Lance Holland
Special to SMT
The morning of Thursday, Sept. 26, dawned rainy. Rain had fallen all the night before and the Tuckasegee River through the center of Bryson City had risen about five feet but was still six or so feet below the top of the riverbank. By dawn Friday, the river was lapping the top of the bank, an hour later it had escaped onto Island Street near the aquarium. We had all seen this a dozen times in the past dozen years.
The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Warning. We had all heard that a dozen times in the past dozen years. The dozen or so business owners and their employees along the central portion Everett Street were neighbors and friends, but by Saturday, Sept. 28, we were all family.
Mike at the Diner was monitoring the NOAA website showing the river levels at the gauge located halfway between the Everett and Slope Street bridges when I stopped in for breakfast Friday morning. The forecasted river crest was shown a good foot below the flood of 2020. I made photos of that flood, and it got close, but did not reach the back door of the buildings. Most of those doors were sandbagged Thursday afternoon.
I began monitoring the NOAA website after breakfast. The forecasted river crest began sliding up the scale and the family began gathering in the alley behind the stores. Young cousins I had never seen were back there taping up plastic and bolstering the sandbag barricades. Roland, a Bryson flood veteran, said he had never seen the water reach the front doors of the buildings. The Flood Family took no chances and moved to armor the front doors.
Cathy, Michelle, and others occasionally stuck their head in my front door to see if I needed anything. Kayla said that one of the homeless people told her they opened the Ela Dam flood gates, and we were in for it. Even though I had moved my car to higher ground across from the laundromat, I deemed it prudent to seek even higher ground. When I rounded the corner of Everett Street, Bryson Street was Class I whitewater rapids with the river escaping the alley and flowing toward Everett. I forded at the upper end, moved the car to the train parking lot near the parked locomotives and headed back to the store afoot. Bryson Street had become Class II whitewater.
I forded again with apprehension and almost lost my footing, hugged the buildings, and made it back to the store. I told my dog Maybelline, everyone around here knows Maybelline, we should have evacuated like Michelle recommended, but I don’t think we can make it back across the Bryson Street river, so we barricaded ourselves inside to ride it out. I’m glad we did.
Our building has a floor drain in the backroom left over from a food service operation that once operated here. Sandbags and plastic will slow the flood waters but will not stop them. I spent the early afternoon in the backroom sweeping the incoming water into the drain. The silt-laden water combined with dust bunnies washed from beneath the furniture clogged the drain a half dozen times. If I had not been here to clear the clogs, our entire store would have flooded to depth of about 8” as did our near neighbors.
Using the sidewalk bench in front of the store as a river gauge, the flood crested at 3 p.m. It was serene looking out the window of our lakeside cottage – the eye of the hurricane. By 4 p.m., the water had receded 8” clearing the front door. An hour later, the inflow ceased at the backdoor. I dried the floor in the backroom, removed the barricade from the front and opened for business at 5:45 p.m. Friday.
Saturday morning dawned with the reemergence of the Flood Family armed with shop vacs, mop buckets and dehumidifiers. Sandbags went flying away from doors. How can I help you was the word on the street. A couple more stores opened Monday on a cash-only basis with no internet or phone service. The power remained operational throughout the event.
Monday evening, a small army of glove clad teenagers led by a fellow with a trailer joined the family and made a sweep through and hauled off the soggy debris piled outside each store. Tuesday morning saw the return of internet and cell service with the fire department and town employees washing the mud off the street.
The flood of 2024 was epic. The NOAA records indicate that the highest flood to hit the Tuckasegee River at Bryson City was in 1940, the river crested at 15.96 feet. The flood on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 is second-highest with a crest of 14.95 feet.
Bryson City dodged the bullet from Helene judging from the destruction inflicted on our western North Carolina neighbors to the east. The tenacity of the Flood Family gets credit for some of the dodging.