Ratcliff, Texas | |
|---|---|
  Ratcliff  Ratcliff | |
| Coordinates: 31°23′33″N95°8′46″W / 31.39250°N 95.14611°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Houston |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP codes | 75858 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1382593 [1] |
Ratcliff is an unincorporated community in Houston County, Texas, in East Texas, United States. [1] According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 106 in 2000.
When a Georgia wagon train brought a group of immigrants into eastern Houston County around 1875, Ratcliff was established. It was given that name in honor of Jesse H. Ratcliff, who on February 6, 1889, erected a post office and built a sawmill in a region of virgin pines. The massive sawmilling enterprise known as Four C Mill was built on the foundation of Ratcliff's sawmill, which was sold to Central Coal and Coke Company in 1901. More than 5,000 people lived there during the boomtime of the sawmills. Up until the early 20th century, Ratcliff was a thriving lumber town. The 120,000 acres (49,000 ha) of the surrounding forest had been cleared by 1920, and the town fell into decline until the middle of the 1930s. The establishment of Davy Crockett National Forest, land sales, and a reforestation project run by the Civilian Conservation Corps all contributed to the economy's recovery. A mile west of the town, the campground known as Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area attracted tourists. Two Texas historical markers were placed in Ratcliff: one for the town itself in 1972 and another for the Four C Mill in 1973. Ratcliff had two enterprises in 1980, and 106 people lived there in 1990 and 2000. [2]
The community had three stores in operation around the time the post office opened. Ratcliff himself served as postmaster. Doctors H.L. McCall and Jake Jackson practiced medicine in the community. [3]
On April 13, 2019, an F1 tornado struck Ratcliff. This tornado snapped and uprooted trees and severely damaged a double-wide mobile home, pushing it into a wooded area. Four of its occupants were injured but later released from the hospital. [4] Another EF0 tornado hit the Davy Crockett National Forest, but the full path is unknown. [5]
Ratcliff is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 227 and Texas State Highway 7, 3.5 mi (5.6 km) east of Kennard, 18 mi (29 km) east of Crockett, and 36 mi (58 km) southwest of Nacogdoches in eastern Houston County. [3]
Texas State Highway 103 also travels through the community. [6]
The Old Ratcliff School was established in 1890. Dora Hager was the teacher there. The school moved closer to the community in 1901, then joined the Kennard Independent School District in 1955. [2]
Richard H. Keith, coal and lumberman. [7]
Houston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22,066. Its county seat is Crockett. Houston County was one of 46 entirely dry counties in the state of Texas, until voters in a November 2007 special election legalized the sale of alcohol in the county.
Independence is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 140 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Houston metropolitan area.
Davy Crockett National Forest in Kennard, Texas is off U.S. Highway 69 lying west of Lufkin, Texas and east of Crockett. It is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service local headquarters in Lufkin. There are local ranger district offices located in Ratcliff.
On March 2 and 3, 2012, a deadly tornado outbreak occurred over a large section of the Southern United States into the Ohio Valley region. The storms resulted in 41 tornado-related fatalities, 22 of which occurred in Kentucky. Tornado-related deaths also occurred in Alabama, Indiana, and Ohio. The outbreak was the second deadliest in early March for the U.S. since official records began in 1950; only the 1966 Candlestick Park tornado had a higher death toll for a tornadic system in early March.
Mapleton is an unincorporated community in Houston County, Texas. As of 2000, its population was 32, according to the Handbook of Texas.
Richard H. Keith, also known as R.H. Smith, was a coal and lumber businessman. He arrived in Kansas City, Missouri in 1871 with forty dollars and started a small coal yard. From that beginning evolved an empire spanning several states, that included coal, timber, sawmills, railroads, and even the building of towns.
Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area is a developed park within the Davy Crockett National Forest near Kennard, Texas, United States. The park surrounds a 45-acre (18 ha) lake that was once a mill pond and source of water for a sawmill which operated from 1902 to 1920. Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area was built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and is operated by the United States Forest Service (USFS). The facility is open year-round and includes a large campground, picnic areas, an amphitheater, a swim area and hiking trails.
