Floods of the Past

A Look at the Valley Region's Historic Storms

‘Heaviest in Years Were Disastrous Rains in North Carolina—Biltmore Suffers Severely’

The heaviest and most disastrous rains fell today in Asheville and the surrounding country that have visited this country in years. Bridges are gone and many roads are impassable. The water is up to the floors in many dwellings … The waters of the French Broad and the Swannanoa rivers has reached the highest point on record. Hundreds of Asheville people have gone to Biltmore today to see the damage of the ideal village of Mr. Vanderbilt. One row of cottages was flooded.

– The Knoxville Journal and Tribune, May 22, 1901

‘Marshall Hard Hit by the Flood’

The little town of Marshall which is built with its back to the mountains and has the French Broad River for its front yard, has felt the full force and fury of the flood. The waters exacted a toll from the town as it swept down the river in all its ungovernable fury, and the tales of sorrow and suffering amongst the people are many.

– Asheville Citizen Times, July 18, 1916

Were it not for the dates of 1901 and 1916, these headlines and newspaper accounts could easily be from the weekend of Sept. 27-29, 2024.

The recent flooding brought on by Hurricane Helene will be remembered as among the worst in the history of upper east Tennessee and western North Carolina, if not the entire United States.

But over the centuries, severe floods have struck the Valley region.    

Great floods in large parts of the region have occurred primarily in late winter and early spring, with smaller areas experiencing floods in all seasons.

One of the earliest recorded floods in the Tennessee Valley happened in April 1791 at the Swannanoa River, in the French Broad River Basin.

A reference to that event appeared in a Knoxville newspaper in 1791, describing the flood as “being very high … in the upper reaches of the Tennessee River.”

The flood was also mentioned as a historical reference in a July 1916 article in The Asheville Citizen. The newspaper, writing about a 1916 flood, carried an interview with J.W. Alexander, born in 1830 and described as a “pioneer citizen.”

The newspaper concluded the flood of 1791 must have been even greater than the 1916 flood, based on accounts Alexander heard as a child: “Mr. Alexander says the freshet (flooding caused by heavy rain or melting snow) was a terrific one and that all through the Swannanoa Valley there was naught but a sea of turbulent fury.

“Everything in its path was swept clean and the waters have left their marks in the Valley to this day. This was a long, long time ago and … there was no Asheville here to destroy.” 

Some of the most severe flooding in the Tennessee Valley region occurred during storms from March 1-7, 1867.

A Nashville newspaper called it “The Great Deluge.”

In that event, Chattanooga incurred tremendous damage. An eyewitness, E.B. Hamlin, traveled to Nashville after the storm to give his account to The Tennessean: “The rain has come down in torrents. Every little run is now a roaring torrent, while the creeks have become rivers, and the Tennessee is worthy of being styled a huge lake.

“From every direction,” Hamlin told a reporter, “we hear of the destruction of bridges and the carrying away of trestle-work.”

He went on to recount images of residents on roofs, and a mill with its waterwheel still attached floating downstream. He also noted that, on the bank below Cameron Hill, at least 100 buildings no longer existed.

The water rose to the base of a lime kiln on the cliff above town, 50 feet above the average stage of water.

On the Tennessee River at Chattanooga, where the crest stage was 57.9 feet, and on the lower portion of the Holston, French Broad and Little Tennessee rivers, the 1867 flood was the largest on record.

The top photo shows historic flooding in 1867 on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga. The bottom photo is a view from the same vantage point in 1957.

1901 and 1916

While Chattanooga has the greatest potential for urban damage from flooding, TVA identifies more than 400 Valley-region communities as prone to flooding.

Many are situated on the upper reaches of streams, or on small local streams that may flood during heavy rainfall.

One of the most severe storms in the upper eastern part of the Tennessee River Valley – particularly on the Watauga and lower portions of the South Fork and French Broad rivers – hit on May 21-23, 1901.

At the time, it marked the highest flood stages of record on the South Fork Holston River at Kingsport, and on the Watauga and Doe rivers at Elizabethton.

Newspaper accounts described the storm’s “unusual violence,” with mountain rivers rising very rapidly and causing much damage.

A July 1916 weather event, however, was eerily similar to this most recent flood in northeast Tennessee and western North Carolina.

The July 13-17 storm was the second of two hurricanes that brought heavy rainfall over the Southeast. The first storm had moved inland over western Florida and Alabama earlier in the month, unleashing substantial amounts of rainfall over the southeastern portion of the Tennessee River watershed. That created ground conditions conducive to high runoff – just as the second storm arrived.

The second storm moved inland as a well-defined hurricane near Charleston, South Carolina. It then moved over western North Carolina, with the heaviest rain occurring over 18 hours starting at noon July 15.

More than 22 inches of rain fell from 2 p.m. July 15 to 2 p.m. July 16 – to that point, the greatest amount recorded over a 24-hour period in the Tennessee River Basin.

The region’s newspapers reported on loss of life and thousands of dollars of damage.

A People United

The floods of 1791, 1867, 1901 and 1916 are samplings of what has occurred historically in this region.

Other periodic flooding has damaged urban and rural communities, crops and livestock, roads, railroads, communication facilities and drainage structures.

Lives have been lost and, for survivors, lives altered forever.

And while the historic record notes death and destruction, it also documents the aftermath of these events.

Neighbors coming to the aid of neighbors. Relief organizations forming to help those in need. Dollars provided for recovery, renewal and growth.

After the 1901 flood, the Knoxville Journal and Tribune published this notice:

History teaches us much about Mother Nature’s often-harsh hand, and how severe weather events can change lives and communities in mere moments.

And sadly, every few generations, people experience these events firsthand.

But historical records also show something else: Amid the devastation and heartache, hope and resilience emerge quickly, just as sure as the sun emerges after the storm.

This is, perhaps, what makes the Valley region so remarkable.

Through floods, tornadoes, wildfires, snowstorms and all else, the people of this region have always united to render aid, comfort and support to neighbors in need.

And that is the most enduring part of their history.