Raleigh
Jul 7, 2016
Unwelcome visitors came from Mobile, Ala., and Charleston, S.C., in July 1916 as two hurricanes merged and lingered over western North Carolina, unleashing torrential downpours, washing away homes and jobs and taking approximately 50 lives during historic flooding.
The N.C. Office of Archives and History will join local government leaders to host a free, commemorative symposium July 15-16 at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. The Friday schedule will review the causes and impact of the flood on an industrializing area, review lessons learned and look to future preparedness. Presenters from UNC-Asheville, Appalachian State University, and local and state planners and regulators will share information.
Saturday's program includes keynote speaker and national flood expert John M. Barry of New Orleans, author of "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America." Barry chaired a working group on flood protection after Hurricane Katrina.
"A Climatological Perspective of the 1916 Flood" will be the subject for Michael Tanner with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Musician Joe Penland, filmmaker David Weintraub and storyteller Bill Carson will recall the personal losses endured by victims of the flood.
A new N.C. Highway Historical Marker will be dedicated Saturday, July 16, 1:15 p.m., at the community college, but later will be permanently placed on Biltmore Avenue near the Swannanoa River Road bridge. It will honor the four lives lost in the Swannanoa River while residents tried to reach higher ground.
A second marker will be dedicated Sunday, July 17, 1 p.m., on U.S. 29/74 at the intersection with Catawba Street to recognize the 10 lives lost a mile south of the marker site. Newly constructed bridges at Eufola and Belmont both washed out July 16, 1916, as Southern Railway employees were doing repairs. The bridge fell and 10 of the workers died.
An exhibit traveling regionally will be displayed at the community college July 15-16 before traveling to the Belmont Historical Society. "So Great the Devastation: The 1916 Flood Exhibit" will tour the region through March 2017. The historical society will host a reception at 40 E. Catawba St. after the highway marker dedication.
For additional information, please call (919) 807-7290. The Office of Archives, History and Parks is within the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.