I know this isn’t intended to be negative at all but the part about the eastern part of the state being better prepared for this is a little misleading. There simply wasn’t enough of a precedent for the different elements this brought to properly prepare for it all.
I spent a large portion of my day today in Biltmore Village in multiple buildings. After being in and out of different areas, I’m going to share with you some interesting numbers. For you number crunchers that haven’t saw the Swananoa River’s numbers during Helene, these stats are eye popping.
The previous modern record River crest in Biltmore Village : 20.7ft. 1916
River crest during Helene: 27.33 at approximately 3:45pm
Here is the truly astounding part:
The Swananoa River went above the 1916 total of 20.7ft at approximately 10am on 9/27 AND REMAINED above this total until right around 11pm on 9/27 when it finally dropped below 20.7ft Yes, the river stayed above the highest known modern crested amount for 12+ hours of the day. 😳😳There is no precedent to compare this to.
Oh, and major flooding for this area is considered anything above 18ft.
There is one noted event in 1791 that estimates a Swananoa River crest of 26ft. At least 230years and no such event had occurred.