Driftwood, Texas
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Kyle-Buda census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78619. It stands on Gatlin Creek. The Survey maps it on the Driftwood quadrangle. 106 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,043 feet above sea level.
On record in Driftwood
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
Camp Ben McCullochlisted 2004
Population over time
2 figuresDriftwood fell from 144 to 106 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 144 | |
| 2020 | 106 | -38 (-26%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1887 USGS Blanco quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Blanco quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Llano quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Llano quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Llano quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Driftwood quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Pedernales River quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
99 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 99 fires within 5 miles of Driftwood between 2004 and 2017, burning about 1,804 acres in total. None started naturally. 6 were 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 burning | 49 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | LA VENTANA |
| 8 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 7 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 20 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 14 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | 7.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 6 August 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 45 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BRUNSON LANE |
| 29 August 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | RAINBOW RANCH FIRE |
| 14 August 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Driftwood: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Flint. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed | Flint | Past Producer | Flint |
Storms near this place
21 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Driftwood in 21 storm reports between 2002 and 2024: 8 hail, 7 flash 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2015 | Flash Flood | Driftwood | $10,000,000 | Massive flooding occurred along and just west of Interstate 35 on the morning of October 30th as a supercell thunderstorm merged with another line of storms. Torrential rains with rain rates of 7+ inches per hour caused massive runoff and quickly flooded the Blanco River, Onion Creek, Plum Creek, the San Marcos River and other smaller creeks and streams. Rainfall totals along I-35 were as high as 16 inches which led to significant flooding in Kyle and Buda as well. Sections of I-35 were shut down as water made the interstate impassable. Areas of San Marcos were inundated with water, trapping people and school kids. Dozens of swift water rescues continued during the morning and afternoon. The extent of the flooding was similar to the historic flood of October 1998. Hundreds of homes were flooded, as many as 100 of them completely destroyed. These estimates are probably low as FEMA assessments are still ongoing as of this writing. Infrastructure losses to roads and bridges are in the millions. There are no monetary loss estimates to uninsured/insured homes at the time of this writing. |
| October 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Driftwood | $70,000 | A small tornado struck just southwest of Driftwood, knocking 2 trucks off SH12. None of the vehicle occupants were injured. One of the trucks was operable after being righted. |
| January 2024 | Flash Flood | Driftwood | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that led to flash flooding. A motorist was rescued from high water on Bear Creek Pass at Bear Creek near Driftwood. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Driftwood | - | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts measured by a trained spotter at 51 kts (59 mph) two miles south of Sawyer Ranch Rd. and Hwy 290 east of Dripping Springs near Sycamore Springs Elementary School. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Driftwood | - | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts measured at 59 mph by a trained spotter south of Sawyer Ranch Rd. and Hwy 290 near Driftwood. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Driftwood | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding closing multiple low water crossings in Hays County including one on FM967 at Brangus Rd. |
| April 2015 | Hail | Driftwood | - | Nickel size hail was reported by the public in northwestern Hays County. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Driftwood | - | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 70 mph that damaged several roofs and blew down many large trees. |
| April 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Driftwood | - | A large tree was blown down. |
| April 2013 | Hail | Driftwood | - | A thunderstorm produced hail that covered the ground. The largest hail was golf ball size, but was mostly smaller. |
| May 2012 | Flash Flood | Driftwood | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that flooded several roads in around Driftwood including RM 12. |
| May 2012 | Flash Flood | Driftwood | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that flooded low water crossings closing several roads around Driftwood. |
| September 2010 | Flash Flood | Driftwood | - | Heavy rain from Tropical Storm Hermine produced flash flooding which closed RM 150 northeast of Wimberley. |
| March 2007 | Flood | Driftwood | - | Onion Creek near Driftwood crested at 11.04 ft at 1620 CST on March 30, where flood stage is 7 ft. |
| June 2004 | Flash Flood | Driftwood | - | Storms dropped an inch of rain across much of Hays County, with total to 3 inches between Driftwood and Dripping Spring. FM12 and FM150 were reported under water at many of the low water crossings. |
| May 2014 | Hail | Driftwood | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Driftwood | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Driftwood | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Driftwood | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Driftwood | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Driftwood | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dripping Springs | 5.5 miles | 15 | |
| Belterra | 5.5 miles | 19 | |
| Hays City | 5.7 miles | 18 | |
| Mount Gainor | 5.7 miles | 16 | |
| Bear Creek | 6.5 miles | 19 | |
| Woodcreek | 7.8 miles | 15 | |
| Flatrock Ford | 8.3 miles | 18 | |
| Hays | 8.4 miles | 18 |
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 Driftwood | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q982076 | The 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 1378229. 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.






