Floods Sweep W.N.C. Towns

Floods Sweep W.N.C. Towns

Front page article describing how several WNC towns were hit by their "second flood in three weeks". A picture of a plant belonging to the America Enka Corporation being flooded by water from Hominy Creek is shown. Water rose to 5' inside the building. Communications have been largely cut off, and the damage estimate is not yet known. U.S. Weather Bureau officials say the French Broad crested at 13', but reached 22.3' in Hot Springs. 1,000 employees at the American Enka plant tried to prevent damage from the flood before being stranded on the second flood and subsequently rescued in boats. Damage reports for various towns are printed. Canton is underwater; trains, traffic, and communications are all unable to reach it. No casualties are reported yet. More reports of the status of towns in the area are listed. A report on the status of the highways in the area is printed here. Three more pictures of the flooding are included, and all were taken in Biltmore (village). The first depicts a train leaving the train station while three women watch on a sidewalk, slightly elevated above the water. The train tracks are covered in water. In the second, spectators watch water rise up to meet the concrete Biltmore bridge that they're standing on. In the third, a child wades through water ~1' deep in a plaza. Final counts of rainfall amounts are printed here. All of the Hominy valley around the American Enka plant was flooded. At 1:30 water began to seep in and by morning it had reached 5'. At 4:40 am, electric service to the area around the plant was cut off. Pisgah National Forest received severe damage. "Considerable erosion damage" was reported, and the Bent Creek camping grounds as well as picnic areas were ruined. The south and west sides of Mount Pisgah saw similar damage. A detailed timeline of the flooding at the Enka plant is printed here. An early damage estimate says that the cost "may be as high as half a million dollars". As the water rose up to the machines, it would mix with the chemicals from the rayon and form "Gummy masses of fluid" around the machines. Flooding hit Candler before Enka, and "washed out one bridge and perched a house atop another". Enka plant employees were told to be on standby, as their help will be needed to fix the factory.

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