Swannanoa Flooding
Dublin Core
Title
Swannanoa Flooding
Description
WLOS-TV news footage from Bee Tree, Swannanoa, showing massive damage, debris, and runoff. Kimberly King reporting.
Creator
Publisher
Date
Rights
Copyright Sinclair, Inc.
Format
Language
English
Extent
1 digital video recording (02:43)
Moving Image Item Type Metadata
Duration
2:43
Transcription
Kimberly King:
I'm in the rural Bee Tree community and search and rescue is out here. There are still people trapped in their homes. You can see that the floodwaters washed out this road behind me and we've also heard from multiple people out here that teams are here recovering a body. This was someone's home pushed up against a tree. This is another house with water all around it. Rural parts of Swannanoa look like a wasteland that residents hardly recognize.
Sue Barnwell:
It's hard. The water was up almost to the first level of our place.
Kimberly King:
Sue and Don Barnwell have lived here in Bee Tree more than 50 years.
Sue Barnwell:
I mean, it's something you can't help.
Kimberly King:
The Barnwells and other residents know of a man missing from his home upstream from the Bee Tree century old Christian church. Mud surrounds it. Water and trees destroyed it. The aftermath some here see as flooding of biblical proportions.
Mike Rowland:
We can get all the way up to right before Summer Haven.
Neighbor:
Anne, his wife, two kids.
Kimberly King:
Mike Rowland's helping.
Mike Rowland:
Okay. We'll see if we can get to them.
Kimberly King:
Along State Road 70, devastation, sites of sadness, huge property loss. This is the Davidson Bridge obliterated.
Mark Hensley:
It's pretty emotional.
Kimberly King:
Mark Hensley says many Swannanoa residents remain missing in remote parts. Search and rescue hasn't even been up there. As law enforcement works in Swannanoa.
Don Robinson:
I've never seen anything like this.
Kimberly King:
Businessman Don Robinson walks us through his parking lot.
Don Robinson:
We bought this 25 years ago. There is nothing left.
Kimberly King:
Nothing left of his large carpet store. His warehouse with sold product also ruined.
Don Robinson:
Of course, this is one of our main doors here.
Kimberly King:
The 77 year old says he's done and that he will close, but he's hurting for his employees.
Don Robinson:
And that's one reason we kept it open as long as we did.
Kimberly King:
Robinson plans to do all he can to help his staff out. He knows will struggle much like the entire community here in shock as they still don't know the number of people gone. Even three days after the remnants of Helene came through Western North Carolina, there is still major runoff like you see behind me coming through communities where people are still stranded. The bottom line for them is that they are hoping more teams will come. Reporting from Swannanoa in the Bee Tree community, Kimberly King, News 13.
I'm in the rural Bee Tree community and search and rescue is out here. There are still people trapped in their homes. You can see that the floodwaters washed out this road behind me and we've also heard from multiple people out here that teams are here recovering a body. This was someone's home pushed up against a tree. This is another house with water all around it. Rural parts of Swannanoa look like a wasteland that residents hardly recognize.
Sue Barnwell:
It's hard. The water was up almost to the first level of our place.
Kimberly King:
Sue and Don Barnwell have lived here in Bee Tree more than 50 years.
Sue Barnwell:
I mean, it's something you can't help.
Kimberly King:
The Barnwells and other residents know of a man missing from his home upstream from the Bee Tree century old Christian church. Mud surrounds it. Water and trees destroyed it. The aftermath some here see as flooding of biblical proportions.
Mike Rowland:
We can get all the way up to right before Summer Haven.
Neighbor:
Anne, his wife, two kids.
Kimberly King:
Mike Rowland's helping.
Mike Rowland:
Okay. We'll see if we can get to them.
Kimberly King:
Along State Road 70, devastation, sites of sadness, huge property loss. This is the Davidson Bridge obliterated.
Mark Hensley:
It's pretty emotional.
Kimberly King:
Mark Hensley says many Swannanoa residents remain missing in remote parts. Search and rescue hasn't even been up there. As law enforcement works in Swannanoa.
Don Robinson:
I've never seen anything like this.
Kimberly King:
Businessman Don Robinson walks us through his parking lot.
Don Robinson:
We bought this 25 years ago. There is nothing left.
Kimberly King:
Nothing left of his large carpet store. His warehouse with sold product also ruined.
Don Robinson:
Of course, this is one of our main doors here.
Kimberly King:
The 77 year old says he's done and that he will close, but he's hurting for his employees.
Don Robinson:
And that's one reason we kept it open as long as we did.
Kimberly King:
Robinson plans to do all he can to help his staff out. He knows will struggle much like the entire community here in shock as they still don't know the number of people gone. Even three days after the remnants of Helene came through Western North Carolina, there is still major runoff like you see behind me coming through communities where people are still stranded. The bottom line for them is that they are hoping more teams will come. Reporting from Swannanoa in the Bee Tree community, Kimberly King, News 13.
Collection
Citation
WLOS-TV Asheville, “Swannanoa Flooding,” Come Hell or High Water Community Memory Project, accessed October 12, 2026, https://helenehistory.omeka.net/items/show/1415.