Rudd is a city in Floyd County, Iowa, United States. The population was 358 at the time of the 2020 census, a decline of 16.9% from 431 in 2000. A post office opened in Rudd in 1869.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.
History
On December 15, 2021, Rudd was hit by an EF1 tornado that caused severe damage to the city as part of a derecho that struck northern Iowa. When the tornado warning was issued, a volunteer member of the Rudd Community Fire Service, Tyler Hicks, manually activated Rudd's Federal Signal Corporation 2T22 civil defense siren to warn of the tornado, keeping his finger on the activator button until the siren was literally ripped from its pole and flung a couple of blocks away, where when it was found, many of the horns were dented, crushed, flattened, or missing, leaving the siren a total loss. Hicks actually had recorded footage of him at the siren sounding it, and the video shows the moment when the siren was ripped from its mounting as it is heard powering down upon being severed from its power source and being sucked away by the tornadic winds. After the tornado, as Rudd began cleanup efforts, the siren was salvaged, but an Oklahoma-based company offered to provide Rudd a replacement in a modern Federal Signal 2001-130 siren since replacement parts for the older FS sirens like the 2T22 are becoming harder to find.