The Great Flood of 1916
Introduction
A landslide is the movement of a mass of rock, debris, or earth down a slope. Landslides are one type of what geologists call "mass wasting"—any movement of soil and rock down a slope that moves as a mostly unified mass under the influence of gravity.
From 1990 to 2016, the North Carolina Geological Survey (NCGS) responded to more than 175 requests for assistance on landslide events from government agencies, the public, and consultants.
NCGS geologists have since investigated over 200 landslides in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. At the time of publication, these landslides have resulted in five deaths, destroyed more than 25 homes and damaged at least 40 others, and impaired nearly 80 roads.
Read on to learn more about historic landslides and debris flows that resulted from the Great Flood of 1916 throughout western North Carolina.
To learn more about additional historical landslides in the region, please visit Historical Landslides in Western North Carolina .
Why do landslides happen?
Landslides occur when a slope becomes unstable. Many interrelated factors influence the stability of slopes and landslide events. Scientists think of these factors as triggers and causes.
Landslides are set off (triggered) by natural occurrences—including rainfall, melting snow, changes in water level, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Human activity can cause changes in water level and water erosion. Landslides occur when these triggers affect slopes prone to landslides. Heavy rainfall and the resulting increase in groundwater is a common trigger for landslides in western North Carolina.
Factors such as soil type, geology, landform, changes in vegetation, and human activity can make slopes prone to landslides. These factors are the underlying causes of landslides.
Widespread development of landslides typically follows events where 10+ inches of rain falls within 24 hours.
Localized landslides typically follow events where at least 5 inches of rain falls within 24 hours.
Field investigations have determined that many debris flows and landslides have occurred where slope modification by humans was a contributing factor. The majority were fill failures that mobilized into damaging debris flows and debris slides.
Debris from a mudslide (debris slide) that occurred in January 2013 blocks Black Camp Road in Haywood County.
In western North Carolina, correlations between rainfall and debris flow events indicate that on slopes modified by human activity, debris flows can be triggered by rainfall events with lower rates and durations than rainfall events that trigger debris flows on unmodified slopes. Landslides have been triggered by three inches of rainfall or less in a 24-hour period on slopes modified by human activity that had pre-existing signs of instability.
The Great Flood
Within a week-long period in July of 1916, two back-to-back hurricanes dropped more than 26 inches of rain over western North Carolina, leaving most of the region inundated and its riverways overflowing.
The first storm began in the Gulf of Mexico and travelled through western North Carolina between July 8–10. Weather stations in the French Broad Watershed—in Brevard, Henderson, and Asheville—reported 5.53, 5.86, and 3.70 inches of rain, respectively, during this time.
The first storm carried enough rain to raise the French Broad River to 8.8 feet on July 11—4.8 feet above flood stage—but it did not cause extensive flooding. By July 15, the water level had fallen back to 4.0 feet.
Wind direction and rainfall amounts from the first hurricane that struck western North Carolina between July 8–10.
As the first storm was passing over western North Carolina, a second storm was brewing in the Atlantic Ocean. This storm struck the mountains between July 15th and 16th, carrying with it over 10 inches of rain to the French Broad Watershed—14.7 inches in Brevard, 12.32 inches in Hendersonville, and 2.93 inches in Asheville. In the areas hit hardest by the storm, along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, between 20.7 and 22.22 inches of rain were reported in the 24-hour period after the rain began.
In morning of July 16th, at 9:00 AM the day after the second storm struck, the French Broad River swelled to 18.6 feet. The river gauge that made the measurement—and the bridge it was installed on—were washed away an hour later. The French Broad crested at 23.1 feet and had a peak flow of 110,000 cubic feet per second—close to seven times its average annual peak streamflow. In the 100 years since the storm, the French Broad has not topped that measurement.
Wind direction and rainfall amounts from the second hurricane, which passed over western North Carolina between July 15–16.
Landslides in western North Carolina triggered by the 1916 hurricanes
The extensive rainfall carried by both storms triggered a number of debris flows, shown in red in the map at left, across western North Carolina. Storm total rainfall contours are shown in blue. Note that the highest rainfall amounts coincide with areas of reported landslides along the Blue Ridge Escarpment—the mountain front that separates the Blue Ridge in the west from the Piedmont in the east. As moisture-laden air from the storm rises against the steep mountain front, it cools and more rain falls as moisture condenses.