Preceded by more than a week of heavy rain, a slow-moving storm system dropped tremendous precipitation across much of Texas and Oklahoma during the nights of May 24–26, 2015, triggering record-breaking floods. Additionally, many areas reported tornado activity and lightning. Particularly hard hit were areas along the Blanco River in Hays County, Texas, where entire blocks of homes were leveled. On the morning of May 26, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for southwest Harris County and northeast Fort Bend County. The system also produced deadly tornadoes in parts of Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. This flood significantly contributed to the wettest month ever for Texas and Oklahoma.
An unusually prolific and very destructive late-winter tornado outbreak resulted in significant damage and numerous casualties across the southern and eastern half of the United States between February 23–24, 2016. Lasting over a day and a half, the outbreak produced a total of 61 tornadoes across eleven states, which ranked it as one of the largest February tornado outbreaks in the United States on record, with only the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak having recorded more. In addition, it was also one of the largest winter tornado outbreaks overall as well. The most significant and intense tornadoes of the event were four EF3 tornadoes that struck southeastern Louisiana, Pensacola, Florida, Evergreen, Virginia, and Tappahannock, Virginia. Tornadoes were also reported in other places like Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Severe thunderstorms, hail and gusty winds were also felt in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic states on February 24 as well.
An extended period of significant tornado activity affected the Central United States in late May 2016. This outbreak sequence came less than two weeks after another damaging tornado outbreak that affected similar areas. The most prolific day was May 24 when 44 tornadoes touched down with at least 12 of them spawned by an intense, long-tracked supercell near Dodge City, Kansas. The strongest tornado from this outbreak was a violent EF4 tornado on May 25 that caused severe damage near Solomon, Abilene, and Chapman, Kansas, injuring eight. Overall, 98 tornadoes were confirmed.
The tornado outbreak and floods of April 28 – May 1, 2017 were a series of severe weather events that affected the central United States, producing life-threatening flooding and a major tornado outbreak. It formed out of a disturbance in the Southwestern United States on April 28, and caused significant impacts, including a heavy snowstorm in the Rockies, and other types of severe weather. Up to 3 feet (36 in) of snow fell on the cold side of the system, and up to a foot of rain fell in and around the central parts of the nation.
The March 2019 North American blizzard was a powerful Colorado Low that produced up to two feet of snow in the plains and Midwest. Rapid snowmelt following the storm caused historic flooding, and some areas received hurricane-force wind gusts. Comparable to the 1993 Storm of the Century, the storm was labeled a bomb cyclone after barometric pressure readings dropped in excess of 24 mbar (0.71 inHg) over a 24-hour period. After the storm entered Colorado from its origination in Arizona, the pressure dropped more than 30 mbar (0.89 inHg) and rapidly intensified over the western High Plains. The severe storm set new all-time record low barometric pressure readings in Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico. The storm itself killed only one person in Colorado, but flooding caused by the storm killed at least 3, one in Iowa and at least two in Nebraska and left ~140,000 without power in Texas.
A significant severe weather and tornado outbreak affected multiple regions of the Eastern United States in mid-April 2019. Over the course of 40 hours, 75 tornadoes touched down. The outbreak produced numerous strong tornadoes throughout portions of the Deep South, while additional significant tornadoes occurred as far north as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The most significant tornado of the event was a long-tracked, high-end EF3 tornado that struck Alto, Texas and killed two people. Numerous weak tornadoes were also confirmed, along with numerous reports of hail and damaging straight line winds.
This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2020. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, and eastern India, but can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Tornadic events are often accompanied by other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail.
A significant severe weather event impacted the South Central United States between October 20–22, 2019. Forecasters first identified the threat on October 16 as a large upper-level trough was expected to combine with an unstable atmosphere across Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas particularly. On the evening of October 20, discrete supercell thunderstorms developed across the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, contributing to several tornadoes. One of those tornadoes caused EF3 damage in the Dallas suburbs, becoming the costliest tornado event in Texas history, at $1.55 billion. A later squall line contributed to additional tornadoes and a widespread swath of damaging winds as the system tracked eastward.
Municipalities and communities of Houston County, Texas, United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns |
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |