BlockBefore

Richards, Texas

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Anderson-Bedias census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77873. The Survey maps it on the Richards quadrangle. 184 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 315 feet above sea level.

Richards within Grimes County

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 11 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

229 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 229 fires within 5 miles of Richards between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,200 acres in total. 14 started naturally. 10 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 burning139
Missing data/not specified/undetermined36
Natural14
Equipment and vehicle use10
Arson/incendiarism10
Power generation/transmission/distribution7
Smoking6
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Recreation and ceremony3
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
9 September 2013Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceUNKNOWN
9 September 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCR234
9 September 2011Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service1486 AND CR 232
8 September 1997Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
8 September 1993Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
8 September 1993Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
6 September 2017Debris and open burning12 acresNational Forests And Grasslands In TexasBAYS CHAPEL
5 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service232

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Grimes County

Storms near this place

10 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Richards in 10 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 4 flash flood, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 1998Tornado (F0)Richards$5,000Tornado downed trees and powerlines in Richards. As the tornado moved into Montgomery County along FM 149, a barn roof was damaged 3 miles east of Richards, and a tree limb was blown through the metal on a car door. The storm continued moving to the east-northeast downing trees to the Mongomery/Walker County line near FM1791.
January 1998HailRichards$3,000no account filed
November 2008Flash FloodRichards$2,000Flooding extended from central Montgomery County, or around the Willis and Woodloch areas, westward to the southern portions of Grimes County, or in the Todd Mission and Plantersville area.
September 2009Thunderstorm WindRichards$1,000A severe thunderstorm downed a tree at the intersection of FM 1486 and FM 149 just to the northwest of Richards.
February 1998Thunderstorm WindRichards$500Large trampoline blown nearly 1/2 mile downwind along FM 1486.
January 2024Flash FloodRichards-Flash flooding on Blackshear Street.
January 2024Flash FloodRichards-Cedar Creek Bridge near Victoria Avenue became impassable.
February 2024Funnel CloudRichards-A trained spotter observed a funnel cloud east of FM1486 near Richards.
January 2024Flash FloodRichards-FM 2819 was closed.
April 2019Thunderstorm WindRichards-Trees were downed along FM 149 just west of FM 1486.

Every storm recorded in Grimes 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
Apolonia4.8 miles11
Shiro5.8 miles10
Roans Prairie6.4 miles10
Anderson8.6 miles11
Blackberry9.7 miles11
Singleton10.1 miles11
Erwin12.2 miles10
Carlos13.2 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 RichardsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7330275The 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 1382617. 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.