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Bridge City, Texas

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Bridge City-Orangefield census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77611. The Survey maps it on the Orangefield quadrangle. 9,546 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 10 feet above sea level.

Bridge City within Orange County

On record in Bridge City

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

Bridge City grew from 7,840 to 9,546 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
20107,840
20209,546+1,706 (+22%)

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

10 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Bridge City between 1998 and 2009, burning about 51 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
Debris and open burning4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Arson/incendiarism1

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
23 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
21 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
5 August 1998Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
13 August 2000Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceWOODVILLE - 503
10 June 2006Debris and open burning5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service588 F 8
2 March 2009Debris and open burning3.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceWOODVILLE - 59
24 February 1999Debris and open burning4.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
20 February 2009Debris and open burning3.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceWOODVILLE - 46

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Bridge City: 1 producer. 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
R A Mann Bayon Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Orange County

Storms near this place

28 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bridge City in 28 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 10 flash flood, 9 hail, 3 flood, 3 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 11 deaths. 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
August 2017Flash FloodBridge City10 killed, $1,500,000,000Widespread 30 to 50 inches of rainfall fell across Orange County during Harvey. This resulted in 27,742 homes being flooded. The hardest hit areas were Orange, Vidor, Orangefield, Pine Forest, West Orange, Rose City, Mauriceville, Rose City, and Lake View. Record crests occurred on the lower Neches and Cow Bayou. The Sabine River was at its highest level since Hurricane Ike in 2008. Water covered and closed portions of Interstate 10 in the county. Only 1 home was reported not flooded in Rose City and the community's drinking water was interrupted for near a month. 10 people perished during the event with 2 of them being from electrocution in a flooded home.
March 2012FloodBridge City1 killed, $1,000The line of slow moving storms finally departed Southeast Texas in the early morning hours. As water receded a car was found in a ditch in Orange near the Lake Cypress-Mauriceville High School the next day. The driver had driven into the ditch after the rain had stopped during the night and drown. The flood waters from the heavy rain event took a week to recede.
October 2013Tornado (EF1)Bridge City$100,000The tornado began south of West Round Bunch Road near Susan Circle and traveled generally west and crossed Highway 87/73 south of Cow Bayou. The tornado then turned northwest to parallel Highway 87/73 after crossing the bayou and moved across FM 1006 and lifted before reaching Western AVE. The tornado was strongest before crossing Highway 87/73 and produced EF1 damage to homes and trees. EF0 damage was done after crossing 87/73. Roofs, carports, sheds and trees were damaged along the path.
June 1997Heavy RainBridge City$40,000no account filed
July 1998Thunderstorm WindBridge City$30,000no account filed
April 2009Flash FloodBridge City$20,000KFDM-TV and the public reported widespread flash flooding across Orange County. Several homes in Bridge City and West Orange received minor flooding.
October 1998Flash FloodBridge City$20,000no account filed
January 1998Flash FloodBridge City$20,000no account filed
September 2004Flash FloodBridge City$10,000no account filed
September 1997FloodBridge City$10,000no account filed
July 2009Thunderstorm WindBridge City$1,000Local media reported power lines blown down in Bridge City.
June 2024Flash FloodBridge City-Multiple streets flooded in Bridge City including East Young Drive and Katherine Avenue. Water also covered yards and approached homes.
July 2022Flash FloodBridge City-Several inches of rainfall provided mostly minor flooding in Orange and Bridge City, however several streets were closed during the event.
September 2021Flash FloodBridge City-Multiple streets in Orange County were flooded while Nicholas moved through the region. Most flooded roads were in West Orange.
June 2017Flash FloodBridge City-Posts to social media indicated extensive street flooding in Bridge City and Orange. Many streets were impassable and water approached some structures.
September 2017FloodBridge City-Heavy rain from Tropical Storm Harvey caused record or near record flooding along the lower Sabine and Neches Rivers. While the crests of the rivers was during the last couple days of August to the first days of September the rivers remained in major flood stage through the first week. Some roadways and residences remained flooded near the rivers through the first week of the month.
April 2016Flash FloodBridge City-Media relayed a video of flooding along Cormier and Cherokee Streets in Vidor. Flooding was also reported along some streets in Pinehurst. Over 5 inches of rain was reported in Orange near the Sabine River.
February 2014HailBridge City-The thunderstorm that produced quarter sized hail in Orangefield traveled east and produced nickel sized hail in Bridge City.
August 2010Funnel CloudBridge City-KBMT-TV reported a funnel cloud in Bridge City, which was confirmed by photos and video.
April 2009HailBridge City-Bridge City Police Department reported penny size hail lasted two minutes.
December 2007HailBridge City-no account filed
March 2003HailBridge City-no account filed
August 2003HailBridge City-no account filed
May 2002Thunderstorm WindBridge City-no account filed
May 1999HailBridge City-no account filed
May 1999HailBridge City-no account filed
January 1998HailBridge City-no account filed
March 1998HailBridge City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Orange 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
Orangefield3.8 miles16
Bessie Heights4.3 miles16
Tulane5.2 miles16
Oilla5.8 miles16
Francis6.0 miles16
Doc Brown6.1 miles16
West Orange6.3 miles16
Cove6.6 miles19

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 Bridge CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q913618The 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 1331256. 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.