Riegelwood, North Carolina

Riegelwood is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Columbus County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 579. It is a location of paper mills for the lumber industry.HistoryThe Black Rock Plantation House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.GeographyRiegelwood is located near the eastern tip of Columbus County, south of Mitchell Landing on the Cape Fear River, site of an International Paper plant. North Carolina Highway 87 passes through Riegelwood, leading southeast 2mi to U.S. Routes 74 and 76 in Delco and northwest to Elizabethtown. Wilmington is to the southeast via US 74/76.According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Riegelwood CDP has a total area of 8.8sqkm, of which 8.1sqkm is land and 0.7sqkm, or 8.28%, is water.Severe weather event in 2006On November 16, 2006, at 6:29 am EST, a tornado warning had been issued for eastern Columbus County, and prior to that a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the same area at 6:21 am. At 6:37, an F3 tornado struck a mobile home park and killed eight people, including two children, Danny Jacobs, 6, and Miguel Martinez, 13. Twenty people were injured. The tornado was a part of a 3-day long tornado outbreak in the south where four other deaths were reported. Riegelwood was one of the hardest hit areas.