Sand Rock, Alabama
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Leesburg census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35983. The Survey maps it on the Leesburg quadrangle. 591 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 915 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSand Rock grew from 560 to 591 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 560 | |
| 2020 | 591 | +31 (+6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 19 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1893 USGS Fort Payne quadrangle1:125000
- 1898 USGS Fort Payne quadrangle1:125000
- 1900 USGS Fort Payne quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1955 USGS Rome quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Rome quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Rome quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Rome quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Leesburg quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1981 USGS Rome quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
200 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 200 fires within 5 miles of Sand Rock between 1994 and 2020, burning about 1,472 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 94 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/incendiarism | 94 |
| Debris and open burning | 56 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20180907-1 |
| 4 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 4.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 28 September 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160928-9 |
| 28 September 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 26 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 26 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 25 September 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | CO. RD. 65, AL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Sand Rock: 3 occurrences, 2 prospects, 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Che 7 Clay Prospect | Clay | Prospect | ||
| Round Mountain Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Round Mt. Mine | Iron | Past Producer | Hematite | |
| Unnamed Prospect | Iron | Prospect | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Iron | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
14 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sand Rock in 14 storm reports between 1994 and 2011: 7 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 1 tornado. The reports record 2 deaths and 4 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2001 | Tornado (F2) | Sand Rock | 2 killed, 4 hurt, $300,000 | The tornado began about 2.7 miles south-southwest of Sand Rock at 3:01 pm moving northeast. The tornado moved across the southern and eastern portions of Sand Rock damaging a number of structures. Two people were killed in a mobile home just east of Sand Rock. The tornado continued northeast moving through mostly open areas with structures damaged and trees downed along the way. The tornado finally dissipated around 3:18 pm about 5.5 miles northeast of Sand Rock.The tornado was rated an F2 with a path length of 8.2 miles and a width of 200 yards.Beginning: 34 12.477/85 47.520 Ending: 34 18.063/85 42.139 |
| March 2003 | Hail | Sand Rock | $8,000 | Golf ball size hail was observed in the Sand Rock area. |
| April 2003 | Hail | Sand Rock | $8,000 | Nickel to golf ball size hail was reported from around Sand Rock to near Cedar Bluff. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Rock | $7,000 | Multiple trees were blown down in and around Sand Rock, one of which fell onto a vehicle. In addition, shingles were blown off a barn on County Line Street. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Rock | $5,000 | Several trees and power lines were blown down in the Sand Rock Community. |
| April 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Rock | $5,000 | Trees and power lines were downed across north and central Cherokee County when thunderstorms moved through the area. A double-wide mobile home located on Weiss Lake was blown off its foundation and a mobile home in Alexis (9 east of Centre) had the roof blown off. A mobile home lost its roof in strong winds in Sand Rock, about eight miles northwest of Center. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Rock | $2,000 | Several trees were knocked down along CR 48 and along CR 1 in Sand Rock. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Rock | $2,000 | A few trees were blown down near the Sand Rock community. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Rock | $1,000 | A tree fell onto power lines along CR-11, north of Sand Rock. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Rock | $1,000 | A few trees were blown down near the DeKalb and Cherokee countyline just outside the Sand Rock community. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Sand Rock | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Sand Rock | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Sand Rock | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Sand Rock | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Pond | 2.6 miles | 19 | |
| Ewing | 2.8 miles | 19 | |
| Mount Zion (historical) | 2.9 miles | 19 | |
| Lookout Valley Acres | 3.2 miles | 19 | |
| Richardson | 3.2 miles | 19 | |
| Bristow | 3.3 miles | 19 | |
| Bay View Estates | 3.5 miles | 19 | |
| Hopewell | 3.5 miles | 19 |
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 Sand Rock | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q66116 | The 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 126330. 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.








