Relief efforts are underway as North Carolina attempts to recover from the catastrophic impacts from Tropical Storm Helene. The extreme impacts from the storm devastated communities in Asheville and western portions of the state, where homes were destroyed and bridges collapsed.
As of Monday, the death toll is 35 , however that figure is expected to rise.
The flood brought on by Helene comes more than a century after Western North Carolina was hit by another disastrous and fatal flood. Dubbed as the “Great Flood,” the flood of 1916 unleashed inconceivable devastation, caused by heavy rainfall produced by a series of hurricanes.
“It was more than a universal cloudburst in all this mountain country,” reported the Newton Enterprise back in July 25, 1916. “It was a night of tempest and terror.”
Here’s a look back at the “Great Flood of 1916.”
North Carolina’s ‘Great Flood of 1916’: The ‘worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Western North Carolina.’
What began as weeks of continuous rain, turned into what has been called, “the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Western North Carolina.” The catastrophic North Carolina flood of 1916 wrecked immeasurable havoc on the region, killing dozens and wiping out roads and railways.