This shaded relief map color-coded by elevation shows areas (red dots) where landslides were reported from the July 15–16, 1916, storm.
The Great Flood of 1916
The flooding that resulted from the two storms was dubbed “The Great Flood of 1916.” It's estimated that several dozen people lost their lives during this event—24 of these fatalities were caused by landslides in North Carolina.
Asheville, Buncombe County
The French Broad River was extremely high due to the relentless rains of the previous two weeks, causing serious complications within the city of Asheville.
"Monday morning dawned on a strange and trying situation in Asheville. In the whole city and surroundings not a wheel was turning. Lamps and candles dimly lit a night of Egyptian darkness, when for the first time in almost 30 years not a street light burned in the city."
—The North Carolina Flood, 27.
The National Casket Co. inundated by flood waters from the French Broad River. Note the loose pieces of building material piled high against the building.
Shortly after the flood, it was estimated that the damage done to Asheville was around $1 million, but in all of Buncombe County, the total would be closer to $3 million. A bustling city full of industry in 1916, business losses were great. The National Casket Company's stock was ruined, the Standard Oil Company lost all but one large tank, and the Carolina Coal Company lost much of its coal.
Flooding and debris in the Southern Coal Company Yard in Asheville.
In 1916, the area was already known for tourism. However, with the interruption to the transportation system, this and other local economies were left stagnant.
From entire plants and mills along the banks of the French Broad to the ruined stock in stores throughout the area, the losses were enormous.
The Southern Railway Station near Depot Street.
Downtown Asheville during the flood.
Huntley Cabin, Henderson County
The storms inflicted heavy damage and triggered multiple landslides (red areas in the map at right) throughout the region. Below is an accounting of the locations of landslides, and associated fatalities, in Henderson County.
One landslide resulted in three fatalities (ages 29, 11, and 8) at the Huntley cabin on Middle Fork Road in Hendersonville. There are many accounts of the Great Flood, with this one possibly being the most grim. The slide cleared all vegetation to the underlying bedrock.
This Huntley family headstone marks the grave of Belle Wilson Huntley, who died on July 15, 1916, as a result of the landslide.
Bat Cave & Chimney Rock
The French Broad Hustler reported that eight lives were lost as a result of flooding and landslides in Bat Cave and Chimney Rock.
Bat Cave
"Not in another hundred years, could a disaster happen to the Bat Cave region, no matter how heavy the rains."
—W.S. Fallis, chief engineer of the state highway commission (The North Carolina Flood, 47)
Bat Cave's Main Street after the flood of July 16, 1916.
It was reported that out of 17 miles of the highway, about five would have to be rebuilt. There were gaps from 200-300 feet in length and all of the bridges were out.
A washout in Henderson County as a result of the July 1916 storms.
Chimney Rock
A well at Chimney Rock was left standing, while everything around it had been washed away.
It has been said that the destruction was most "sudden and complete" in Bat Cave and Chimney Rock. Huge numbers of landslides 25-200 feet in width swept boulders and full-grown trees before them. The map displayed to the left shows Asheville-Charlotte highway 74-A in the present day, with the town of Chimney Rock in the center and Lake Lure off to the right. The photo below, taken a few years after The Great Flood, shows the locations of several debris flow pathways in Chimney Rock. These locations are represented on the map at left.
Debris flows near Chimney Rock, looking down valley from Hickory Nut Falls around 1921.
The approximate location of two 1916 debris flows (right) are visible in the 1920's photograph below. For reference, the bridge over the Rocky Broad River is at the same location in the 1920's photo.
The Mountain View Inn from Devil's Head in Chimney Rock, circa 1921.
Two men observe the damage done by the 1916 flood in Bat Cave.
Marshall, Madison County
In Marshall, 53 homes were washed downstream and it was reported that only one railway bridge was left standing for the entire county.
"No single town was perhaps harder hit by the flood than Marshall, the little village on the French Broad 24 miles down the river from Asheville. First reports from Marshall stated that practically nothing but the court house was left in this thriving little town."
—The North Carolina Flood, 30.
Floodwaters in Marshall
High mountain ridges at Marshall make a narrow gorge in which Marshall lay exposed to great danger from unusually high waters.
Destruction of the Southern Railway
The July 17 issue of the Hickory Daily Record gives a sense of the isolation caused by the Great Flood.
