2 Pro Local Community Devastated by flooding (Canton, NC)

[BigAl07]

My home town was hit with a very localized DELUGE of rain yesterday. literally 1/2 mile from my house (where I had just a heavy rain nothing spectacular) homes were washed away, cars swept into the river, and businesses under several feet of water. Remnants of TS Fred moved into our area and a localized burst hit the Pigeon River Valley in Canton, NC and then followed the valley up stream affecting Canton, Center Pigeon, Bethel, Cruso, and the Lake Logan communities.

Below are some of the images we captured of historic downtown Canton, NC yesterday evening. Keep in mind this was before the river crested (it was late in the evening when it did) so the damage etc was considerably worse than my images indicate.

 

[dirkclod]

Hate to see that. We’ve had a lot of flooding this year. Seems
the weather has went nuts.

 

[TwoSticks]

Unfortunate to see that. Water goes where it likes and makes a mess when it does. We have not had too many issues here but we have a few times in the past. Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[Prop Wash]

Sorry your community had to go through that. I hope everyone safe. Now cleanup begins.

Water is one of those forces of nature that is hard to recon with.

 

[GFields]

Wow, thanks for sharing!

 

[tlswift58]

My home town was hit with a very localized DELUGE of rain yesterday. literally 1/2 mile from my house (where I had just a heavy rain nothing spectacular) homes were washed away, cars swept into the river, and businesses under several feet of water. Remnants of TS Fred moved into our area and a localized burst hit the Pigeon River Valley in Canton, NC and then followed the valley up stream affecting Canton, Center Pigeon, Bethel, Cruso, and the Lake Logan communities.

Below are some of the images we captured of historic downtown Canton, NC yesterday evening. Keep in mind this was before the river crested (it was late in the evening when it did) so the damage etc was considerably worse than my images indicate.
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Live in Macon County - west of you and we got a lot of rain and some minimal flooding.

Saw a lot of devastation in your area - many people out taking pics all over Haywood County and some other areas - but Canton seems to have taken the brunt of it.

I got out to check our local river - the Cullasaja - and man they were ripping during Fred. Could not drone due to constant rain. Did get out yesterday afternoon and the river was down a good 1/3 - 1/2 the flow from the day before.

 

[tlswift58]

Hate to see that. We’ve had a lot of flooding this year. Seems
the weather has went nuts.

Western NC was in something of a minor drought prior to Fred. We needed the rain - just not that much in a short period of time. Kind of like when Zeta came thru last year. Many of the FS / NP trails and waterfalls still are in not great shape and that was close to 1 year ago. A lot of dead fall, both on trails and in the water.

 

[BigAl07]

Live in Macon County - west of you and we got a lot of rain and some minimal flooding.

Saw a lot of devastation in your area - many people out taking pics all over Haywood County and some other areas - but Canton seems to have taken the brunt of it.

I got out to check our local river - the Cullasaja - and man they were ripping during Fred. Could not drone due to constant rain. Did get out yesterday afternoon and the river was down a good 1/3 - 1/2 the flow from the day before.

Yea there was a very localized "Extra Heavy Rain" segment that I would call a Cloud Burst up in the head waters of the East Fork of the Pigeon river. Even areas at the top of the river (where it was merely just creeks etc) have bridges washed out completely. Several sources state there was a wall of water in excess of 10' rolling down the valley from Cruso into Canton. This is backed up by the presence of automobiles nestled in trees 15' feet in the air.

To put how "localized" this was... my digital rain gage (USWS certified) shows 5.4" of rain at my house. Approximately 1 mile away to my south (just above where those pictures in the first post were taken) a similar rain gage reported over 12" of rain. Another certified rain gage in Cruso (where the head waters are) reported over 17" of rain for the exact same 24hr period.

The images I captured yesterday aren't able to be released publicly (may never be due to the "sensitive nature of them) but suffice to say this one small area looks like a WAR ZONE! We still have 20 persons missing, 2 confirmed dead, and 13 previously reported missing are alive/well and reunited with their families. The amount of Emergency Services who have come from other counties, regions, and states is over whelming and helps to restore our faith in Humanity.

 

[tlswift58]

Yea there was a very localized "Extra Heavy Rain" segment that I would call a Cloud Burst up in the head waters of the East Fork of the Pigeon river. Even areas at the top of the river (where it was merely just creeks etc) have bridges washed out completely. Several sources state there was a wall of water in excess of 10' rolling down the valley from Cruso into Canton. This is backed up by the presence of automobiles nestled in trees 15' feet in the air.

To put how "localized" this was... my digital rain gage (USWS certified) shows 5.4" of rain at my house. Approximately 1 mile away to my south (just above where those pictures in the first post were taken) a similar rain gage reported over 12" of rain. Another certified rain gage in Cruso (where the head waters are) reported over 17" of rain for the exact same 24hr period.

The images I captured yesterday aren't able to be released publicly (may never be due to the "sensitive nature of them) but suffice to say this one small area looks like a WAR ZONE! We still have 20 persons missing, 2 confirmed dead, and 13 previously reported missing are alive/well and reunited with their families. The amount of Emergency Services who have come from other counties, regions, and states is over whelming and helps to restore our faith in Humanity.

Saw some pics of Pigeon River in Pigeon Forge - and it was like I've never seen. At the Old Mill, there is a small dam there and the level below the dam was almost to the height of the dam itself.

Macon County kind of sits in a bowl, so somewhat protected from most storms - esp those coming from the Gulf of Mexico. Typically Brevard / Transylvania County take the brunt as the storms move thru NW GA and into Upstate SC - then into NC around that area.

The thunderstorms that moved thru last night did not help much either - but another sunny day to help start the drying out process.

I live up on a mountain, so if it floods here - we're all doomed; but do see a lot of water flow coming down the hill to our house, and then into the Little TN River.

 

[Bxr532001]

Sorry to see the flood damage. I hope your town recovers soon