In July, 1916 a catastrophic amount of water, debris, and mud charged down the French Broad. Known as "The Great Flood" in the area, it claimed at least 80 lives, washed away small towns, and destroyed the local railroad infrastructure. It is estimated to have caused $480 million dollars of damage in todays standards. You can still hear of its destruction in local lore and folk songs- one features farm animals and people riding barns downriver through the town of Marshall. Weather events that led up to the event were two back to back tropical systems that converged on western North Carolina, dumping 10" to 22.10" of rain on the watershed. River height exceeded 110,000 cubic feet per second, with gage heights maxing out at 21 Ft. It is estimated that 90% became runoff because of already saturated storms. Debris flows further added to the force of the river from buildings, rail infrastructure, trees, and soils.
Similar occurrences happened in 1940, 1977, and 2004; each with two tropical systems converging on the area within a short amount of time.
In recent years, flooding has occurred with increased frequency but we have not seen the important "double whammy" factor. If you live in the area, no other natural disaster is as much a threat as flooding. It's a benefit to living far inland, where hurricanes often lose their strength. With climate change producing higher variation in weather patterns, hurricane seasons are becoming more intense. The same conditions that produced the 1916 Flood (known as a 100 year event) will happen again, its a question of whether we are prepared or not.
Checking flood data, and monitoring local weather conditions is an important tool in gaining awareness of these destructive events.
USGS Water Gauges
At different locations, the USGS has monitoring stations in the river which are instantaneously uploaded to its website. Here are some examples.
Figure 1: Data showing gage heights of water levels in the last year. (Above 8.0 is flood stage at Marshall)
Figure 2: Here is a video of the French Broad on 28 December, 2018 at the Marshall dam. Heavy rains pushed the gage height levels of nearly 11 feet. Parts of Asheville and Marshall were flooded. As you can see, a few feet more and the water would inundate the train tracks and lower points of main street. This was about 35,000 CFS- the 1916 flood reached 110,000 CFS. Video Credit: Author
Here is the link for current river conditions.
This is incredible! I live in an area where 9" of rain is almost unheard of. I cant image the amount of precipitation you have outlined here. If this is 100 year levels, what would a 500 year look like? Insane! It seems as though there is no real way to prepare for this amount of water.