In addition to the lives lost during the Great Flood, the Southern Railroad—western North Carolina's connection to the outside world—was destroyed. This had an immense impact on many, as crops and dry goods were destroyed in the flooding and landslides, and the destruction of the railroad left the region isolated. The account by Mr. F. C. Abbot of the view from the point on the Asheville-Salisbury line, near Old Fort:
"Around the next turn we came to the river, and a complete picture of destruction was before us. Not only the railroad, but its very foundations, had been swept away for the best part of a mile. Some of the track is buried under tons of sand and rock, then rises over a solid wedge of trees and stumps, then swings gracefully down in a long loop over the river to an embankment, then disappears again entirely."
—Southern Railway, The Floods of July, 1916 - How the Southern Railway Organization Met an Emergency, 26.
In the days and weeks after the flood waters receded the focus turned to repairing the damage and connecting western North Carolina to the world once again.
The 2016 documentary Come Hell or High Water, Remembering the Great Flood of 1916 highlights the devastation of the region's isolation and the loss of crops and stored goods:
In some places, slides buried the rail line twenty-eight feet deep. In the 1917 book The Floods of July, 1916 - How the Southern Railway Organization Met an Emergency, published by Southern Railway to document the event, it was estimated that a total 826 miles of track was washed out of service.
The Hickory Daily Record reported thoroughly on the destruction of the Great Flood.
On July 18, 1916, the Hickory Daily Record reported that damages to the Southern Railway were estimated to be between $1 to $4 million, equivalent to over $24 million in today's dollars when adjusted for inflation.
Some of the greatest damage was on the Asheville-Spartanburg line on Saluda Mountain (right). The majority of the damage was due to washing away of fills and bridges, and filling-in of cuts by slides. Despite the heavy damage, the line was repaired and the first passenger train to operate after the flood passed through the Saluda area on August 3rd.
Slides were cleaned away and breaks temporarily filled in with cribbing to carry the tracks until permanent fills could be rebuilt.
Photocopy of the Western N.C. Railroad Mountain Division map of the Old Fort railroad grade from surveys made in 1881.
The Old Fort railroad grade also suffered serious destruction, with slides at seemingly every turn. Both the Saluda and Old Fort railroad grades are where the railroads traverse the steep slopes of the Blue Ridge Escarpment.
A major effort was undertaken to reopen the rail lines. According to the 1917 Southern Railway Company account, "The progress of the construction work on the Asheville-Salisbury line may be measured by six weekly periods." It took three weeks to reach Old Fort from the Catawba River with full passenger and freight service completely restored by September 5.
—Southern Railway, The Floods of July, 1916 - How the Southern Railway Organization Met an Emergency, 57.
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1
High Ridge Tunnel
Temporary construction was crucial to reopening the railways as quickly as possible. The temporary scaffolding in the first image allowed workers to remove slide debris that covered the opening of the tunnel. Because the earth was so saturated by the rains, debris continued to slide into the High Ridge Tunnel cut for seven weeks after the flood (click the arrow in the image above to see the second image).
2
Lick Log Tunnel
Workers cleared a massive amount of debris from the opening of Lick Log Tunnel after the Great Flood.
Landslides are more likely to flow in the paths of former landslides. Unfortunately, that became true in 2013 when a Norfolk Southern Railway worker was buried and killed in a landslide in this same area while surveying tracks for storm damage following a weekend of storms throughout the region.
3
Moore's Cut
Mud, rocks, trees, roots, and debris layered six to twenty-four feet deep covered the track at Moores Cut, seen in the image above. While this was typical of the slides in all of the cuts in the mountain regions on the rail lines, it was just one more hurdle added to reopening the railroad.
4
Mill Creek Valley
When surveyers arrived, they found that the railway had been entirely washed away or buried (first image). In an astonishing six days, workers were able to get the tracks back in working order (click arrow in image above to see the second image).
Acknowledgments
North Carolina Geological Survey
- Rick Wooten
- Corey Scheip
- Jesse Hill
- Tommy Douglas
- David Korte
UNC Asheville's NEMAC
- Karin Rogers
- Greg Dobson
- Jim Fox
- Nina Hall
- Ian Johnson
- Dave Michelson
- Kim Rhodes
- Mary Spivey
- Katie Caruso, Kelsey Hall and Joshua Ward (undergraduate interns)
