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Allen, South Dakota

5 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the West Bennett unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 57714. The Survey maps it on the Allen quadrangle. 460 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,307 feet above sea level.

Allen within Bennett County

Population over time

2 figures

Allen grew from 420 to 460 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.

YearPeople Change
2010420
2020460+40 (+10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 5 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

91 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 91 fires within 5 miles of Allen between 1994 and 2020, burning about 6,338 acres in total. 14 started naturally. 2 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Debris and open burning16
Misuse of fire by a minor14
Natural14
Equipment and vehicle use9
Fireworks8
Other causes6
Smoking4
Arson/incendiarism2
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
7 September 2001Natural8.0 acresPine Ridge AgencyWHICH WAY
4 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMartin Volunteer Fire DepartmentALLEN HOUSING
3 September 2012Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyALLEN
27 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyKEYS-N-CASH
27 September 2012Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyAMERICAN HORSE II
26 September 2001Misuse of fire by a minor675 acresPine Ridge AgencyALLEN
22 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyBUFFALO PASTURE
21 September 2013Misuse of fire by a minor5.0 acresPine Ridge AgencyALLEN HOUSING 4

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bennett County

Storms near this place

50 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Allen in 50 storm reports between 1999 and 2024: 22 hail, 15 thunderstorm wind, 8 tornado, 3 flood. The reports record 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2013Tornado (EF1)Allen1 hurt, $100,000A tornado touched down on the west side of Allen Road south of Allen and rolled a mobile home down a hill. It tore off the roof and collapsed several walls of a small stick built house on the east side of the road before dissipating.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindAllen1 hurt, $25,000Straight-line wind damage was observed along BIA Road 22 southeast of Allen. The winds tore part of the roof off a small building and ripped shingles and metal roofing off two houses. A mobile home was rolled and completely smashed. A large cottonwood tree was snapped.
May 2019FloodAllen$750,000Three roads were completely washed out and several other roads throughout the county were damaged.
August 2011HailAllen$200,000no account filed
July 2019FloodAllen$80,000Runoff from heavy rain caused flooding on the Little White River three miles south-southeast of Swett. Water inundated 296th Street and washed out a culvert, causing the road to collapse.
June 2014HailAllen$20,000Baseball size hail broke windows and skylights, damaged vehicles, and killed lambs.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindAllen$5,000Combination of hail and wind broke windows on mobile home.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindAllen$5,000A mobile home was blown over and damaged. No estimate of wind speed given.
June 2019Tornado (EF1)Allen-A tornado formed in a field southwest of Allen and spun in a two-mile area, first moving west, then south, and finally north. It damaged a house and barn, blew over a couple of grain bins, snapped large trees and two power poles. It also ripped corn from the fields, killed several deer, and picked up some grain bags and carried them along its track before dropping them as it dissipated.
August 2019Flash FloodAllen-Flash flooding occurred in Yellow Bear Canyon. Water inundated BIA 4 for a couple of hours.
July 2019Tornado (EF0)Allen-A brief tornado was reported by the emergency manager. It was over pasture land and caused no damage.
July 2019Tornado (EF0)Allen-A brief tornado was reported by the emergency manager. It was over pasture land and caused no damage.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindAllen-Strong wind gusts blew a single wide mobile home off its foundation.
June 2017Tornado (EF0)Allen-A spotter watched a small tornado in a field for about five minutes before it became obscured by rain.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindAllen-Small hail also fell with the storm.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindAllen-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindAllen-Wind gusts were estimated at 70 mph.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindAllen-A spotter reported 60 mph wind gusts.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindAllen-Estimated 60 mph wind gusts.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindAllen-Wind gusts were estimated around 60 mph.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindAllen-Branches up eight inches in diameter were broken off trees.
June 2008FloodAllen-Minor flooding occurred along small streams in northern Bennett County.
June 2007Tornado (EF0)Allen-The tornado that formed south of Kyle in Shannon County briefly crossed into Bennett County, dissipating before reaching BIA Highway 4 (Allen Road). Location and time were based on Doppler radar and spotter reports.
August 2004Tornado (F0)Allen-Brief tornado touchdown.
June 1999Tornado (F0)Allen-Width and path length reported by a local resident.
July 1999Funnel CloudAllen-Public report of a short lived funnel cloud.
June 2024HailAllen-no account filed
May 2018HailAllen-no account filed
June 2018HailAllen-no account filed
July 2015HailAllen-no account filed
August 2011HailAllen-no account filed
June 2011HailAllen-no account filed
June 2010HailAllen-no account filed
June 2010HailAllen-no account filed
August 2009HailAllen-no account filed
May 2008HailAllen-no account filed
August 2008HailAllen-no account filed
May 2007HailAllen-no account filed
June 2007HailAllen-no account filed
June 2007HailAllen-no account filed
June 2007HailAllen-no account filed
August 2007HailAllen-no account filed
July 2007Thunderstorm WindAllen-no account filed
August 2006HailAllen-no account filed
June 2005HailAllen-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindAllen-no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindAllen-no account filed
June 2002HailAllen-no account filed
August 2002HailAllen-no account filed
August 2002Thunderstorm WindAllen-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Bennett 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
Plenty Bears4.4 miles5
Swett7.7 miles5
Bad Wound8.8 miles5
Black Eyes12.1 miles5
Martin12.6 miles5
LaCreek (historical)19.7 miles5
Patricia21.9 miles5
Tuthill24.4 miles6

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 AllenAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2524515The 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 1261089. 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.