Flash Flood — Haywood, North Carolina

2024-09-27 · near Burnett Siding, Haywood, North Carolina

Event narrative

Emergency management and stream gauges reported catastrophic flash flooding developed within the Pigeon River watershed for the second time in just over three years after 9 to 15 inches fell across the upper part of the basin in about 48 hours. Three to four inches of that fell in less than 6 hours across the headwaters in the Shining Rock Wilderness during the late evening of the 26th and early morning of the 27th. Flash flooding initially developed along the West Fork and the East Fork of the Pigeon River. Water from the latter stream swept downstream through the Cruso community causing significant damage to structures, vehicles, and road infrastructure. Water from the two forks of the river rushed downstream to the main channel of the Pigeon, causing record, catastrophic flooding along the stream from Canton and Clyde downstream the Tennessee border. The stream gauge at Canton crested at just under 26 feet, breaking the record set during Tropical Cyclone Ivan (2004) by around 3 feet. Numerous buildings in downtown Canton were inundated. In total, around 600 homes were impacted by flooding, with a couple of hundred of those destroyed. Numerous vehicles were also swept away or otherwise damaged and hundreds of people were rescued. Dozens of roads were flooded, with many roads and bridges damaged or destroyed. This included I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge, where large sections of the road collapsed, causing the interstate to be closed for months. Other streams also less severe flooding across the county, including Jonathan Creek in the Maggie Valley area and Richland Creek in the Waynesville area.

Wider weather episode

Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalachians and vicinity on the 25th and 26th, resulting in a predecessor heavy rainfall and flash flooding event over these areas. Helene made landfall in the Florida Big Bend and moved quickly N/NE through Georgia before turning toward the N/NW once the remnant center reached northeast Georgia. Tropical rainbands around the center of Helene swept over areas with already-saturated soils over the mountains and foothills during the early morning of the 27th, resulting in extreme rainfall and record, catastrophic flash flooding across multiple basins with headwaters near the Blue Ridge escarpment. Due to its quick movement, Helene was still a strong tropical storm when the wind field reached the western Carolinas and northeast Georgia. Frequent wind gusts of 55 to 70 mph, with occasional gusts of 80 mph...and likely as high as 100 mph across the higher elevations combined with saturated soils to produce widespread damage to trees and electrical infrastructure. Across the mountains, some east and southeast-facing slopes above 3000 feet saw canopy-loss of 80% or more. Hundreds of trees fell on houses, vehicles, and power lines throughout the area, resulting in several fatalities. Almost all customers in several counties lost power for at least a brief period. Most people were without power for at least a couple of days, while thousands were without power for a week or more.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.3950, -82.9460)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1218193. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.