I am sitting here just waiting and watching Tampa Bay ready to be destroyed just like it was before and before and before. It’s gonna look just like western North Carolina in 48 hours with the exception being a sandy backdrop versus forests. It will be destroyed. This needs to be said lest we pull the covers back over our head and bury our heads in sweet dreams again. We need to stop rebuilding in these places. It’s just malinvestment and this country can’t afford it. Helene is going to cost $200 billion when it’s done and now here comes Milton. He’s going to cost $200 billion or so and now we need to print more money and sell more bonds to get this paid for. This FEMA.
Now if you want to enjoy the aquamarine water and lovely sunsets from the barrier islands or Clearwater Beach 364 days a year for 100 years and some feller in Wyoming is staring at a fence line of tumbleweeds well it doesn’t seem fair that the feller in Wyoming has to have his taxes bail out and rebuild your oceanfront property. These people build entire subdivisions on canals that run back from the coast but are still at sea level. These entire neighborhoods are going to catch a 10-foot swell and destroy hundreds or more likely thousands of homes. This is a certainty. It happened two weeks ago when Helene cruised through and merely brought a storm surge. Debris is currently everywhere and this will be worse. Tumbleweed Tony is going to get to bailout Kanal Karen and her purse dog, and it doesn’t seem fair that everyone’s insurance is going to go up as well. But that is what is going to happen, sure as the sunrise. These states like Florida and Texas, these independent red states with low tax rates stand with their hand out like beggars every time a bruiser blows through. Governor DeSantis has already reached out to FEMA for the checks to rebuild, back in the same spot- Florida. Do you know why Florida was not very populated until the early 20th century? Because there was the constant risk of your home being destroyed! I’m tired of this stupidity.
Which brings us to this week. We are to learn from our history is a consistent theme of this cooperative. As I saw Tampa being prepared for the biggest hurricane to hit in 100 years, it got me to thinking about another 100 year event, western North Carolina. I did a little Google searching and boy was I surprised at what I found. This from Asheville’s own museum, “On this day in WNC history: In 1916, the worst documented flood in WNC ravaged the region, sweeping away people and buildings, isolating communities, and even changing the courses of rivers. At least twenty-five were killed in WNC, with Asheville and the Bat Cave regions taking the hardest hits.
Western North Carolina is no stranger to flooding. “Freshets” as these floods were often called, were described by settlers as early as 1791. Larger ones also occurred in 1901, 1902, and again in 1910. Before the area’s industrialization, these innundations were not always entirely destructive. Native Americans and settlers learned to depend on these seasonal alluvial floods that deposited rich silt along river bottoms where they grew crops. Residents along the region’s rivers likely could not have anticipated just how different the flood of 1916 would be.
On July 8, rain began falling in the mountains as a tropical storm from the Gulf Coast dumped between three to five inches over the next two days. The French Broad River quickly rose to eight feet above normal on the 11th before it gradually fell. WNC residents had no idea of the other storm heading their way from the Atlantic. The rain began falling once more on the already saturated hillsides and valleys on July 15 as another storm moved inland from Charleston. Fourteen inches of rain fell in Brevard and twelve in Hendersonville within twenty-four hours. Unable to hold any more water, the French Broad River swelled like never before in recorded history. By 9am on the 16th, the river had risen to over eighteen feet and then an hour later, the gauge was washed away. The French Broad hit an estimated twenty-four feet while the Swannanoa River likewise crested at over twenty feet. The flood spread, foaming and writhing, to reach almost a mile-wide swath in Asheville. Six Ashevillians died, while eight Hickory Nut Gorge region perished.
Reports circulated that Chimney Rock Village had virtually been washed away by the racing mass of boulders and water. The post office and hotels in the village were destroyed, as was the new bridge across the Broad leading up to Chimney Rock. The state geologist reported that in some places, the creeks and the Broad River had changed course and carved banks 75-feet-high.”
It then came as a surprise to me then when ABC news reported this just last week. “The Asheville region had already received a deluge of rain in the days leading up to Helene, with more than a foot of rainfall in some spots, according to the North Carolina State Climate Office. As a result, the soil was saturated and rivers and streams filled to the brim by the time Helene, “the real whammy,” passed over the area, DeGaetano said. Once the French Broad River, which flows through Asheville, and its subsidiaries overflowed, the water rushed into nearby neighborhoods within minutes.”
This is the same river doing the same thing. Yet we insist on rebuilding because Asheville is so darn pretty. Fine, but don’t ask a broke nation for any help rebuilding. Don’t ask for my tax dollars if you are going to continually rebuild in harm’s way. I will show you the way to Ohio to rebuild on a safe hill where you can star in the Republican vice presidential candidate’s upcoming book, but no more living next to rivers and oceans.
