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Avoca, Wisconsin

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Avoca Village. It lies in ZIP code area 53506. It lies near Booth Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Avoca quadrangle. 553 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 699 feet above sea level.

Avoca within Iowa County

Population over time

2 figures

Avoca fell from 637 to 553 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
2010637
2020553-84 (-13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 10 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

141 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 141 fires within 5 miles of Avoca between 1992 and 2019, burning about 1,958 acres in total. None started naturally. 16 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
Railroad operations and maintenance37
Debris and open burning33
Equipment and vehicle use26
Arson/incendiarism16
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Smoking7
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Other causes2
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor2

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
13 September 1996Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
22 August 2003Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
21 August 2001Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 August 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
16 August 2015Equipment and vehicle use36 acresWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesHAY/133 FIRE
9 July 2012Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesFAIRVIEW ROAD
6 July 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesRINGELSTETTER
31 July 2015Debris and open burning2.3 acresWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesBIRD FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Iowa County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Avoca: 2 unknowns, 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Haney QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
J Johnson QuarryStoneUnknown
Landon QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Mankey QuarryStoneUnknown

Every working recorded in Iowa County

Storms near this place

18 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Avoca in 18 storm reports between 2000 and 2026: 10 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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
July 2017Heavy RainAvoca$360,000Washouts of mainly gravel roads and driveways in the northwest portion of the county. About 50 homes with mostly minor water damage. However, the north foundation of a home collapsed while the east and west foundations buckled due to water pressure. Water was briefly over a bridge on Sunny Road at the Dodge Branch of the Pecatonica River. The flooding also led to the loss of crops.
August 2007Flash FloodAvoca$200,000Significant flash flooding affected the northern half of Iowa County, especially in the Avoca and Arena areas. Fast flowing water of 1 to 3 feet was reporte in those two communities and first responders built berms around Avoca. Water depths on STH 133 reached 2 to 4 feet. Sandbagging efforts in Avoca prevented major damage, however 4 homes in Avoca had water in basements. Ten roads in the Civil Town of Arena were closed. The basement of the County Sheriff buidling flooded out with a fair amount of water damage to contents. Several gravel shoulder washouts occurred and crops across the northern part of the county were damaged due to erosion. Overall, at least 20 homes sustained minor flood damage to basement contents. Additionally, a sump pump overflow occurred in the Iowa County Social Services Building in Dodgeville, resulting in minor water damage to basement contents. Rainfall amounts overnight, based on WSR-88D Doppler radar estimates, ranged from 3 to 4 inches over the southeast corner of the county to 8 to 9 inches along the Wisconsin river near Avoca. Unofficially there were reports of 10 inch amounts near Avoca. |
August 2007Thunderstorm WindAvoca$100,000Powerful thunderstorm wind gusts to 65 knots (75 mph) toppled many trees and damaged several power-lines.
July 2009Flash FloodAvoca$75,000Heavy rains from severe thunderstorms produced flash flooding that washed out the shoulders of several roads and driveways, causing $75,000 of damage. The AWOS unit at the Mineral Point Airport recorded 1.21 inches of rain between 1830 and 1900 CST.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindAvoca$60,000Trained spotters reported several homes with roof damage and several outbuildings on farms damaged by powerful thunderstorm wind gusts that were estimated at 80 mph (70 knots). The damaging winds also downed many trees and power lines along the path that extended from 4 miles southwest of Avoca to Avoca.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindAvoca$50,000Trees and power lines reported down countywide.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindAvoca$12,000The Iowa County Emergency Manager reported numerous trees and power lines blown down by thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 64 mph (56 knots).
April 2026Thunderstorm WindAvoca$5,000Several trees down throughout the county.
September 2012Thunderstorm WindAvoca$4,000Law enforcement officials reported trees were blown down by damaging thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 56 knots (65 mph) 4 miles south-southwest of Avoca.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindAvoca-Law enforcement reported trees were blown down by severe thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 56 knots (64 mph).
July 2012Thunderstorm WindAvoca-Law enforcement officials reported trees and power lines blown down along a swath from 5 miles west southwest of Avoca to Avoca by damaging thunderstorm wind gusts estimated up to 65 knots (70 mph).
July 2009Thunderstorm WindAvoca-A NWS storm survey team found a few uprooted trees and other minor tree damage produced by damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindAvoca-Powerful thunderstorm winds toppled large trees.
August 2005Tornado (F0)Avoca-This tornado briefly spun up and dissipated at 1555CST about 2.5 miles east-northeast of Avoca, or about 0.6 mile west-northwest of the intersection of STH 130 and Leaches Crossing Road. Only some tree damage was noted on a storm survey. This tornado was rated a F0 with estimated wind speeds of 35-63 knots (40-72 mph).
July 2009Funnel CloudAvoca-no account filed
August 2008HailAvoca-no account filed
July 2003HailAvoca-no account filed
June 2000FloodAvoca-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Iowa 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
Clyde7.4 miles11
Highland9.8 miles10
Wyoming11.9 miles11
Cobb14.8 miles12
Edmund15.1 miles12
Pleasant Ridge15.9 miles11
Helena16.0 miles11
Coon Rock17.9 miles15

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 AvocaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3301393The 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 1561035. 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.