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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.

Ragan within Harlan County

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

Population over time

2 figures

Ragan 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.

YearPeople Change
201038
202022-16 (-42%)

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

5 since 2008

Regional 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/undetermined3
Arson/incendiarism1
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
4 July 2008Arson/incendiarismunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
1 July 2008Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
5 June 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
20 April 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Every fire recorded in Harlan County

Storms near this place

42 since 1999

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2024Tornado (EF0)Ragan$600,000This 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 2022HailRagan$100,000Hail ranging anywhere in size from ping pong balls up to three inches in diameter was reported in this area.
May 2022HailRagan$100,000Hail ranging in size from quarters to golf balls was reported in the area.
July 2014HailRagan$100,000Hail reports ranged in size from ping pong balls to baseballs.
June 1999Thunderstorm WindRagan$100,000no account filed
June 2014HailRagan$75,000no account filed
June 2011HailRagan$50,000Winds of 60 to 70 mph were reported at the time of the hail.
June 2011HailRagan$50,000Winds of 60 to 70 mph were reported at the time of the hail.
May 2019HailRagan$25,000no account filed
May 2004HailRagan$25,000no account filed
June 2011HailRagan$15,000no account filed
June 2010Flash FloodRagan$10,000no account filed
July 2024Thunderstorm WindRagan$5,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH caused damage to irrigation piping and a power pole in the area.
June 2011HailRagan$5,000Hail covered the ground.
May 2007HailRagan$5,000no account filed
May 2008HailRagan$2,000no account filed
June 2008HailRagan$2,000no account filed
July 2022Thunderstorm WindRagan$1,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH damaged a flag pole and blew lawn furniture across the yard.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindRagan-A wind gust of 60 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located four miles east of Ragan.
December 2021Thunderstorm WindRagan-A wind gust of 76 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located four miles east of Ragan.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindRagan-A wind gust of 58 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 4 miles west-northwest of Ragan.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindRagan-A wind gust of 70 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 4 miles east of Ragan.
May 2019Flash FloodRagan-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 2017Heavy RainRagan-A storm total rainfall amount of 4.61 inches was measured.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindRagan-Wind gusts were estimated near 60 MPH. Tree limbs around 5 inches in diameter were downed.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindRagan-Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
June 2011HailRagan-Winds were estimated at 60 mph as well.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindRagan-Three center pivot irrigation systems and 2 power poles were damaged northwest of Ragan.
July 2022HailRagan-no account filed
April 2019HailRagan-no account filed
April 2016HailRagan-no account filed
April 2014HailRagan-no account filed
June 2011HailRagan-no account filed
September 2010HailRagan-no account filed
September 2010HailRagan-no account filed
June 2010HailRagan-no account filed
June 2009HailRagan-no account filed
June 2009HailRagan-no account filed
June 2003HailRagan-no account filed
April 2001HailRagan-no account filed
June 2000HailRagan-no account filed
May 1999Tornado (F0)Ragan-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Harlan 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
Huntley6.9 miles13
Mascot14.0 miles14
Republican City15.0 miles13
Alma15.2 miles13
Orleans15.3 miles13
Oxford Junction17.2 miles13
Flynn Junction17.2 miles13
Stamford20.2 miles13

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 RaganAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3264098The 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.