BlockSpeaks, Texas
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Hallettsville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77964. It stands on Cook Branch. The Survey maps it on the Speaks quadrangle. It stands 144 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 8 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.
- 1953 USGS Seguin quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Seguin quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Speaks quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS El Campo quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
11 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Speaks between 2006 and 2013, burning about 108 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 August 2009 | Smoking | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | HANCOCK RANCH |
| 31 August 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 3 August 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | LUIS RODRIQUEZ. |
| 20 August 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 6 April 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 22 March 2008 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 3 February 2006 | Debris and open burning | 30 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 26 February 2006 | Debris and open burning | 30 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
5 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Speaks in 5 storm reports between 2007 and 2015: 3 flash flood, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2011 | Hail | Speaks | $1,000 | A thunderstorm produced one inch hail which left some dents on a car. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Speaks | - | Heavy rain from Tropical storm Bill caused flash flooding. The Navidad River topped the bridge on FM14 just west of FM530. FM530 was closed west of CR2437 and FM111 was closed east of Hwy77 due to water over the road. |
| July 2007 | Flash Flood | Speaks | - | Thunderstorms over Gonzales, Lavaca and DeWitt Counties produced general 3 to 4 inch totals, with up to 5 inches southwest of Speaks. Flash flooding closed SH111 in both Gonzales and Lavaca Counties, along with many other rural roads. |
| July 2007 | Flash Flood | Speaks | - | Widespread 2 to 3 inch rain amounts fell in Wilson, Gonzales, DeWitt, Karnes and Lavaca Counties, with up to 4 inches southwest of Speaks. US77 was closed near the Victoria County line. |
| March 2014 | Hail | Speaks | - | no account filed |
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.
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 Speaks | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q24260753 | 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 1380579. 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.