Who’ll Stop the Rain

I spent a week in Asheville at the beginning of August this year, when the region hosted the International Perennial Plant Association meeting. Attendees from all over the world enjoyed the amazing region, its gardens, nurseries, and people. For many attendees, it was their first time to visit the beautiful NC mountains. My, how things change in the blink of an eye.

IPPA attendees at Botanical Treasures Nursery, Fletcher, NC – July 31, 2024

We’re now several weeks out from September 25-27, and the horrific flooding left behind by a combination of an unrelated frontal storm and then Hurricane Helene, whose track took it on an epic journey through the NC mountains. The extent of the damage is catastrophic. The hardest hit of the counties was Buncombe, which includes the town of Asheville. The highest rainfall totals from the storm were in Busick, (Yancey County, NC), Which recorded a staggering 31.33 inches of rain. I always like to put things in perspective, so as unreal as this may seen, when Typhoon Kranthon hit Taiwan just a few days later, it dumped 66 inches of rain in their southern mountains over a 5-day period.

As you probably now know, the NC mountains are home to two major rivers, the French Broad and Swannanoa. Both have a long history of major flooding, which seems to have been widely forgotten by both current residents and news media. During Helene, the Swannanoa River reached levels not seen since 1791. Certainly, you remember 1791? George Washington was President, the first 10 Constitutional amendments were ratified, Vermont was admitted as a state, and the US Mint was established. And few people alive today remember the great flood of 1916, since only 26 US residents are still alive that were born in 1916 or before. In other words, severe flooding is both a regular and historic occurrence in the NC Mountains. No matter where you choose to live, you’re picking which natural disaster you prefer, but this region has long had a well documented issue with significant floods.

In 2004, two tropical systems (Ivan, Frances) sequentially dumped up to 23″ of rain on Asheville, resulting in the wettest September on record. As you can imagine, this caused major flooding to areas like, you guessed it, Biltmore Village. From this storm, 16,234 homes were damaged. Since that flood, more urban development has taken place, creating more impervious surfaces, which prevent water run off. Guess what happens when you add more impervious surface to a major flood zone.

Before the 2004 flood, there was the 1997 flood, caused by remnants of a tropical cyclone that lingered over the mountains causing massive landslides and mud flows. Are you seeing a pattern here? If not, we can go back further. How about the remnants of a tropical cyclone on August 13 & 14, 1940, that caused 2,000 landslides in Wautauga County alone? This event destroyed virtually all transportation infrastructure in and around the county, with a mud river flowing through downtown Boone, NC. According to the article linked below, the 1940 storm would have taken out the equivalent of 328 roads/highways in 2008.

A 2016 City of Asheville article commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the great flood of 1916, recounted that two tropical systems both hit the Asheville area in close succession (July 8-10 and 15-16, 1916). Does this sound familiar? The article recounted the French Broad river stretched from its normal 380′ width to 1,300′. This resulted in dams breached, railroad tracks dangling 60′ in the air, and eighty people dead.

The same article went on to say that it was a given that Asheville would flood again, and that a flood should be expected every 20 years. The article went on to ask the question….”One hundred years after the Flood of 1916, Asheville collectively wonders”, “Can it happen again?” “The answer is yes. And no.” In other words, yes, Asheville would flood again, but due to zoning and building code changes, and better dam management, the catastrophic results of 1916 wouldn’t be repeated. Two years later, in 2018, a 10″ thunderstorm in nearby Polk County caused a massive flood that resulted in 60 landslides and 9 debris flows….and now we have Helene. Oh, but for the arrogance of humans thinking they can control nature.

In an ARCGIS website article on landslides in Western NC, I was struck by the statement, “Landslides and debris flows usually occur in areas where they’ve happened before.” Would you be surprised to know that the historical landslides in Western NC are all mapped on the website? These maps show in great detail which structures and roads are likely to be wiped out in such a storm. It does make you wonder why people are allowed to build and live in these areas, and why we keep building roads there. What makes the flooding problem worse for those in these areas is the lack of flood insurance. In Asheville, only .7% of the households are so covered. It’s hard to understand how this has been allowed to occur, since flood insurance is mandatory if you live in a high-risk area and have an insured lender or federally regulated mortgage.