I am also attaching a link from the Citizen Times where they show photos from the 1916 flood and darn if the floodwaters weren’t up to the house eves, the railroad was under water, and the bridges were all washed out. If you want some more pictures, there is a wonderful link I am attaching that shows some of the pictures from 1916 in a piece written for the City of Asheville website that blew my mind. “One hundred years after the Flood of 1916, Asheville collectively wonders, “Can it happen again?”
The answer is yes. And no.
Modern meteorology now gives advance notice of major rain events. “Today FEMA has mapping systems that can predict how much rainfall we are going to get, and which areas are going to be flooded,” said Kelley Klope of the Asheville Fire Department. “The City can help notify people ahead of time through its Everbridge emergency notification system (called Citizens Alert), announcements to local media and messages on our social media channels.” I would try and get my money back on that system there Asheville and Kelly. Oh wait, that is local tax dollars that I am sure got washed away down the flooded river that it couldn’t alert or protect its tax paying citizens of. It gets better, “Still, the force of nature continues to impact Asheville with recurring floods. “About every 20 years we have a major flooding event,” Coates noted.
In 2004, virtually the same scenario walloped Asheville when Tropical Storms Ivan and Frances converged upon Western North Carolina, producing the wettest September ever recorded. Again, Ivan came up from the Gulf, followed by Frances for another double tropical storm wallop. Frances alone dropped 23 inches of rain on some parts of WNC. When the storms hit, Asheville’s North Fork Reservoir was full. For safety reasons, some of the water had to be released. Unfortunately, 11 people died in Western North Carolina during the 2004 floods. One hundred forty homes were destroyed, another 16,234 damaged. There was $7 million dollars in damage in a seven-county area. It served as a sobering reminder of what can happen, even today.” It served as a reminder yet you rebuilt there and got destroyed again. Did everyone get hit on the head with a ball peen hammer or something? You can’t get a building permit without fire codes, window codes, nuclear launch codes, double pane windows, non-Chinese drywall, non American labor but you can rebuild in Asheville? Are you earmuffs kids, fucking stupid? This is ridiculous. I was woefully ignorant of the weather history in western North Carolina. That has been remedied. I don’t want a single dollar to be spent there. I will donate bus tickets to Podunk, Ohio or Maple Mountain Minnesota, but Asheville again, rebuilding no!
It still gets better, “Following the flood of 2004, the Army Corps of Engineers developed an emergency action plan for Biltmore Village. A flood ordinance was revised in 2010, mandating that new buildings have to be 2 feet above base elevation. That’s why you see the newer shops in Biltmore Village built on structures above the street level.” Two feet. My god, how much did the study done by the Army Corps of Engineers cost? How much money was spent on raising those buildings two feet. Do you know how fast those two feet high building were cruising down the French Broad river? Just as fast as the low-lying ones that were built two feet lower.
Still more, “Today, preparedness serves as the cornerstone for the City of Asheville. For example, the Water Resources Department recently did a tabletop exercise with local emergency management officials and City dam design consultant Schnabel Engineering on the scenario of a breach at the North Fork Dam, which would be a catastrophic event. Regional fire departments and the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office participated.” I hate to be the bearer of bad news but that cornerstone now resides in downtown Charlotte people. I can’t determine if it was moving faster than the trout were or not. What did the consultant charge you? Better yet, what did that consultant charge your taxpayers that are now sitting homeless and ass deep in mud and broken infrastructure after you told them that you were using preparedness as a cornerstone.
Here is one final nugget before we put the floods to bed and then turn our attention to the people of West Florida who are about to have boats lodge in their roofs and will come out of their houses saying I don’t know what we are going to do. Ohio or Wyoming folks. Move there, and never fear another hurricane. This last little self-absorbed nugget first, “When floods come, Asheville’s Fire Department and Public Works Department are well equipped for rescue and recovery.
The Asheville Fire Department has two large inflatable rafts and three motorized rafts. Every fire truck has personal flotation devices on them along with ropes and throw bags used to pull someone caught in swift water to safety, said Klope.” That would have been from Kelly Klope of the Asheville Fire Department. I tuned into some of the coverage where I got to see a firetruck get picked up and tossed into the flooded river like a match car. I failed to see the rafts and throw bags being useful as all I saw was the firetruck floating away. Asheville you are no match for mother nature, and I am tired of the Charlie Brown routine from these locations.
Am I just an asshole for getting mad at these people? Probably, but I will die on this hill. A nice high hill where I won’t get flooded out. Tampa, your move next.
Sincerely Yours,
C Thomas Printer
On this date in history… 23 years ago to be exact, The United Service Organizations (USO) appointed entertainer Wayne Newton as its official celebrity front man, replacing Bob Hope, who had served in that capacity since the early 1950s.
Also born on this date …. The greatest women’s golfer of all time Annika Sorenstam.
Thank you for listening today and you can find all of our articles and more on our website cthomasprinter.com.