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The Asheville Flood of 1916: "With flood waters subsiding,
Asheville is today carrying out relief work and taking count of the loss of life
and property from the storm. Along the river fronts in the Swannanoa and
French Broad valleys industrial plants have been submerged and wrecked.
The damage in Asheville is estimated at $1,000,000; in Buncombe county the loss
will add close to two million to this sum. (Front page article in Asheville
Citizen, 16 July 1916 - SCVF)
"From the outside towns and communities come reports of death and havoc
to property. In Marshall 53 houses are reported washed away in the
narrow valley where the town lies. Two lives are said to be lost and two
people are missing. (Front page article in Asheville Citizen, 16
July 1916 - SCVF)
"Five hundred excursionists from Knoxville and points west are marooned
at Marshall. All bridges near that town except the railway structures.
(sic) (Front page article in Asheville Citizen, 16 July 1916 - SCVF)
"The French Broad river at Alexander swept away all of the village on
the west side of the stream except the Southern Railway station. The
postoffice, a store and two dwelling houses went down in the swirling currents.
(Front page article in Asheville Citizen, 16 July 1916 - SCVF)
"The damage at Biltmore is frightful.
"Without warning at 4 o'clock Sunday morning the Swannanoa river
overflowed the village. Men plunged into the stream carrying their wives
and children. Horses turned loose plunged madly through the flooded
streets in the darkness. In an hour the water was 15 feet deep in the
streets. Four lives were lost. (Front page article in Asheville
Citizen, 16 July 1916 - SCVF)
"All hydraulic plants located on the French Broad river are under water
and it probably will be days before gas or electric power can be
generated. One hundred and fifty feet of the stone dam at the Weaver power
plant, four miles from the city was washed away...." (Front page article
in Asheville Citizen, 16 July 1916 - SCVF)
"On July 5th and 6th a tropical cyclone swept over the Gulf Coast of
Alabama, and [was] followed by torrential rains over a large part of the state
and into Tennessee and the Carolinas. (1917, Southern Railway Company. The
Floods of July 1916, p.7)
"A second tropical cyclone passed over Charleston, S.C. during the
morning of July 14th causing some local damage and, moving northwestward,
expended its full force on the watersheds in western North Carolina where the
rain from the first storm had already saturated the soil and filled the streams
bank-full. All previous 24-hour records of rainfall in the United States
were exceeded. The run-off from the saturated soil was very rapid, streams
rose high above all previous flood records; resulting in the death of about 80
persons and in property damage estimated by the United States Weather Bureau at
about 22 million dollars. (1917, Southern Railway Company. The
Floods of July 1916, p.7)
"The figures of the Weather Bureau showin the maximum rainfall of 22.22
inches at Altapass, the highest 24-hour precipiataion ever recorded in the
United States, give some idea of the enormous volume of water that fell over an
area of hundreds of square miles and rushed down the mountain sides and into the
rivers, carrying destruction on its crest. (1917, Southern Railway Company. The
Floods of July 1916, p.25)
"In the western North Carolina mountains the abnormally heavy rainfall
which followed the Gulf Coast storm, amounting, at some of the Weather Bureau
stations, to from eight to eighteen inches in the eight days ended July 13th,
had completely saturated the soil and raised the level of all the streams.
The water-soaked forest soil, with its large content of mica, was almost in a
state of movement on the mountain sides, and the torrential rains of July 15th
and 16th brought down successive avalanches, which swept away the road-bed,
obliterating cuts and fills...carrying with them trees and rocks. This
whole mass of debris was swept into mountain ravines forming temporary dams
which went out later, thus producing successive flood crests and increasing the
damage on the lower water courses. (1917, Southern Railway Company. The
Floods of July 1916, p. 25)
"The destruction wrought by the storm came so suddenly that on July 15th
many trains were caught on the line between terminals, and the fact that many
more were not thus marooned is due to the timely warnings of section foremen and
telegraph operators on the various lines....A heavy movement of passenger
business to resort sections of western North Carolina was in progress, and it is
as remarkable as it is fortunate that no passenger train was overwhelmed by
flood or land-slide and thus swept to destruction with inevitable loss of life
by the carrying away of the structures or road-beds. Not a passenger was
killed or injured as a result of the flood. (1917, Southern Railway Company.
The Floods of July 1916, p.26)
"As Asheville is the hub of the radiating Southern Railway lines in
western North Carolina it may be regarded, from the viewpoint of the railroad,
as the storm center in that region. The rainfall at Asheville was not
excessive, amounting on July 14th, 15th and 16th to only 2.85 inches, but early
Sunday morning the rushing waters of the French Broad and the Swannanoa flooded
the entire lower part of the city of Asheville and all of the neighboring model
village of Biltmore." (1917, Southern Railway Company. The
Floods of July 1916, p. 29.)
"The country will learn some things from the flood. One is that we
are living from hand to mouth, and that we a re a long distance from being
self-supporting. We are buying our flour and our meat and a hundred other
items from other parts of the country. We have not on hand today in any
small town more than a week's supply of food. (1917, Southern Railway Company
quoting Mount Airy [NC] News, July 27, 1916, in The Floods of
July 1916, p.125.)
"We have had it impressed upon us with force what it means to have a
railroad in the country. And the promptness with which the railroad
officials came to the rescue in the hour of distress should have much to do with
creating a better sentiment on the part of the people towards railroads.
For a long time there has been too much disposition to 'do' the railroad in many
ways, especially in damage suits." (1917, Southern Railway Company
quoting Mount Airy [NC] News, July 27, 1916, in The Floods of July
1916, p. 125.)
"The people of North Carolina will not soon forget the Southern Railway
Company's magnificent work in speedily restoring its lines of traffic which were
badly damaged in many sections by the recent flood. But longer than this
will they remember the action of the Southern in agreeing to carry free of
charge all shipments of supplies from the State Relief Committee to the people
of the flood-stricken districts. Although the Southern has been one of the
heaviest losers in the flood, the manner in which it has met disaster and its
generosity in helping to relieve those who are in distress have won for that
company a warm place in the hearts of the people which will bring rich material
returns in the end. (1917, Southern Railway Company quoting Winston- Salem
(NC) Journal, August 20, 1916 in The Floods of July 1916, p. 125.) |