We’re deeply concerned for everyone who suffered in the storms, but especially feel for our colleagues in both nurseries and botanical gardens. Nurseries, especially, tend to be located near rivers, not only is the land less expensive, but they are a source of freely available irrigation water, which is a must for a nursery. What may serve nurseries well for decades, certainly doesn’t do so during a flood.

Dr. Tom Ranney tells me that The Mountain Crops Research Station in Mills River has only minor damage, and remains operational, serving also as an emergency regional resource center. We were thrilled to hear that both conifer specialty nurseries, Mountain Meadows Nursery in Weaverville and Appeldoorn’s Nursery in Bostic both survived, although both found it difficult to water their nursery stock with no power. Josh at FlytrapKing in Leicester, tells us his nursery fared well. Mr. Maple Nursery in East Flat Rock, which is not near a river, came through the storm with minimal damage. One of our favorite private Asheville gardens, that of Peter and Jasmin Gentling, fortunately saw only minimal damage.

So far, we know that Carolina Native Nursery, located along Price Creek in Burnsville was devastated. According to owner, Bill Jones, only 10% of their nursery stock remains. They have set up a Go Fund Me page. At the IPPA meeting, we visited with Robert Stine at Botanical Treasures Nursery in Fletcher. The visit was a real treat, but I can remember being shocked that a large river was directly beside the nursery. Unfortunately the flood waters took away all the plants, and put their office under 5′ of water. A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help. Retailer Gardener’s Cottage in Biltmore Village also suffered severe damage, but plan to re-open.

The botanic garden world also took it on the chin. The NC Arboretum in Asheville has over 1,000 trees down throughout the garden, and at one time, their entrance gate was submerged. The gardens remain closed until the garden is safe. In Boone, NC, Arborcrest Gardens suffered significant damage involving both plants and infrastructure. The Spartanburg Community College Arboretum in South Carolina lost a number of significant trees, but was back open for their fall plant sale. Nearby, The SC Botanical Garden in Clemson has recently re-opened after two weeks of dealing with significant tree loss.

Those who plan fall visits to the Blue Ridge Parkway will be disappointed, since large stretches suffered catastrophic damage with both large sections of forests and roads gone. According to the National Park Service, damage from Milepost 280 at Deep Gap (near North Wilkesboro) to the southern end in Cherokee at MP 469 is the worst. It is estimated that cleanup on sections in Virginia may be re-opened in October, but no definite timeline has been set.

We certainly don’t want to forget about our friends further south, Nurseries Caroliniana in North Augusta, SC suffered significant damage due to a hurricane associated tornado, which took out massive numbers of trees and left them without power for two weeks. It’s really hard to keep a nursery watered with no power to run pumps. Fortunately, the staff are all fine. The Masters Golf Course, a nursery in a former life, suffered massive damage including tree loss. My guess is the fairways will be much more open in next years Masters Tournament. In Georgia, the pecan industry is also reeling due to the loss of trees in Helene. It’s not like you can quickly replace a 100 year old, fruiting pecan. The Georgia Pecan Growers Association, estimates that 70% of the older trees and 40% of younger trees are gone!

Further south, Just Fruits and Exotics in Crawfordville, Florida, came through in shockingly good shape, thanks to a completely incorrectly modeled hurricane landing track, that found the hurricane coming ashore 75 miles to the east.

While parts of Western NC are beginning to welcome visitors. Many smaller communities are still unreachable due to washed out roads. It will be months before power and water are restored to many remote communities. As of October 9, over 134,000 people have already registered for FEMA assistance. So, if you’re able to make a financial donation, we encourage you to do so. The NC Department of Public Safety has established a website to make it easy to donate, while avoiding the array of scammers trying to take advantage of a disaster. You can find their donation page here. Please join us in sending prayers and good wishes to those affected for what will be a long recovery road.

4 thoughts on “Who’ll Stop the Rain”

  1. Thank you for researching, compiling and sharing this insightful and touching post…reminding us of the need for and ‘power of historical knowledge’.

  2. Thank you for a such a historical perspective. The media would have us believe that every catastrophic event is a “first”, solely attributable to the impact of global warming, therefore ignoring specific actionable measures we can take to mitigate ( not stop) future events such as this one. More often than not, weather cycles are 100 years, 200 years and longer.

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