Rio, Georgia

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Vaughn census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30223. The Survey maps it on the Brooks quadrangle.

Rio within Spalding County

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.

1953 USGS Atlanta quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1957 USGS Atlanta quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Atlanta quadrangle1:250000
1965 USGS Brooks quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1979 USGS Griffin quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings

Fires near this place

251 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 251 fires within 5 miles of Rio between 1992 and 2020, burning about 762 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 35 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 burning	159
Arson/incendiarism	35
Misuse of fire by a minor	16
Recreation and ceremony	14
Equipment and vehicle use	13
Natural	7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5
Railroad operations and maintenance	1
Smoking	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
5 September 1997	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
4 September 1999	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
30 September 2019	Debris and open burning	3.0 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2020SPALDING003
30 September 2001	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2002-FAYETTE-001
27 September 1998	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
24 September 2011	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2012-SPALDING-012
23 September 2008	Equipment and vehicle use	9.2 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
2 September 1992	Debris and open burning	2.9 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Spalding County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Rio: 2 producers, 1 prospect. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gemstone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Allen Prospect	Gemstone	Prospect
Griffin Granite Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Griffin Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer

Every working recorded in Spalding County

Storms near this place

7 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rio in 7 storm reports between 2006 and 2025: 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 tornado. The reports record 1 death and 10 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
January 2023	Tornado (EF2)	Rio	1 killed, 10 hurt	Radar data, areal surveys and ground surveys confirm that a long track EF2 tornado occurred beginning a few miles east of Griffin GA through Butts, Newton and into Jasper counties. The tornado was part of a larger mesocyclone which can be traced west all the way back to the Selma Alabama tornado which spawned numerous tornadoes during its lifecycle. This particular tornado first touched down in an area around Crouch road and Wild Plum Road snapping and uprooting trees. The tornado struck a Rinai building causing damage to the roof, windows and outside walls. The tornado continued northeast snapping and uprooting trees quickly intensifying as it crossed hwy 19 becoming and EF2. Widespread tree damage was noted along S. McDonough Road and Walnut Grove Road north of Hwy 16. A well built home sustained significant roof and structure damage consistent with high end EF2 winds. The tornado continued northeast crossing High Falls Road, N. Walkers Mill Road, Yamacraw road snapping and uprooting trees consistent with EF1 damage. As the tornado continued northeast, it became the dominant circulation within the larger mesocyclone as the previous Griffin tornado began to occlude within the large circulation. The tornado crossed Jackson road and paralleled Jenkinsburg road before crossing I75 near Jenkinsburg Road. Snapped and uprooted trees were noted along both sides of I75 where the tornado crossed. As the storm became the dominant circulation within the mesocyclone, the wind field expanded and the damage became fairly consistent with high end EF1 to low EF2 thereafter. The tornado crossed Locust Road, Dean Patrick Road and England Chapel Road were numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. Some home damage was noted in the area as well, particularly as it approached Shiloah Road. Several homes were damaged along Plaza Dr and Smith Dr. The tornado continued NE crossing Hwy 23 striking a large warehouse. Severe roof and exterior wall damage was noted as debris was spread across the highway and to the NE of the hwy. As the tornado crossed the highway it struck a train on the tracks and overturned 3 rail cars just west Walter Moore Rd. The storm continued northeast crossing Wolf Creek Road snapping and uprooting trees near several homes consistent with EF1 wind damage. The tornado continued northeast crossing Rising Star Church road and Brown road snapping and uprooting trees. As the storm continued northeast beyond this point, the remnant circulation which last produced damage near Locust Grove regenerated a new tornado a little over a mile to the northwest along Fincherville Road. The two tornadoes would continue to the NE nearly parallel through the Jackson Lake area. This particular tornado continued northeast and would intensify to EF2 as it crossed Hwy 36 north of Keys Ferry Road and Haley Road. The fatality and critical injury directly associated with this tornado occurred along Haley Road when a tree fell onto a vehicle injuring the driver and fatally wounding a passenger. EF2 damage was noted East of hwy36 along Haley Road, Pocahontas St. Chickasaw lane and several neighborhoods along the lake. The tornado crossed into Southern Newton County causing severe damage along Parker Road, Ray Road, Malcom Rd, Quarry Ct, Pebble Ridge Dr, Hunters Trace, Campbell Rd and Hwy 212 as it entered Jasper County near the Franks Restaurant. EF1 to low end EF2 damage was intermittent along Yancy Rd, Dallas Tr, Gem Lane, Lees Cove, Alcovy N. Dr, Rainbow Dr and County Line Road. The Bear Creek Marian was destroyed and several campers were destroyed. The storm continued NE crossing Henderson Mill Road snapping and uprooting trees, County line Trail and Hwy 11 before weakening and lifting as it approached Margery Lake. A second fatality was resulted the following day when a lineman was knocked out of a bucket truck in Jasper County after being struck by a large tree branch while attempting to restore powerlines. The fatality, is considered indirect but will be tied to this particular tornado. Widespread wind damage can be seen via areal survey and ground survey throughout northern Butts, Southern Newton and Western Jasper counties and surveying this particular storm was a challenge to discern where the tornado actually ended and where the severe wind damage started. The path width is an approximation based on the most severe damage swaths which were surveyed however, strong inflow winds occurred for much of the lifecycle of this tornado making a very wide swath of damage along its 30+ mile long path.
April 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Rio	$1,000	Large tree down on a home near Grantland Rd.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Rio	$1,000	Tree down on Helms St near Rehobeth Rd .
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Rio	$1,000	Emergency Manager reported a tree down in the 1500 block of Rehobeth Rd.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Rio	$1,000	The Spalding County Emergency Manager reported a tree blown down in the 1200 block of Macon Road.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Rio	-	A NNW-SSE swath of trees were also blown down on the E side of Griffin as a strong line of storms swept through the area. Locations incl Brawner St, Grantland Rd, Maple Dr, and Hoppin Branch Rd.
September 2006	Hail	Rio	-	The public reported quarter-sized hail from Rio to near the Henry county line north of Sunny Side.

Every storm recorded in Spalding 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Valdo (historical)	0.3 miles	9
Vaughn	0.5 miles	9
Zetella	2.7 miles	9
Esmond	2.8 miles	9
Burdett (historical)	3.1 miles	9
Birdie	3.4 miles	9
Blantons Mill	5.0 miles	9
Highland Mills	5.3 miles	9

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 332858. 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.