Water that surged down the Swannanoa River in Asheville, North Carolina, was so powerful that it ripped a three-story home into separate pieces and deposited each in different places in the city’s Tunnel Road area.
A key bridge 200 yards away was smashed and needed to be closed to traffic. The second story of the destroyed house was left atop it, while remnants of the house’s first floor sat about 100 yards away in a gas station forecourt.
Wrecked cars were half-submerged in water or stuck in thick mud on side roads.
Next to the river stood other three-level houses that showed a high water mark between 26 feet and 30 feet on their sides. A relative of an owner told The Epoch Times they were now uninhabitable.
Police officers stand in front of the remnants of a house’s second story in the Tunnel Road Bridge area in Asheville, N.C., on Oct. 3, 2024. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times
A wrecked and silt-covered BMW sits in thick mud by a side road in Asheville, N.C., on Oct. 3, 2024. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times
A wrecked SUV near the Swannanoa River, N.C., in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Oct. 3, 2024. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times
A minivan half submerged near the Swannanoa River in Asheville, N.C., on Oct. 3, 2024. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times
Aftermath of flood waters reaching an estimated 26–30 feet causing major damage to houses along the Swannanoa River, N.C., on Oct. 3, 2024. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times
Police examine wreckage on the damaged Tunnel Road Bridge in Asheville, N.C. on Oct. 3, 2024. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times
A sign by the side of a flooded road in the Tunnel Road Bridge area of Asheville, N.C., on Oct. 4, 2024. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times
