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Rice, Texas

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Rice census division. It lies in ZIP code area 75155. The Survey maps it on the Chatfield quadrangle. 1,203 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 459 feet above sea level.

Rice within Navarro County

Population over time

3 figures

Rice grew from 798 to 1,203 between 2000 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
2000798
2010923+125 (+16%)
20201,203+280 (+30%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 8 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

148 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 148 fires within 5 miles of Rice between 2005 and 2020, burning about 1,790 acres in total. 4 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 burning61
Missing data/not specified/undetermined44
Equipment and vehicle use27
Arson/incendiarism6
Natural4
Railroad operations and maintenance4
Smoking1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
7 September 2013Arson/incendiarismunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceC13-11807
4 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Service1111976
30 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service1619262
28 September 2016Debris and open burning16 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceVALLEY VIEW
26 September 2009Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service1401 MCKINNEY FIRE
25 September 2015Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceC15-13059
25 September 2015Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
25 September 2014Arson/incendiarism10 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceC14-12765

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Navarro County

Storms near this place

32 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rice in 32 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 14 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 5 flash flood, 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
June 2023HailRice$250,000A trained spotter reported tennis ball sized hail in Rice.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindRice$50,000Two building roofs were damaged by thunderstorm winds. Tree damage was also reported in the area.
October 2010HailRice$50,000Three inch size hail was reported in Rice. The mayor of Rice reported that vehicles were damaged at city hall.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindRice$45,000Thunderstorm winds blew the roof off one home and damaged 2 other structures near the intersection of County Roads 1040 and 1060. Numerous trees were also blown down in the area. This location is approximately one and a half miles northeast of Rice.
October 2015Flash FloodRice$25,000A levee failure on Chambers Creek near Rice where it flows under FM 1126 inundated surrounding farm area.
December 2024Flash FloodRice$20,000Emergency Management reported several secondary roads were flooded across northern Navarro County in the Emhouse to Rice to Chatfield area as well as along the Navarro Ellis county line.
January 2021Thunderstorm WindRice$20,000A downburst caused notable wind damage along a 4 mile long path from the Rice area to the Chatfield area. Large trees were damaged, snapped or uprooted (18-24 in diameter). A trailer was overturned and a few pole barns were damaged.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindRice$5,000Emergency management reported power poles down and minor roof damage in the towns of Rice and Frost.
April 2015Thunderstorm WindRice$5,000The emergency manager reported several areas of large trees damaged by thunderstorm winds.
May 2002Thunderstorm WindRice$5,000Roof damage to the high school, several trees blown down, and numerous power lines were blown down.
August 1999Thunderstorm WindRice$5,000A tractor trailer on Interstate 45, near Rice, was blown over by high thunderstorm winds. Two trees were blown down and a storage shed was destroyed.
October 2009Flash FloodRice$3,000A man had to be rescued from his car off NE 1030 near Rice after it got stuck in a low water crossing. The water was reported to be knee deep or approximately 1.5 feet deep.
April 1999Thunderstorm WindRice$3,000A trailer was unroofed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2009Flash FloodRice$2,000Numerous roads in eastern Navarro County were closed due to high water. TxDOT had to close several of the roads.
September 2009FloodRice$2,000Residual flooding of numerous roads in eastern Navarro County continued into the overnight hours. Several of these roads remained closed.
June 1996Thunderstorm WindRice$2,000no account filed
December 2012Thunderstorm WindRice$1,000A trained spotter estimated 60 mph winds approximately 2 miles south of Rice on NW 0150/Ranch Road.
August 2015FloodRice$500Minor flooding was reported with some water covering a few county roads.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindRice$400Power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
April 2024Tornado (EF0)Rice-A citizen captured a video of a brief tornado which formed west of Rice, Texas. The tornado transited mainly bottomland/wetland areas of Cummins Creek, resulting in minor tree damage. This tornado dissipated northwest of Rice, prior to crossing Interstate 45. Maximum estimated winds were 75 mph.
April 2019Thunderstorm WindRice-Emergency management reported several trees down approximately 10 miles north of the city of Corsicana, TX.
April 2019Thunderstorm WindRice-Emergency management reported several trees blown down across the northern part of Navarro County.
October 2011HailRice-Quarter sized hail was reported by emergency management just south of Rice.
April 2005HailRice-Hail the size of golf balls reported.
April 2004Flash FloodRice-Farm roads were flooded near Rice.
May 2001Thunderstorm WindRice-High wind report estimated by general public.
April 1995HailRice-County roads were washed out by heavy rain.
May 1993Tornado (F0)Rice-A brief tornado touchdown was observed.
May 2013HailRice-no account filed
March 2000HailRice-no account filed
May 1999HailRice-no account filed
March 1996HailRice-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Navarro 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
Tupelo3.9 miles8
Chatfield4.8 miles8
Valley Farms6.6 miles8
Emhouse7.0 miles9
Roane7.9 miles8
Montfort8.0 miles9
Pettys Chapel9.0 miles10
Black Hills9.5 miles9

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 RiceAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q978055The 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 1345153. 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.