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Aurora Center, South Dakota

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Center Township. It lies in ZIP code area 57375. The Survey maps it on the Aurora Center quadrangle. 22 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,647 feet above sea level.

Aurora Center within Aurora County

Population over time

2 figures

Aurora Center grew from 12 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
201012
202022+10 (+83%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 8 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

2 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Aurora Center between 2007 and 2013, burning about 4 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
Equipment and vehicle use1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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 July 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresAurora CountyOLIVIER FIRE
28 November 2007Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named

Every fire recorded in Aurora County

Storms near this place

25 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Aurora Center in 25 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 16 hail, 4 flood, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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
June 2024FloodAurora Center$2,540,000Rainfall amounts across Aurora County from June 20-22 ranged from 3 to 9 inches. Widespread overland flooding ensued. ||Numerous county and township roads were impacted by flood waters and closed. Interstate 90 was closed near the Aurora/Davison County line and South Dakota Highway 16 was closed in multiple areas parallel to the interstate. Preliminary damage assessments estimate there to be 1.93 million dollars in damage to public infrastructure. ||Multiple structures were impacted by backed up water or sewage. Four residences reported damage in White Lake, estimated at a cost of 31 thousand dollars. Eighteen residences and 4 businesses in Plankinton reported damage, estimated at a cost of 582 thousand dollars.
September 2019FloodAurora Center$709,000Around 80 percent of Aurora County experienced water over county and township roads, with the greatest impacts over the southern half of the county. Travel was not recommended from Thursday through Sunday. Interstate 90 was briefly closed between Plankinton and Mount Vernon due to areas of water across the roadway. Property damage costs include damage to public infrastructure.
March 2019FloodAurora Center$600,000Flooding resulted in extensive damage to public infrastructure including numerous county and township roads, culverts, and some bridges. The property damage costs include estimates for public property losses.
August 2009HailAurora Center$100,000Large hail dented vehicles, broke windows on vehicles and buildings, and damaged siding. The Aurora Center Reformed Church suffered considerable damage, resulting in the need to board the broken windows for Sunday service the next day. The hail also damaged crops, mainly corn. The amount of crop damage was not known.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindAurora Center$20,000An anchored play set and gazebo were destroyed. Several large limbs were also downed by the strong winds. Minor damage occurred to house skirting and siding. Property damage amounts are rough estimates. Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
September 2019Thunderstorm WindAurora Center$250Thunderstorm winds broke several limbs of 4 to 6 inches in diameter.
August 2025HailAurora Center-Hail ranged in size up to quarter size.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindAurora Center-The emergency manager measured a thunderstorm wind gust of 73 mph.
June 2025HailAurora Center-Hail was mostly pea to dime size, but a few stones were as big as a nickel.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindAurora Center-A large cottonwood tree fell on a pickup. Numerous large branches were blown down across the yard.
June 2019FloodAurora Center-During crop planting season, prolonged flooding led to the loss of or inability to plant crops across the area. Crop loss estimates provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
June 2018HailAurora Center-Large hail was accompanied by winds of greater than 50 mph.
July 2017Tornado (EF0)Aurora Center-Brief tornado caused localized tree damage, as well as minor damage to farm out buildings.
June 2010HailAurora Center-Large hail was accompanied by very heavy rain.
August 2009HailAurora Center-Large hail caused damage to windows, siding, and crops. The amount of property and crop damage was not known.
July 2025HailAurora Center-no account filed
June 2025HailAurora Center-no account filed
June 2025HailAurora Center-no account filed
August 2023HailAurora Center-no account filed
August 2017HailAurora Center-no account filed
August 2011HailAurora Center-no account filed
June 2010HailAurora Center-no account filed
August 2008HailAurora Center-no account filed
August 2004HailAurora Center-no account filed
July 1997HailAurora Center-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Aurora 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
Stickney9.2 miles11
Plankinton14.1 miles11
White Lake15.5 miles8
Storla26.4 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 Aurora CenterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2312955The 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 1253729. 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.