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Onaka, South Dakota

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Sherman Township. It lies in ZIP code area 57466. The Survey maps it on the Onaka quadrangle. 13 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,873 feet above sea level.

Onaka within Faulk County

Population over time

2 figures

Onaka fell from 15 to 13 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
201015
202013-2 (-13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 9 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

4 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Onaka between 2006 and 2020, burning about 356 acres in total. 2 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
Natural2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
16 July 2006Natural250 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
16 July 2006Natural5.0 acresSand Lake National Wildlife RefugeWALDMAN FIRE
5 November 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionUNKNOWN
11 October 2015Equipment and vehicle use100 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionRICK RAUSCH

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Faulk County

Storms near this place

40 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Onaka in 40 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 21 hail, 9 flood, 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 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
April 2023FloodOnaka$150,000no account filed
April 2019FloodOnaka$121,100no account filed
June 2024Tornado (EF0)Onaka-A tornado briefly touched down in a field, and was later confirmed by satellite.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindOnaka-Winds were estimated to be between 50 and 60 mph, the timing of which was based on radar.
March 2019FloodOnaka-Several county and township roads were flooded.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindOnaka-Estimated seventy mph winds tore many shingles off the roof.
July 2018HailOnaka-Quarter hail damaged the bean crop and peeled paint of a building.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindOnaka-Estimated one-hundred mph winds knocked over a concrete grain silo, totaled a pole barn, and caused extensive tree damage.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindOnaka-Winds to 100 mph caused damage to trees and structures in around Onaka. The Onaka city hall was destroyed.
July 2001Tornado (F0)Onaka-A tornado touched down northwest of Onaka traveling through a field. The tornado only caused some tree damage. Path length and width were estimated.
June 2019FloodOnaka-no account filed
August 2019HailOnaka-no account filed
May 2019FloodOnaka-no account filed
June 2018Thunderstorm WindOnaka-no account filed
March 2011FloodOnaka-no account filed
April 2011FloodOnaka-no account filed
June 2011FloodOnaka-no account filed
March 2010FloodOnaka-no account filed
July 2009Flash FloodOnaka-no account filed
June 2008HailOnaka-no account filed
July 2008Funnel CloudOnaka-no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindOnaka-no account filed
August 2006HailOnaka-no account filed
May 2005HailOnaka-no account filed
May 2004HailOnaka-no account filed
July 2004HailOnaka-no account filed
July 2004HailOnaka-no account filed
July 2003HailOnaka-no account filed
June 2003HailOnaka-no account filed
June 2003HailOnaka-no account filed
June 2003HailOnaka-no account filed
June 2003HailOnaka-no account filed
June 2003HailOnaka-no account filed
June 2002HailOnaka-no account filed
August 2002HailOnaka-no account filed
July 2001HailOnaka-no account filed
July 2001HailOnaka-no account filed
June 2000HailOnaka-no account filed
June 2000HailOnaka-no account filed
June 1997HailOnaka-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Faulk 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
Brentwood Colony9.2 miles7
Seneca9.4 miles7
Thunderbird Colony10.6 miles7
Burkmere12.9 miles7
Norbeck13.5 miles7
Millard14.7 miles7
Blumengard Colony16.1 miles7
Wecota18.5 miles8

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 OnakaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2478093The 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 1256895. 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.