Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

For the past five years or so we have spent some winter time with my brother who lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Winston-Salem is near the west end of North Carolina, the area really hit hard by Hurricane Helene.

On our trips there we have visited Asheville, Boone (home to Appalachian State University), Lake Lure and Chimney Rock a little southeast of there and other places along the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

So, when we started to see pictures of Helene’s damage, we could understand how much damage there really was.

The area was hit by huge amounts of rain, like 12 to 16 inches. Water runs downhill and that part of North Carolina is well worn mountains and valleys, many of which have creeks or rivers in them. Rivers flooded, dams overflowed, mudslides occurred and many roads were washed out.

I-40 has some trouble spots in the area and it was covered with mud and some parts of the roadway washed away. Days afterwards the unpassable roads meant that people couldn’t move very far so it was hard to escape for food or medical care and it was not possible to communicate because cell towers and power lines were down. It was equally hard for law enforcement and others to check on people.

One doesn’t think that a hurricane could do so much damage to an area several hundred miles from the Gulf of Mexico but it sure seems to have done just that.

During one trip to North Carolina to see my brother I flew into Charlotte and we drove up to Lake Lure. One day we went up to Chimney Rock, which was uphill from Lake Lure. A roadway near Chimney Rock was filled with restaurants, bars and gift shops. After going up to the rock we came back down and went to one of the restaurants overlooking a creek for a bite to eat. That restaurant, and those nearby are now all gone. Much of that washed into Lake Lure.

On a previous trip Mary and I stopped to have lunch with a friend in Knoxville, TN. Our next stop was to be Asheville. In one of those confusing intersections I ended up on a road that took a longer route to Asheville and I figured we might as well take it, it would be more interesting than what you see from a freeway.

The route took us down a long valley that led to Asheville. It was beautiful, a small river or creek ran down at the bottom of the valley, which was probably really more of a ravine. It wound along for miles. People had houses perched near the water. We drove through that for 30-40 miles. It was slower, but a nice break from speeding down the freeway.

That valley-ravine led right into Asheville and I suspect that parts of it are some of the horror pictures we have seen on TV of washed out roads and bridges and houses piled up like kindling.

If you don’t have a roadway through a valley-ravine like that you can’t get in or out except by foot. It is not surprising to me that officials have not been able to determine the full extent of the damage or repair much. It is a real mess.

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Glenwood sits at the bottom of a 200’ to 250’ hill. One can imagine what would happen if a foot to a foot and a half of water started from the top and came roaring down. It would be a mess.

Over the years the city has made efforts to slow the flow of water through the ravines that previous rains have cut in the hillside. The most recent was putting rock dams in along Highway 29 north leading out of the city. Previous work has taken place near the old city reservoir off Highway 55 and a little further down Highway 55 where a ravine dumped water on 9th Street NE. Further study is underway of possibly putting a holding pond near the intersection of 5th Street and 3rd Ave SE.

Even so highways would host rivers of water and it would create lots of damage. But there might be a lot less mud washed down the hill to cover streets and yard s.

As of this writing damage from Hurricane Milton was not determined. We hope it doesn’t turn out as bad as many predict.