Escobares, Texas
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1949 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Roma-Los Saenz census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78584. It lies near Arroyo los Morenos. The Survey maps it on the Roma-Los Saenz East quadrangle. 2,588 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 180 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresEscobares grew from 1,188 to 2,588 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 | 1,188 | |
| 2020 | 2,588 | +1,400 (+118%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 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.
- 1949 USGS Mc Allen quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS McAllen quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Escobares quadrangle1:62500
- 1957 USGS Mc Allen quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS McAllen quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Roma-Los Saenz East quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Mc Allen quadrangle1:250000
- 1992 USGS Mc Allen quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
861 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 861 fires within 5 miles of Escobares between 1999 and 2020, burning about 4,180 acres in total. None started naturally. 30 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 | 652 |
| Debris and open burning | 167 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 30 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BAZAN AVE. |
| 7 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 6 N SAN JULIAN RD. |
| 7 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | DOCKER RD. |
| 7 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | CINDY'S AVE. |
| 6 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | VICTOR LN. |
| 6 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | DOLPHIN ST. |
| 5 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BAZAN RD. |
| 5 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | MUNIZ CIR |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Escobares: 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fidel Guerra Gravel Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Guerra Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | Gravel, Sand |
Storms near this place
8 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Escobares in 8 storm reports between 2008 and 2026: 3 flash flood, 2 flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2008 | Flood | Escobares | $700,000 | Though the rains tapered off shortly after noon, and sunshine peeked through the clouds during later in the day, floodwaters continued to cover much of Roma, but particularly Escobares and Garceno, as Arroyo Quiote continued to rise and remain in flood for several hours after the rains ended. Farm-to-Market Road 650 was closed due to the high water covering the roadway, and numerous local roads and some major thoroughfares were closed due to flooding. ||Federal Highway 83, the primary east-west highway connecting the Upper Rio Grande Valley with the Lower Rio Grande Valley, was closed with up to three feet of water covering portions of the highway into the evening of the 18th. Total structural damage and repair costs were estimated to be in excess of one million dollars from the entire flood episode. At the peak of the flash flooding and areal flooding, an estimated 500 water rescues were undertaken by emergency management personnel. |
| August 2008 | Flash Flood | Escobares | $500,000 | Torrential rainfall of at least 8 to 10 inches, but perhaps locally 12 inches, produced significant flash flooding from mid morning through early afternoon of the 18th in a pocket of Starr County along Federal Highway 83, stretching from the east side of Roma through Garceo and Escobares. Initial urban flooding as far east as the Los Lomas colonia near Rio Grande City soon evolved into a flash flood. The Roma Police Department reported one to one and a half feet of water throughout the city, with locally higher amounts, which has been confirmed by a number of home videos. ||Major flash flooding developed in these areas when several Arroyos, including the Arroyo Quiote (east of Rosita), Arroyo Los Morenos (near Escobares), and Arroyo Grande temporarily became raging rivers and aggravated the already high water. Starr County Emergency Management officials estimated at least 1100 homes had some degree of flooding ranging from 2 to 3 inches up to 5 feet at the peak of the flooding. A number of these homes were in newer communities near the Arroyo. First responders evacuated 234 or more people from the flooding areas. ||Structural damage and repair costs were estimated to be in excess of one million dollars. |
| August 2008 | Flash Flood | Escobares | $25,000 | Torrential rains redeveloped during the pre dawn hours in western Jim Hogg, much of Zapata, and northwest Starr County, early on the 24th. Rainfall estimated to be at least 4 to 6 inches, perhaps more, flowed south out of the El Sauz/San Carlos area and soon reached previously swollen Arroyo Los Morenos, which soon overtopped its banks once again, possibly flooding up to six homes in Escobares.||An additional band of heavy rain likely dropped another 1 to 2 inches or more across water logged neighborhoods in and near Roma, along Federal Highway 83 between 9 and 10 AM CDT, further exacerbating the flood conditions which were already in place. |
| May 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Escobares | $5,000 | An NWS Storm Survey team on the way out to the City of Zapata noted at least a dozen mainly mesquite, live oak, and ebony trees large limbs blown down between Rio Grande City and Roma. A social media report also noted an uprooted tree in the Escobares area. Time was estimated via radar. |
| May 2015 | Flash Flood | Escobares | $5,000 | Starr County Sheriffs Office reported that a home had to be evacuated due to flooding along Lolo Flores Road in Escobares, as well standing water on roadways. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Escobares | $1,000 | Starr County Sheriff's Office reported utility pole blown down by thunderstorm winds on Lucianos Road in Escobares. Time estimated by radar. |
| March 2026 | Hail | Escobares | - | A member of the U.S. military reported baseball size hail on the Rio Grande (River) just south of Escobares (9 miles west of Rio Grande City) in Starr County. |
| November 2023 | Flood | Escobares | - | Roma Police reported street flooding along/in the vicinity of Deer Run Avenue at approximately 4 PM CST. Time shown here allowed for a buffer based on the steady type of rain vs. convective rain. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Francisco Rodriguez Colonia | 0.1 miles | 9 | |
| Escobares Number 1 Colonia | 0.4 miles | 9 | |
| Rivera Colonia | 0.4 miles | 9 | |
| Pena Number 1 Colonia | 0.5 miles | 9 | |
| Pena Number 2 Colonia | 0.5 miles | 9 | |
| De La Garza Colonia | 0.5 miles | 9 | |
| Rau-con Drive-In Number 2 Colonia | 0.7 miles | 9 | |
| M Munoz Colonia | 0.7 miles | 9 |
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 Escobares | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q535043 | 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 1335491. 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.







