1999 and 2024: 27 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2024 | Tornado (EF0) | Ragan | $600,000 | This weak and somewhat intermittent tornado touched down near the intersection of Highway 183 and Highway 4, then moved northeast. Damage was limited to trees, pivots, and a a few power poles along its roughly seven mile track. The estimated peak wind was 85 MPH. The tornado lifted just north of the Harlan and Phelps County line between T Road and U Road. |
| May 2022 | Hail | Ragan | $100,000 | Hail ranging anywhere in size from ping pong balls up to three inches in diameter was reported in this area. |
| May 2022 | Hail | Ragan | $100,000 | Hail ranging in size from quarters to golf balls was reported in the area. |
| July 2014 | Hail | Ragan | $100,000 | Hail reports ranged in size from ping pong balls to baseballs. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Ragan | $75,000 | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Ragan | $50,000 | Winds of 60 to 70 mph were reported at the time of the hail. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Ragan | $50,000 | Winds of 60 to 70 mph were reported at the time of the hail. |
| May 2019 | Hail | Ragan | $25,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ragan | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Ragan | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Ragan | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | $5,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH caused damage to irrigation piping and a power pole in the area. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Ragan | $5,000 | Hail covered the ground. |
| May 2007 | Hail | Ragan | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Ragan | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Ragan | $2,000 | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | $1,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH damaged a flag pole and blew lawn furniture across the yard. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | - | A wind gust of 60 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located four miles east of Ragan. |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | - | A wind gust of 76 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located four miles east of Ragan. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | - | A wind gust of 58 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 4 miles west-northwest of Ragan. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | - | A wind gust of 70 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 4 miles east of Ragan. |
| May 2019 | Flash Flood | Ragan | - | Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches, with locally higher amounts a possibility, fell across the area. This heavy rain resulted in flash flooding across much of Harlan County, affecting numerous rural roads, with a handful completely washed out. In Alma, as much as 18 inches of water flowed down a street. North of Republican City, a rural road and 6 foot culvert were washed out. |
| July 2017 | Heavy Rain | Ragan | - | A storm total rainfall amount of 4.61 inches was measured. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | - | Wind gusts were estimated near 60 MPH. Tree limbs around 5 inches in diameter were downed. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | - | Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Ragan | - | Winds were estimated at 60 mph as well. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ragan | - | Three center pivot irrigation systems and 2 power poles were damaged northwest of Ragan. |
| July 2022 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| April 2019 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| April 2016 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| September 2010 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| September 2010 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Ragan | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Tornado (F0) | Ragan | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huntley | 6.9 miles | 13 | |
| Mascot | 14.0 miles | 14 | |
| Republican City | 15.0 miles | 13 | |
| Alma | 15.2 miles | 13 | |
| Orleans | 15.3 miles | 13 | |
| Oxford Junction | 17.2 miles | 13 | |
| Flynn Junction | 17.2 miles | 13 | |
| Stamford | 20.2 miles | 13 |
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 Ragan | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3264098 | 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 832438. 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.





