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Friendswood, Texas

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Texas City-League City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77546. The Survey maps it on the Friendswood quadrangle. 41,213 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 30 feet above sea level.

Friendswood within Galveston County

Population over time

2 figures

Friendswood grew from 35,805 to 41,213 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
201035,805
202041,213+5,408 (+15%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 18 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

42 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 42 fires within 5 miles of Friendswood between 2008 and 2020, burning about 102 acres in total. None 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined29
Debris and open burning10
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Smoking1

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
19 September 2016Smoking1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceBRUSH OR BRUSH-AND-GRASS
7 August 2012Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service12-0000523
5 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service11-0000474
5 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service11-0000473
7 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceE070
7 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceE093, L093
25 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceE094
17 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceE093

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Galveston County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Friendswood: 3 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. 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
Ideal Basic Industries IncClayProducer
Seabrook Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Shelton Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Galveston County

Storms near this place

20 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Friendswood in 20 storm reports between 1997 and 2017: 7 hail, 6 flash flood, 4 tornado, 3 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 1 injury. 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
May 2005Thunderstorm WindFriendswood1 hurt, $90,000Large cedar tree down on a home (one injury). Power pole down on FM 2351 with numerous tree limbs down in and around Clear Brook High School. The school had a tennis fence blown down. A nearby carport was damaged and a billboard sign was also blown down.
November 2003Tornado (F1)Friendswood$275,000Tornado hit a Friendswood home subdivision. Numerous homes received roof damage, garage door damage, and tree damage.
October 2006Flash FloodFriendswood$250,000Heavy rains caused widespread flooding with water in homes. There were five water rescues from vehicles.
November 2003Tornado (F1)Friendswood$200,000Tornado struck a Friendswood church on FM 2351. Church's sanctuary received damage, church's bell tower completely torn off.
October 2004HailFriendswood$150,000Quarter-size hail in Coward Creek subdivision.
October 2004HailFriendswood$150,000Golfball-size hail at Friendswood Police Station on FM 518.
October 2004HailFriendswood$150,000Roof damage to numerous homes 2 miles SW of the intersection of FM 518 and FM 528.
October 2004Tornado (F0)Friendswood$40,00018 wheeler overturned at intersection of FM 518 and FM 2351. Trees snapped and numerous fences damaged with widespread power outages in and around city. 16 foot boat flipped over in residential yard.
March 2002HailFriendswood$30,000no account filed
April 2002Thunderstorm WindFriendswood$25,000On FM 518 in Friendswood, wind damage occurred to an auto repair shop, with loss of the sheet metal awning, and power lines were down.
October 2013Flash FloodFriendswood$10,000Heavy rain caused road closures due to flooding in and around the towns of League City, Hitchcock, Dickinson, La Marque, and San Leon, as well as high water around Tiki Island, and the Bolivar Peninsula.
March 2001HailFriendswood$10,000no account filed
November 2003Flash FloodFriendswood$5,000Flooding across northern Galveston County.
November 2003Tornado (F0)Friendswood$5,000Tornado touch down at FM 528 and FM 518. Tornado crossed Clear Creek and moved 1/4 mile into Harris County.
April 1997HailFriendswood$5,000no account filed
April 1997HailFriendswood$5,000no account filed
July 2004Thunderstorm WindFriendswood$3,000Tree down in the Forest of Friendswood subdivision.
October 1998Flash FloodFriendswood$3,000Minor street flooding.
August 2017Flash FloodFriendswood-There were numerous water rescues and flooded homes within the Friendswood and Pearland areas. Roads and highways in and around these Houston suburbs were inundated and closed due to flash flooding. Mary's Creek and Cowart Creek overflowed their banks and exacerbated the flooding.||Approximately 7,000 homes and 125 businesses were impacted by flood waters across the county. Clear Creek measured record levels that lead to the widespread flooding throughout Friendswood and League City. Major flooding occurred along the Dickinson Bayou; from Cemetery Road to east of Highway 3 along FM 517. Flood waters inundated sections of Interstate 45, Bay Area Boulevard, FM 528, FM 518 and numerous primary and secondary county roads.
August 2017Flash FloodFriendswood-There were numerous water rescues within League City, Dickinson and Santa Fe. Flash flood waters, from sheet flooding and bayous/creeks coming out of banks, completely inundated hundreds to thousands of homes and businesses. Roads and highways in and around northern and central Galveston County were flooded and therefore closed for long time periods.||Approximately 7,000 homes and 125 businesses were impacted by flood waters across the county. Clear Creek measured record levels that lead to the widespread flooding throughout Friendswood and League City. Major flooding occurred along the Dickinson Bayou; from Cemetery Road to east of Highway 3 along FM 517. Flood waters inundated sections of Interstate 45, Bay Area Boulevard, FM 528, FM 518 and numerous primary and secondary county roads.

Every storm recorded in Galveston 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
Quaker Village0.2 miles18
Brown Acres0.2 miles18
Perry Grove0.3 miles18
Heritage Estates0.4 miles18
Lori Woods0.5 miles18
Bradley Meadows0.5 miles18
Poole0.5 miles18
Quaker Landing0.5 miles18

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 FriendswoodAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q476497The 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 1336252. 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.