Elsa, Texas
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Edcouch-Elsa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78543. The Survey maps it on the Edcouch quadrangle. 5,668 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 66 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresElsa grew from 5,660 to 5,668 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 | 5,660 | |
| 2020 | 5,668 | +8 (+0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 9 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.
- 1953 USGS Brownsville quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Brownsville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Port Isabel quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Edcouch quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS Brownsville quadrangle1:250000
- 1992 USGS Harlingen quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
69 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 69 fires within 5 miles of Elsa between 2003 and 2017, burning about 420 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38 |
| Debris and open burning | 25 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 20 August 2009 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 9.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | ELSA FIRE |
| 19 August 2006 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 11 August 2006 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 4 July 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 206 S. 86TH |
| 15 July 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 1 July 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | South Texas Refuge Complex | EDCOUCH |
| 4 June 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
7 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elsa in 7 storm reports between 2000 and 2019: 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elsa | $100,000 | Hidalgo County EM reported widespread damage in La Villa. Multiple metal walls of a prefabricated building were peeled back and blown out 1 mile north of La Villa, a metal fence was blown down and metal canopies for recreational vehicles were blown off at Nature Resort RV Park in La Villa. Shingled roofs were peeled back, small wood and metal storage buildings were toppled over and moved from foundations. Multiple trees were downed as well as multiple cedar fences. A mobile home was shifted off the foundation blocks. A trampoline was blown into the middle of a cotton field. The press box at La Villa High School was destroyed. Numerous utility poles were downed as well. |
| October 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elsa | $7,500 | Estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of 65 to 70 mph, lifted a metal roof from a cinderblock shed at the residence of the brother of the Hidalgo County Emergency Manager, 3 miles north of Elsa. Debris from roof and building also injured livestock. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Elsa | - | In addition to damaging winds that were surging through the area, the County Emergency Management staff reported estimated nickel-sized hail with the same severe thunderstorm in eastern Hidalgo County. Torrential, sideways-moving rain was also reported. |
| October 2012 | Hail | Elsa | - | Public reported quarter to golf ball size hail at Monte Cristo and Filegonia Road in Elsa. Hail fell at approximately 630 PM, according to the report and radar reconciliation, and appears to have continued at quarter to golf-ball sized as the updraft redeveloped over and just south of Edcouch between 630 and 640 PM CDT. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Elsa | - | Flash flooding of Farm to Market Road 88 and Highway 107 was reported. |
| October 2002 | Hail | Elsa | - | The Elsa Police Department reported 3/4 inch hail on Highway 88 just south of town. |
| March 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elsa | - | A bow echo complex produced damaging thunderstorm winds that blew over a canopy located above the fuel pumps at the economy store near Elsa and these damaging winds knocked down power lines in nearby Edcouch. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cana de Azucar Colonia | 0.3 miles | 9 | |
| Salinas-Hinojosa Colonia | 0.5 miles | 9 | |
| Ten Acres Colonia | 0.7 miles | 9 | |
| Ricky Colonia | 0.9 miles | 10 | |
| El Mesquite Colonia | 0.9 miles | 10 | |
| Hacienda el Porvenir Colonia | 1.1 miles | 9 | |
| McDaniel Addition Colonia | 1.1 miles | 9 | |
| Fleamarket Colonia | 1.3 miles | 10 |
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 Elsa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q969154 | 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 1335417. 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.





