Buncombe, Illinois
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1996. It stands in Elvira precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 62912. The Survey maps it on the Vienna quadrangle. 207 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 518 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBuncombe grew from 203 to 207 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 | 203 | |
| 2020 | 207 | +4 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 20 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.
- 1918 USGS Vienna quadrangle1:62500
- 1919 USGS Vienna quadrangle1:62500
- 1942 USGS Vienna quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1966 USGS Vienna quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1984 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:100000
- 1986 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:100000
- 1987 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000
- 1996 USGS Vienna quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
15 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Buncombe between 2006 and 2017, burning about 33 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was 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 | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Shawnee National Forest | DUTCHMAN |
| 29 August 2012 | Smoking | 12 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | MAZE |
| 28 August 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Shawnee National Forest | BOTTOMS |
| 12 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | PISGAH1 |
| 9 March 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | CHARLES PROCTOR |
| 4 March 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 9 |
| 28 March 2014 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | DAVIS1 |
| 21 March 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | BUN01 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Buncombe: 1 producer, 1 occurrence. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Fire Clay (Refractory). 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawnee Low Interest Refractory Clay Deposit | Fire Clay (Refractory) | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Southern Illinois Stone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
13 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buncombe in 13 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 7 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buncombe | 1 hurt, $30,000 | Numerous trees were snapped in the Buncombe area, and large limbs were downed. A few miles southwest of Buncombe, one person was injured after a tree fell onto their vehicle while driving on Route 146. A large tree fell onto their westbound vehicle. The person was taken to a hospital for treatment. The vehicle was totalled. |
| February 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buncombe | $60,000 | Several structures were damaged or destroyed on a farm. One machine shed was levelled, with only the north wall left standing. The roofs were blown off two other sheds. Two grain bins were heavily damaged. One of the bins was blown on its side, and the other bin was shifted three feet off its foundation. Part of the roof to one of the sheds was wrapped around a utility pole. The other part of the roof blew across a road and wrapped around a tractor. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buncombe | $40,000 | There were numerous reports of downed tree limbs and power lines. Some shingles were blown off houses. |
| October 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buncombe | $20,000 | An area of scattered wind damage continued east from the Union County line through western Johnson County. Numerous large tree limbs and a few power lines were blown down. A few trees were blown down. The damage occurred west of Vienna, between Buncombe and Cypress. The maximum damage path width was one mile, but the average width was about one-half mile. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buncombe | $5,000 | Straight line wind damage occurred to several trees along Pleasant Grove Rd southwest of Buncombe, following the lifting of a tornado, including trees that snapped or were uprooted. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buncombe | $3,000 | A few trees were blown down. |
| July 2016 | Flood | Buncombe | - | Water covered some portions of local roads. |
| August 2006 | Flash Flood | Buncombe | - | Lick Creek Road was closed due to water running across the roadway. |
| November 2005 | Flash Flood | Buncombe | - | Some roads were flooded, primarily in northern and western portions of the county. A spotter measured 4.63 inches of rain near Buncombe, with 3.40 inches of rain falling in four hours. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buncombe | - | The county sheriff reported trees down across Route 37. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Buncombe | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Buncombe | - | no account filed |
| April 2010 | Hail | Buncombe | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omar | 2.1 miles | 20 | |
| West Vienna | 3.0 miles | 20 | |
| Elvira | 3.2 miles | 18 | |
| Pleasant Grove | 3.5 miles | 18 | |
| Stringtown (historical) | 5.0 miles | 20 | |
| Bloomfield | 5.6 miles | 20 | |
| Vienna | 5.7 miles | 20 | |
| Goreville | 5.7 miles | 20 |
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 Buncombe | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2671657 | 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 405188. 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.












