July 1916 -- Carolinas' monster flood

Round after round of heavy rain belted the western Carolinas from early June through the middle of this month, washing out roads and causing plenty of damage across the region.

Some of the flooding along Mountain Island Lake was the result of heavy rain falling in the mountains, then coming down the Catawba River and its chain of reservoirs.

But the real king of July floods came 97 years ago.

A reader in Catawba County reminded me of the July 1916 floods, which were responsible for some of the worst storm-related damage ever in the Carolinas.

And as I've written many times before, it all was the result of a dying tropical weather system -- not a full-fledged, land-falling hurricane, but what was left of one. Tropical systems that move inland are capable of producing gigantic rain totals, as we learned a couple times since Tropical Storms Jerry (1995) and Danny (1997) came through the Charlotte area.

The 1916 flood was caused by the remnants of a hurricane which made landfall early Friday, July 14, near Charleston. There was little damage in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, but as the hurricane moved inland and weakened, the heavy rains spread rapidly and intensified in the mountains.

Charlotte got only 5.15 inches of rain from the storm, although sustained winds of 40 to 50 mph caused plenty of problems with downed trees and structural damage.

In the mountains, the orographic effect of incredibly moist air rising in altitude triggered extremely heavy rains. There were measurements of 20 to 24 inches in some mountain areas from July 14-16.

A recording station at Alta Pass in the mountains logged 22.22 inches, a record for a 24-hour period in the United States.

Damage, in 1916 dollars, was estimated at more than $21 million. The death toll was a guesstimate, but the number of 80 fatalities was mentioned in several reports.

Extreme flooding was reported in places like Lenoir, Taylorsville, Statesville and in the mountain counties. Dozens died, roads were completely wiped away, and businesses were destroyed. I read one account of flooding washing away a cemetery, leaving nothing behind -- not even the graves.

Just as was the case this summer, the heavy mountain rain drained into the Catawba River's headwaters and rushed downstream.  In 1916, however, there was no chain of reservoirs.  Duke Energy this month was able to regulate the water flow through the various reservoirs and prevent a widespread outbreak of serious flooding. That wasn't possible in 1916.

So the Catawba River roared out of its banks, washing away bridges and roads.

Residents near Mount Holly stood a distance away from the raging river and watched debris float downstream. They say livestock, parts of houses, sections of bridges, trees.  All of that had been uprooted farther up the river and was headed toward South Carolina.

The Southern Railway bridge north of Mount Holly collapsed on the evening of Sunday, July 16, with 18 reported deaths.  As darkness fell, according to reports, some of the men grabbed on to trees in the river in an effort to survive. By the next morning, the trees were submerged.

By some estimates, the river rose 50 feet above its usual level.

Late on the 16th, the Southern Railway bridge in Rock Hill collapsed.  When that 500-foot span went down, rail traffic between Charlotte and Jacksonville was halted.

You can find a number of accounts of the flooding, but two that I found interesting were from UNC-Asheville and from a historical study in Catawba County.

If you're not a native of the Carolinas -- as many of us are not -- the July 1916 flood gives you a healthy respect for the incredible amounts of rain that can fall in a hurry around here, especially when the tropics are involved.