Catastrophic conditions throughout Western North Carolina

Stephanie Rogers

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BPR News

Biltmore Village, Fletcher, the French Broad River Valley and Swannanoa Valley neighborhoods are in a serious and immediate flood danger zone.

“If you live in a flood-prone area, you should take action now.” Those were the words Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said during a 4 p.m. Thursday briefing on Hurricane Helene. Officials from Henderson County and the North Carolina Highway Patrol also attended the meeting.

Accommodations are available at First Baptist Church in Swannanoa and Trinity Baptist in West Asheville.

For more information about these accommodation options, visit Buncombeready.org.

Pinder estimated the storm would impact about 15,000 homes in the county.

Deputy Emergency Management Director Ryan Cole said the county received about 9 inches of rain as of 4 p.m. Thursday.

“This has been called a 500-year flood, and no one has seen a 500-year flood in this area,” he said.

The French Broad and Swannanoa rivers will reach record levels “that we’ve never seen before,” he said. He encouraged everyone in the Biltmore Village, Fletcher, French Broad River Valley and Swannanoa Valley neighborhoods to self-evacuate.

To date, the county has responded to 44 emergency calls, six of which were water rescues of residents who needed help evacuating or were stuck in flooded vehicles.

For non-emergency emergencies, Buncombe residents can call 828-250-6650. Henderson residents can call 828-771-6670. To check road closures, authorities recommended using DriveNC.gov.

Henderson County evacuation, storm shelter

Henderson County will open an emergency shelter at our Athletics and Activities Center located at 708 South Grove Street, Hendersonville, NC.

The shelter opened at noon on Thursday, September 26th and will remain open until residents can safely return home.

“We are seeing flooding in areas where we have never seen flooding before. Many people may have witnessed the Francis and Ivan River in 2004. We are seeing flood water levels exceeding those levels,” said Jimmi Brisse, Henderson County Emergency Management Director.

Evacuations from Asheville, Fletcher and Buncombe

Buncombe County is recommending that residents near the rivers in Fletcher and Biltmore Village self-evacuate before water levels are expected to rise to record highs Friday evening and Saturday morning.

“If you are in an affected area, you should leave now,” Buncombe County Emergency Services Director Taylor Jones wrote in a news release Thursday evening.

“It is possible that we will reach a point where our crews will no longer be physically able to conduct rescue operations. We cannot emphasize how seriously you should take this.”

To see if your residence is in the floodplain, click here. Please note that this tool does not confirm that a property will not flood, it simply shows which areas have been prone to flooding in the past and which areas have not.