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.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 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.
- 1954 USGS Beaumont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Beaumont quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Richards quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Beaumont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Huntsville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1997 USGS Richards quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
229 since 1992Regional 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 burning | 139 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 |
| Natural | 14 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 10 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 7 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| 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 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | UNKNOWN |
| 9 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | CR234 |
| 9 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 1486 AND CR 232 |
| 8 September 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 8 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 8 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 6 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | 12 acres | National Forests And Grasslands In Texas | BAYS CHAPEL |
| 5 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 232 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
10 since 1998Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Richards | $5,000 | Tornado 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 1998 | Hail | Richards | $3,000 | no account filed |
| November 2008 | Flash Flood | Richards | $2,000 | Flooding 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 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Richards | $1,000 | A severe thunderstorm downed a tree at the intersection of FM 1486 and FM 149 just to the northwest of Richards. |
| February 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Richards | $500 | Large trampoline blown nearly 1/2 mile downwind along FM 1486. |
| January 2024 | Flash Flood | Richards | - | Flash flooding on Blackshear Street. |
| January 2024 | Flash Flood | Richards | - | Cedar Creek Bridge near Victoria Avenue became impassable. |
| February 2024 | Funnel Cloud | Richards | - | A trained spotter observed a funnel cloud east of FM1486 near Richards. |
| January 2024 | Flash Flood | Richards | - | FM 2819 was closed. |
| April 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Richards | - | Trees were downed along FM 149 just west of FM 1486. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apolonia | 4.8 miles | 11 | |
| Shiro | 5.8 miles | 10 | |
| Roans Prairie | 6.4 miles | 10 | |
| Anderson | 8.6 miles | 11 | |
| Blackberry | 9.7 miles | 11 | |
| Singleton | 10.1 miles | 11 | |
| Erwin | 12.2 miles | 10 | |
| Carlos | 13.2 miles | 10 |
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 Richards | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7330275 | 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 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.





