BlockBefore

Section, Alabama

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Section census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35771. It lies near Weatherley Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Dutton quadrangle. 756 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,345 feet above sea level.

Section within Jackson County

Population over time

3 figures

Section fell from 769 to 756 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
2000769
2010770+1 (+0%)
2020756-14 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 21 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

113 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 113 fires within 5 miles of Section between 1995 and 2020, burning about 1,456 acres in total. None started naturally. 31 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 burning38
Arson/incendiarism31
Missing data/not specified/undetermined26
Recreation and ceremony8
Equipment and vehicle use5
Smoking2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Other causes1
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
8 September 1998Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
8 September 1998Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 2010Debris and open burning18 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined18 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 1998Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
3 September 2016Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160903-3
28 September 2016Debris and open burning12 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160928-3
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commission20190923-10

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jackson County

Storms near this place

43 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Section in 43 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 29 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 5 tornado, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 death. 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 2011Tornado (EF1)Section1 killedA tornado of EF-1 intensity produced wind speeds of up to 110 mph. The tornado touched down just south of Section, crossing State Highway 35, then traveling nearly parallel to State Highway 71, through Dutton, into southern portions of of Pisgah before crossing into far northern DeKalb County. The tornado uprooted and snapped numerous trees along its path, knocking out power in many locations. One fatality occurred in the Pisgah area associated with this tornado.||The tornado took a very similar track to a violent tornado of EF-4 intensity later during the afternoon of the 27th. This made it very difficult to distinguish damage between the two tornadoes. Several eyewitnesses remarked about the morning tornado location and damages.
October 2010Tornado (EF0)Section$50,000An EF-0 tornado with peak winds up to 80 mph touched down between Section and Dutton, just south of Highway 71. The most significant damage occurred near the intersection of County Roads 18 and 395. A trailer was overturned and a small shed was destroyed. Portions of a roof and siding from a house were pulled off and several small trees were snapped.
April 2005HailSection$50,000Baseball size hail was reported.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindSection$25,000Multiple trees were knocked down on CR 409, 120, 100 and 430. A tree was knocked down on a home on CR 430. Time estimated by radar.
July 2012LightningSection$20,000Lightning set fire to a home near County Road 120.
April 2005HailSection$20,000Golf ball size hail was reported.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindSection$5,000Trees were knocked down with roof damage resulting at 135 CR 430. Time estimated by radar.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindSection$5,000A tree was knocked down onto a residence, damaging a carport and two vehicles.
January 1997HailSection$5,000no account filed
July 1996Thunderstorm WindSection$5,000no account filed
December 2025Thunderstorm WindSection$2,000A carport was partially destroyed at 710 CR 391 in Section.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindSection$2,000Trees were knocked down in Section with power outages reported.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindSection$1,000A tree was knocked down at CR 120 at Highway 35. Time estimated by radar.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindSection$1,000A tree was knocked down at the intersection of Main Street and Tammy Little Drive in Section.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindSection$1,000A tree was knocked down along CR 626 southeast of Section.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindSection$1,000A tree was knocked down along CR 391 southeast of Section.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindSection$1,000A tree was knocked down at 500 CR 62 in Section.
February 2024Thunderstorm WindSection$1,000A tree was knocked down and blocking the road along Highway 35 in Section.
February 2024Thunderstorm WindSection$1,000A tree was knocked down and blocking Highway 35 in Section.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindSection$1,000A tree was reported down along CR 368 near Dutton.
January 2013Thunderstorm WindSection$1,000The county road department reported a large tree down due to thunderstorm winds onto county road 391 just off off highway 35 near Aspel, Alabama.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindSection$500A large tree limb was knocked down into the roadway at 6230 Tammy Little Drive in Section. Time estimated by radar of the gust front passage.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindSection$500A tree was knocked down onto the roadway.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindSection$500A tree was knocked down and blocked the roadway near 1059 CR 43.
January 2020Thunderstorm WindSection$500Thunderstorms winds damaged the Section Highs School score board.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindSection$500A large tree and large tree limbs were knocked down.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindSection$200A tree was knocked down across the roadway at Hodge Road in Section.
January 2020Thunderstorm WindSection$200A tree was knocked down at this location. Time estimated by radar.
May 2025Tornado (EF0)Section-The tornado initiated its path near the Highway 71 and Highway 35 intersection, close to the Section baseball fields. Throughout its duration, the primary damage indicators included downed small and large tree branches. The tornado continued on an eastward trajectory, passing near CR 395 and subsequently crossing CR 372 before dissipating just west of the CR 123 and CR 47 intersection.
March 2023Tornado (EF1)Section-A tornado began south of Section where trees were uprooted and continued northward where it overturned a manufactured home, damaged underpinning and roofs of manufactured homes, and downed powerlines. The tornado then continued to uproot and snap trees as it tracked into Dutton, AL. A home had minor roof damage off of Hodge Road and County Road 124. The tornado removed metal roofing on a chicken house off of County Road 19 and then lifted.
March 2021Heavy RainSection-Heavy rainfall caused a rock slide blocking Hwy 35 near CR 124 west of Section.
May 2021Thunderstorm WindSection-Trees and power lines were knocked down near Highway 35 near the top of Sand Mountain. Time estimated by radar.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindSection-A tin porch roof was blown off of a house and lofted into a tree at the intersection of DAvistown Road and Mountaindale Circle.
January 2020Thunderstorm WindSection-Power lines were knocked down along Davistown Road.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindSection-Two trees were knocked down along Langston Rd. near the water plant. Time estimated by radar.
June 2008HailSection-A severe thunderstorm produced penny size hail at the Foodland store in Section.
April 2005HailSection-Half dollar size hail was reported.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindSection-A tree was blown down along County Road 337.
December 2004Thunderstorm WindSection-A few trees and power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
February 2003Thunderstorm WindSection-A few power lines down.
February 2003HailSection-nickel hail.
March 2003Tornado (F1)Section-F1 tornado (80 mph) winds with several trees snapped and two homes with minor roof damage.
May 1995HailSection-Three-quarter inch hail was reported from Powell in Dekalb County and Section in Jackson County. The two communities are about six miles apart on the Jackson/Dekalb county line.

Every storm recorded in Jackson 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
Ferncliff (historical)3.0 miles21
Hancock Crossroads3.1 miles21
Davistown3.1 miles20
Lakeview Shores3.1 miles20
Hodge3.4 miles21
Bellview3.7 miles21
Rock City3.7 miles21
Hannah (historical)3.9 miles21

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 SectionAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q67828The 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 153363. 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.