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Tatum, Texas

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Tatum census division. It lies in ZIP code area 75691. It stands on Tatum Creek. The Survey maps it on the Tatum quadrangle. 1,342 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 338 feet above sea level.

Tatum within Rusk County

Population over time

3 figures

Tatum grew from 1,175 to 1,342 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
20001,175
20101,385+210 (+18%)
20201,342-43 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 16 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

192 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 192 fires within 5 miles of Tatum between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,728 acres in total. 8 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 burning124
Missing data/not specified/undetermined31
Equipment and vehicle use15
Natural8
Arson/incendiarism6
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Smoking2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Misuse of fire by a minor2

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
8 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceHORACE JAMES
8 September 1995Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
4 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceMT ZION BAPTIST CHURCH HWY 149
30 September 1993Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
3 September 1995Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
27 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceCORRINE YOUNG
27 September 2008Debris and open burning5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
22 September 2014Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service6188

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rusk County

Storms near this place

26 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tatum in 26 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 13 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 3 flash flood, 2 tornado. The reports record 6 injuries. 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
April 2003Tornado (F2)Tatum6 hurt, $2,300,000A supercell storm moved across the northeast part of the county. About 20 wood frame and mobile homes were damaged. Six (6) mobile homes were totally destroyed. Numerous trees were twisted, broken and uprooted. This tornado remained in Rusk County.
March 2001Tornado (F1)Tatum$300,000This tornado continued into Panola County, Texas. A tornado developed on the southern most cell of a squall line as it moved eastward across the county. Six homes lost numerous shingle patches while one home lost part of its roof. Two churches suffered roof damage. Numerous snapped, broken or felled trees.
March 1998Thunderstorm WindTatum$20,000Several trees fell across Hwy 43. An 18 wheeler ran into the trees and two cars piled into the back of the 18 wheeler.
November 1994Thunderstorm WindTatum$5,000Trees and power lines were blown down by high winds.
April 2026Thunderstorm WindTatum-Tree downed on County Road 2813 southwest of Tatum.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindTatum-A large tree downed at a playground in Tatum, reported via social media.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindTatum-Trees downed in Tatum.
March 2023Thunderstorm WindTatum-Trees downed on Hendricks Lake Road and North Hill Street.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindTatum-Numerous trees downed in the Tatum area.
April 2020HailTatum-A picture of quarter size hail that fell in Tatum was posted to social media.
April 2019Thunderstorm WindTatum-A tree was blown onto a home and the steeple was blown off of the First United Methodist Church in Tatum.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindTatum-Several trees were snapped off near Tatum.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindTatum-A few trees were blown down on the west southwest side of Tatum.
November 2017HailTatum-Half dollar size hail fell on Farm to Market Road 1797 near Tatum. Report via the KLTV Facebook page.
November 2017Thunderstorm WindTatum-A tree was blown down across Highway 43 about 1 mile southwest of Tatum.
April 2016Thunderstorm WindTatum-A tree was blown down blocking a portion of Farm to Market Road 1797 west of Tatum.
March 2015Flash FloodTatum-Excessive heavy rainfall forced the closure of County Road 2217 near Tatum, Texas.
December 2015Flash FloodTatum-County Roads 2217 and 2219 were flooded and closed.
December 2015Flash FloodTatum-Hwy. 43 was flooded and closed in Tatum, Texas under the railroad underpass.
April 2005HailTatum-Hail fell on the Rusk County side of Tatum Tx.
May 2004HailTatum-Hail fell at the Martin Creek Lake State Park.
May 2003Thunderstorm WindTatum-Trees and power lines down across the area.
March 2005HailTatum-no account filed
May 1998HailTatum-no account filed
May 1998HailTatum-no account filed
January 1995HailTatum-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Rusk 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
Mayflower4.8 miles16
Dirgin5.6 miles16
Easton6.1 miles15
Stewart7.1 miles16
Chalk Hill7.6 miles16
Liberty8.4 miles12
Oak Hill9.9 miles16
Church Hill11.7 miles12

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 TatumAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q982545The 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 1369625. 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.