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Oral, South Dakota

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Northeast Fall River unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 57766. It stands on Sand Creek. The Survey maps it on the Buffalo Gap quadrangle. 66 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,969 feet above sea level.

Oral within Fall River County

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 16 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

25 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 25 fires within 5 miles of Oral between 1998 and 2019, burning about 417 acres in total. 11 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
Natural11
Debris and open burning6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Other causes1

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
7 September 2002Naturalunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionWEST DUMP
3 September 2015Natural98 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionSOUTH BUFFALO GAP CA
12 September 1998Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreRapid City Fire Department98-2998
9 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionRIDDLE FIRE
9 August 2011Natural1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionSHANGRI LA
2 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionJUNCTION
19 August 2001Equipment and vehicle use15 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionELM CREEK
9 July 2003Other causes2.3 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fall River County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Oral: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Birdsall Sand & Gravel Co MineSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Oral PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Fall River County

Storms near this place

40 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oral in 40 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 23 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 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
June 2005Tornado (F1)Oral$50,000A non-supercell tornado quickly developed and moved across a field, where it destroyed 3 177-foot sections of a new center pivot irrigation system and the roof of a game bird barn. The tornado was followed by wind gusts of 70 mph and golf ball to almost softball sized hail.
June 2015FloodOral$40,000Flooding in Oral occurred after runoff backed up at a plugged culvert along Sand Creek. East Oral Road was underwater, with several homes and businesses in Oral and north of East Oral Road inundated.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindOral$10,000Two large center pivot irrigation systems were mangled by thunderstorm winds. The concrete base of one was pulled from the ground.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindOral$10,000Grain bins and pivot irrigation systems were blown over by the wind.
July 2003HailOral$10,000Large tree limbs were blown down. Large hail also broke windows and damaged the roof of a house.
June 2013HailOral$10,000no account filed
June 2013HailOral$5,000no account filed
June 2005HailOral$200Large hail broke windshield of automobile.
June 2022HailOral-A lot of baseball sized hail fell, with a few stones almost four inches in diameter.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindOral-Multiple trees were blown over by the wind.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindOral-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
July 2016Heavy RainOral-Rainfall of 2.06 inches fell in about 6 hours.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindOral-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindOral-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindOral-Wind gusts were estimated around 60 mph.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindOral-Wind gusts estimated at 70 mph bent over trees.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindOral-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindOral-8 inch diameter tree limbs down.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindOral-Several tree limbs were broken off.
May 1994HailOral-Heavy fall of one-half inch hail caused undetermined crop damage.
April 2024HailOral-no account filed
July 2023HailOral-no account filed
June 2021HailOral-no account filed
August 2021HailOral-no account filed
June 2018HailOral-no account filed
June 2016Thunderstorm WindOral-no account filed
July 2016HailOral-no account filed
June 2014HailOral-no account filed
May 2010HailOral-no account filed
July 2010HailOral-no account filed
May 2009HailOral-no account filed
July 2009HailOral-no account filed
May 2005Flash FloodOral-no account filed
August 2004HailOral-no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindOral-no account filed
August 2002HailOral-no account filed
May 2001HailOral-no account filed
July 2000HailOral-no account filed
June 1994HailOral-no account filed
August 1993HailOral-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fall River 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
Smithwick7.6 miles14
Angostura9.2 miles16
Hot Springs11.0 miles19
Cascade Springs15.7 miles15
Oelrichs15.7 miles14
Erskine15.8 miles14
Heppner18.5 miles14
Rocky Ford19.3 miles15

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 OralAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7099350The 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 1265313. 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.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.