News

LIGHTNING PHOTOS: Floodwaters remain, no major damage reported

High water from French Broad River flooding closed Big Willow and River roads in Etowah.

By Bill Moss, Published: October 4, 2015

The one-two punch of an upper level low pressure system fed by moisture from Hurricane Joaquin was a whiff in terms of major flooding, property damage and injuries in Henderson County.

The county emergency operations center closed at noon Sunday. Some roads underwater remained closed and the French Broad River Valley through the county remains under a flash flood watch through Monday morning but the worst is behind us. Forecast of 10 to 13 inches of rain did not come to pass as the storm stayed mostly to the east and south of the southern Appalachians.
“You’re going to see rain continue on this afternoon and tonight but as far as the large accumulations those have happened,” said John Tomko, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C. “That doesn’t mean we still can’t have some rising creeks and streams.”
Although the total rainfall over the past three days was well short of the more apocalyptic numbers, the Asheville Regional Airport still logged a record, Tomko pointed out.
“For the first 3 days of October we had 3.85 inches,” he said. “That’s the most ever for the first three days of the month. 3.85 might not sound like a lot but you’ve got to realize October is one of our driest months.”
The low pressure system stalled over southern Georgia and North Florida did push moisture into the rainstorms northward but those dumped more water on coastal and central South Carolina than the N.C. mountains.
“We’ve had reports of flooding” in Henderson County but nothing major, he said. “It’s South Carolina that’s getting the bulk of it.”
The emergency management office and sheriff’s department shuttered the command center at noon.
“Currently the French Broad River is flooding with an expected crest of 2.5 feet above flood stage around 9 p.m. tonight,” sheriff’s Maj. Frank Stout said in a news relese. “The river is expected to recede below flood stage early Tuesday morning. The latest road closings effecting Henderson County are River Road, New Hope Road, Balfour Road and Hooper Lane.”
The Mills River was flowing at 1,170 cubic feet per second, well above average but under the peak on Saturday of 1,240 CFS.

Eleven days of rain has affected farmers ability to harvest apples and other crops.