Alcolu, South Carolina
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1920 and the latest in 1990. It stands in the Alcolu census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29001. It stands on Big Branch. The Survey maps it on the Tearcoat Branch quadrangle. 402 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 125 feet above sea level.
On record in Alcolu
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
- Pleasant Grove Schoollisted 2023
Population over time
2 figuresAlcolu fell from 429 to 402 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 | 429 | |
| 2020 | 402 | -27 (-6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 16 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.
- 1920 USGS Mayesville quadrangle1:48000
- 1921 USGS Mayesville quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1943 USGS Mayesville quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Tearcoat Branch quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Sumter quadrangle1:100000
- 1990 USGS Sumter quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
352 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 352 fires within 5 miles of Alcolu between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,296 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 71 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 | 160 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 95 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 71 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Natural | 6 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
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 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 26 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 25 September 2003 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 21 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 17 September 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 16 September 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
23 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alcolu in 23 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 11 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 4 flash flood, 1 lightning. The reports record 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2004 | Tornado (F1) | Alcolu | 4 hurt | An F1 tornado destroyed 2 mobile homes and damaged several others. Light to moderate damage occurred to the elementary school and its busses. Severe damage occurred to large open air outbuildings at a mill across the street from the school. |
| October 2015 | Flash Flood | Alcolu | $800,000 | SC Highway Patrol reports I-95 closed at mile marker 124 due to flooding. |
| October 2015 | Flash Flood | Alcolu | $500,000 | Clarendon County dispatch reported I-95 has been closed again both northbound and southbound between mile markers 98 and 135 due to flooding. |
| October 2015 | Flash Flood | Alcolu | $500,000 | Clarendon County dispatch reports that several roads that had flooded in the previous rain event and reopened had to be closed again this evening due to recent rain and runoff in the Manning and Alcolu areas. |
| October 2015 | Flash Flood | Alcolu | $100,000 | Plowdenmill Road near I-95 and Hwy 521 closed due to impassible water covering the roadway. Reported by the Emergency Operations Center. |
| November 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | $85,000 | Storm Survey found an intense microburst destroyed a garage/workshop and took down numerous trees. Shingles, facia, and soffett were also torn off the home. |
| September 1997 | Lightning | Alcolu | $60,000 | Lightning struck a church in the early morning hours and did $60K in damage to the facility. |
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | $14,000 | Highway Patrol reported a tree on a car along I-95 at mile marker 125. The car was parked on the side of the road and was unattended. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | $6,000 | Sheriff reported trees down on Alderman Camp Road. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | $4,000 | Public reported trees down on Old Georgetown Road blocking traffic. |
| April 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | - | A tree fell on a line on Old Georgetown Rd near Clyburn Rd, north of Manning. Time estimated. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | - | SCDOT reported trees down in Alcolu. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | - | SC Highway Patrol reported a downed tree blocking portions of I-95 at mile marker 126.5. Downed tree confirmed via DOT highway camera. Time estimated by radar. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | - | Tree in roadway near the intersection of Robert Rees Durant Rd and US Hwy 301. Time estimated. |
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | - | Highway Patrol reported a tree fell on a car on I-95 at mile marker 125. The vehicle was unoccupied. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | - | Public reported numerous large branches down. |
| March 2000 | Hail | Alcolu | - | Sheriff reported 3/4 inch hail. |
| May 2000 | Hail | Alcolu | - | SKYWARN spotter reported 1 inch hail from Alcolu to 5 S of New Zion on hwy 527. |
| May 2000 | Hail | Alcolu | - | SKYWARN spotter reported 3/4 inch hail. |
| April 1999 | Hail | Alcolu | - | Post Office reporte dime size hail at I95 and hwy 49. |
| June 1998 | Hail | Alcolu | - | Sheriff reported 3/4 inch hail. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alcolu | - | Severe thunderstorms developed across central and northeast South Carolina causing considerable damage. A lightning-caused fire heavily damaged a home in Alcolu; also, a roof was blown off a mobile home near Alcolu and trees were blown down near Manning. A car in Florence was struck by a falling tree, injuring the passenger. A 12-year-old girl in Florence received a mild shock from a lightning strike. |
| June 1996 | Hail | Alcolu | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvin | 1.3 miles | 16 | |
| Trinity Cross Roads | 1.6 miles | 16 | |
| Manning | 3.9 miles | 16 | |
| Country Club Estates | 5.4 miles | 16 | |
| Wilson Crossroads | 5.9 miles | 16 | |
| Durant | 6.3 miles | 16 | |
| Juneville | 6.7 miles | 16 | |
| Halleytown | 7.0 miles | 14 |
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 Alcolu | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2891867 | 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 1230998. 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.










