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Mercedes, Texas

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 2002. It stands in the Southeast Hidalgo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78570. The Survey maps it on the Mercedes quadrangle. 16,258 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 69 feet above sea level.

Mercedes within Hidalgo County

Population over time

2 figures

Mercedes grew from 15,570 to 16,258 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
201015,570
202016,258+688 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 10 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

89 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 89 fires within 5 miles of Mercedes between 1994 and 2017, burning about 575 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 31 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 burning41
Arson/incendiarism31
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Smoking2
Natural1
Other causes1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
22 September 2011Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceDIAMOND FIRE
12 September 2011Debris and open burning13 acresTexas A & M Forest Service11-675
9 August 2015Arson/incendiarismunder an acreLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge1015
29 August 2006Smoking2.0 acresLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife RefugeSMOKEY JOE'S
24 August 2004Arson/incendiarismunder an acreLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife RefugeCORNER
23 August 2004Debris and open burningunder an acreLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge2556
23 August 2004Arson/incendiarism30 acresLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife RefugeLA FERIA
23 August 2004Smoking3.0 acresSouth Texas Refuge Complex9 MILE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hidalgo County

Storms near this place

14 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mercedes in 14 storm reports between 1998 and 2021: 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 heavy rain, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2021Flash FloodMercedes$100,000Report received via Broadcast Media of water completely covering lanes and shoulder on I-2/US-83 Eastbound near Mercedes. Lanes were closed as a result. Multiple water rescues eventually were needed. Video was also received via social media of water rising up to homes in the Mercedes area.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindMercedes$40,000Two poorly constructed mobile homes were destroyed. One home had the roof removed and walls were collapsed.
June 2005Tornado (F0)Mercedes$10,000A quick-moving F0 tornado was reported by law enforcement in Mercedes. The tornado uprooted trees, one of which fell on a home, and knocked down one utility pole.
May 2021Thunderstorm WindMercedes$5,000Numerous reports received via social media of tree damage and tree branches down on vehicles near Mercedes. Time was estimated via radar and based on NWS Storm Survey on damage from Donna to just east of Weslaco.
May 2015Thunderstorm WindMercedes$2,000Mercedes Police Department reported a window blown out at the outlet mall and a palm tree blown down on Dawson Street.
July 2021Flash FloodMercedes-Per public reports, numerous portions of a Frontage Road in Mercedes were flooded.
May 2015Heavy RainMercedes-Mercedes Police Department reported 6 to 8 inches of water at the intersections of Business 83 and Indiana and Business 83 and Washington.
April 2015Thunderstorm WindMercedes-Mercedes Police Department reported 10 to 12 power lines down and 15 to 20 trees down across the city of Mercedes.
September 2007Tornado (EF0)Mercedes-Mercedes police reported a weak tornado touched down briefly toppling two or three trees near Texas and Tenth Streets in the city. Numerous callers reported seeing a funnel cloud in the Mercedes area.
September 2003Flash FloodMercedes-Flash flooding of city streets was reported by the Mercedes Police Department due to heavy rains.
September 2002Thunderstorm WindMercedes-Strong thunderstorm winds downed trees and damaged power lines, resulting in loss of power to residents.
October 1998Heavy RainMercedes-Three to six inches of rain reported between Donna and La Feria.
March 2000Thunderstorm WindMercedes-no account filed
February 1998HailMercedes-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hidalgo 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
Colonia Garza0.5 miles10
Colonia George1.2 miles10
Colonia Victoriana1.2 miles10
Eastland Park Colonia1.4 miles10
Boyd Colonia Number 11.5 miles10
C A Conner Colonia1.5 miles10
Valle de Palmas Number 1 Colonia1.8 miles10
Lorenzana Colonia1.8 miles10

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 MercedesAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q979362The 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 1341366. 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.