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Taft, Texas

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1925 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the Taft census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78390. The Survey maps it on the Taft quadrangle. 2,801 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 49 feet above sea level.

Taft within San Patricio County

On record in Taft

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 2 records

Population over time

3 figures

Taft fell from 3,396 to 2,801 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
20003,396
20103,048-348 (-10%)
20202,801-247 (-8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 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

2 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Taft between 2018 and 2019, burning under an acre 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
Equipment and vehicle use1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
28 May 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
10 April 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Patricio County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Taft: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Phosphorus-Phosphates. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Fosboro Phosphate PlantPhosphorus-PhosphatesProducer

Every working recorded in San Patricio County

Storms near this place

14 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Taft in 14 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 3 tornado, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2017Thunderstorm WindTaft$25,000Images were submitted of a radio tower damaged and partially blown down east of Taft.
September 2022Thunderstorm WindTaft$20,000Trees were blown down across the south side of Taft.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindTaft$20,000Numerous trees were damaged in Taft.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindTaft$7,000Two power poles were snapped at Bravo Street. A large tree and power pole were snapped at Victoria Street.
May 2023Flash FloodTaft-Texas Department of Transportation reported State Highway 188 was down to one lane due to high water over the roadway between U. S. Highway 181 and Farm to Market Road 631.
May 2021Flash FloodTaft-U. S. Highway 181 was closed due to flood waters near Taft.
September 2018Flash FloodTaft-Farm to Market Roads 631, 1944, and 2046 were closed due to flooding between Taft and Odem.
May 2015Flash FloodTaft-Flooding occurred along Reynolds Street in Taft. Water was high enough to reach half way up fire hydrants.
April 2013Tornado (EF0)Taft-Several eyewitnesses observed a tornado near the intersection of State Highway 188 and Farm to Market Road 631. The tornado remained over open field and produced no significant damage or injuries.
April 2013Tornado (EF0)Taft-Local law enforcement reported a brief touchdown 8 miles north of Taft. No damage was reported.
July 2007Tornado (EF0)Taft-An EF-0 tornado touched down over open country, near Hwy 188 northeast of Taft.
May 2002HailTaft-no account filed
August 1998Thunderstorm WindTaft-no account filed
March 1998HailTaft-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Patricio 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
Roosevelt Colonia0.5 miles11
Second Roosevelt Colonia0.5 miles11
Third Hidalgo Colonia0.6 miles11
Tierra Buena Colonia0.6 miles11
Fourth Hidalgo Colonia0.7 miles11
Fifth Hidalgo Colonia0.8 miles11
Algodon Colonia0.9 miles11
Midway3.1 miles13

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 TaftAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q981967The 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 1348200. 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.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.