Communities Heritage/History Lifestyle

Learning from History: A Collaboration to Archive Oral Flood Stories After Hurricane Helene

Downtown Asheville in the Great Flood of 1916

The Center for Cultural Preservation, WNC’s history and documentary film center, is collecting stories about those who have been affected by Hurricane Helene for an oral history archive and a possible new documentary. The Center is specifically looking to speak with people whose families were affected by previous great floods in 1916, 1928, 1940, 1955, 1977, 1996 and 2004.

“Helene created more challenges for our community than anyone has experienced in our lifetime,” says David Weintraub, executive director of the Center. “I find that when I speak with elders who have been through terrible hardships in the past, they can put tragedies in perspective because they understand that things can change on a dime in our area, and they are often prepared in ways that relative newcomers to our area are not.”

The Center produced Come Hell or High Water, Remembering the Great Flood of 1916 in 2016, 100 years after the event, as a cautionary tale about the flood-prone and landslide-prone nature of our region. “Since then, we have learned so much about our region’s vulnerability to landslides and floods,” says Weintraub. “The hope is that we learn from the history by not rebuilding in places that have been decimated by natural disasters time and time again. This is part of the value of knowing local history—not to repeat mistakes from the past.”

The Center is collaborating with Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC) library and the Henderson County Genealogical and History Center for this project. Interviews will be held at a studio at BRCC. “Blue Ridge Community College is a perfect venue for these interviews because we have a long history of serving as a place to gather and grow,” says BRCC archivist Rachel Quinn. “This project not only will preserve people’s eyewitness accounts around Helene, it also can be a community resource for a variety of sectors, such as those in infrastructure, commerce, real estate and more, in understanding how natural disasters impact our area.”

The recordings will be archived and made available publicly. The Center will also hold a forum, Historic Landslides and Floods—What Have We Learned, from 2—4 p.m. on Saturday, February 15, at BRCC’s Thomas Auditorium. The forum will also be livestreamed.

Blue Ridge Community College is located at 180 West Campus Drive, Flat Rock. To sign up for an interview or register for the forum, visit SaveCulture.org or call and leave a message at 828.692.8062.

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