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Belk, Alabama

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Fayette census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35545. It stands on Wiggins Creek. The Survey maps it on the Belk quadrangle. 186 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 361 feet above sea level.

Belk within Fayette County

Population over time

2 figures

Belk fell from 215 to 186 between 2010 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
2010215
2020186-29 (-13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 9 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

73 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 73 fires within 5 miles of Belk between 1994 and 2020, burning about 287 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 28 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
Arson/incendiarism28
Debris and open burning22
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Recreation and ceremony4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Natural2
Smoking2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
9 September 2013Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionNWR-20130909-001
9 September 2013Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry CommissionNWR-20130909-002
9 September 1995Debris and open burning1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
9 September 1995Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
9 September 1995Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
9 September 1995Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1995Debris and open burning1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
26 September 1999Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fayette 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 Belk: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Unnamed QuarrySand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerQuartz

Every working recorded in Fayette County

Storms near this place

16 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Belk in 16 storm reports between 2001 and 2025: 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 4 hail, 1 flash flood. 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
November 2001Tornado (F3)Belk$800,000no account filed
September 2005Tornado (F1)Belk$70,000no account filed
March 2009Tornado (EF1)Belk$50,000The tornado that touched down in southeastern Lamar County moved into southwestern Fayette County. It continued to travel northeastward, across Junkins Drive, Brazeal Road, Wesley Chapel Road, and Howard Drive. It lifted just north of the intersection of Summers Road and AL-159. In addition to numerous trees that were snapped and uprooted, the tornado also damaged two homes, one business shop, and at least 5 outbuildings. A 17 foot camper was pushed 3 feet sideways in the mud due to the force of the wind. A family that was in one of the homes at the time heard the warning via NOAA Weather Radio and went to their storm cellar. They then heard the roar of a jet as the tornado passed overhead, but they made it through the event without any injuries.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindBelk$20,000Several trees were blown down onto a house, in the Belk community, briefly trapping people inside.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindBelk$10,000Numerous trees were blown down across the width of Fayette County, from the Belk community and city of Fayette in the west, to the city of Berry and Boley Springs community in the east.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindBelk$1,000A tree was blown down at the intersection of CR-4 and AL-159, and a car subsequently ran into the trees. There were no known injuries due to the crash.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindBelk$500A tree was blown down onto AL-96, in the Belk community.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindBelk-National Weather Service meteorologists assessed storm damage|across the southern portion of Lamar and Fayette counties, |associated with a line of storms early in the morning on Monday, |March 31st, 2025. It was determined that low-end and sporadic tree|damage was associated with gusty, straight-line winds in the|vicinity of Fernbank, Millport, Kennedy, and southwestern Fayette|County.||Roadways with trees down in Fayette County included CR 1, CR 2, Ashcroft Corner Rd, Walnut Ln Rd, and CR 68.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindBelk-Trees and power lines were downed in Belk.
April 2025HailBelk-Dime to penny-size hail was reported in Belk.
March 2024Thunderstorm WindBelk-Several trees were uprooted in the Belk area. A motorist drove into a fallen tree along County Road 1. Debris was scattered across the roadway near the intersection of County Road 4 and Highway 159. Near the intersection of County Roads 23 and 105, falling trees brought down power lines.
May 2024HailBelk-Social media photos were received of large hail at least hen egg size.
February 2022Flash FloodBelk-Water several feet deep overflowing County Road 81 east of the city of Fayette.
August 2017Tornado (EF1)Belk-NWS meteorologists surveyed damage in western Fayette County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF1 tornado. The tornado moved out of extreme southeast Lamar County and continued northeast across the western portions of Fayette County, with numerous trees snapped and uprooted. Just before the tornado crossed Highway 96, it produced extensive tree damage at the Fayette Country Club Golf Course. It continued northeast crossing County Road 18 and Wilkinson Road, and then to County Road 85 near Earl Housh Road. It paralleled County Road 85 for several miles, producing tree damage. It finally lifted about one mile southwest of the intersection of Highway 43 and Housh Chapel Road.
January 2008HailBelk-One inch hail was reported at the intersection of AL-159 and CR-1, south of the city of Fayette.
March 2016HailBelk-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fayette 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
Covin3.7 miles9
Renfroe Valley3.7 miles9
Cedar Hill4.2 miles10
Jerusalem4.6 miles11
Old Town5.9 miles10
Fayette5.9 miles10
Mount Vernon6.1 miles9
Gumbud6.8 miles10

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 BelkAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q66150The 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 113846. 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.