Tales from the Flood: Roy and Steve Henson
In the days before the flood came Steve Henson, 57, was in the hospital, undergoing infusion treatment for a serious case of Covid.
But Tuesday the 17th he was home, exhausted, short of breath, and with every intention of a long rest.
Little did he know.
The Henson family lives on property at the upper end of Old Michael Road where US 276 makes a pass over the East Fork of the Pigeon River.
“We’ve lived here our whole lives,” says Steve. “We’re used to high water.”
Even so, that days’ mid-afternoon rain was heavy enough that Steve thought precautions were wise. He climbed into his truck and drove a few hundred yards down to his workshop, situated on the bank of the river, and moved his dump truck to slightly higher ground. Then he headed back home.
In the short three minutes it took him to reach his house, floodwater swept through the valley bottom below and crashed into the family home owned by his father Roy, 86. Steve had no idea. But the phone was ringing, and it was his sister, who’d gotten a call from their dad, who said he was wet up to his knees and didn’t know why.
“Water’s coming in everywhere,” he’d told her.
Steve rushed back down the drive, but was stopped short by a deep flow where just minutes before there’d been a roadway. He was at a standstill, and looking out across the valley through the rain he spotted his dump truck. “It was swimming in circles like a duck,” he said.
His father’s house was 200 feet away, across a chest-deep current. There was no question of wading. “My oxygen levels were really low. If I’d waded and fainted, I’d have been gone.”
At that point, he said, everything felt dreamlike.
Roy waited in the house, which luckily was situated somewhat long ways to the flow. That bought time, but a Cadillac SUV, floating along at a good clip, crashed through french doors into a converted garage, letting more water in. Inside the house it rose, reaching six inches at the highest level of the structure.
But that’s where it stopped rising. The water had come like a rushing wall, but in this part of the valley there’s a bit more room and the torrent spread out.
A neighbor soon arrived to help Steve across, and they snagged a passing Igloo cooler and used it to move Roy to safety.
The flood didn’t drain away as quickly as it arrived, but it did drain away, and then there was damage all around. A second Cadillac rested in the yard. Steve’s Harley-Davidson, parked at his dad’s house, was buried under a crush of debris. The neighboring commercial farmland, with hundreds of tomato plants, lay flat. Inside was a mess. But the next day help arrived.
“We’ve had people from day one,” said Steve. “We’ve been so blessed – we’ve had more help than we could’ve imagined.”
Volunteers, friends and neighbors set about saving cabinets, cutting out walls and pulling up floors. They fed the family for days. Among them were members of Pinnacle Church in Canton and coordinators for Baptists on Mission Disaster Relief Ministry, a veteran disaster relief organization with experience helping hurricane victims and many others.
Mountain Projects and United Way of Haywood County have created a Rapid Re-Housing Challenge to gather funds, and Baptists on Mission are coordinating efforts to make flood-damaged homes safe, sanitary and livable through basic repairs. They do the work at cost, which is an average of $17,500 per house.
Roy’s family home, built in 1966, became one of the organization’s Haywood County projects, and volunteers from First Baptist Church of Four Oaks among other churches, began work.
Like many in Cruso, Steve and Roy say this flood was worse than the floods of 2004, when remnants of two hurricanes pummeled the watershed. They’re concerned that fallen trees – especially hemlocks dying from blight – are clogging waterways and increasing flood danger.
“None of that is being maintained,” Steve said. “They’ve fallen like matchsticks up through there, and when the water comes up they get caught against bridges and culverts. The water has to go somewhere.”
Their primary concern, though, is with their neighbors, many of whom were uninsured or couldn’t get flood insurance.
”Some won’t be able to rebuild,” Steve said. “A lot would’ve been better off if their house had burnt to the ground.”
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The Haywood County Rapid Re-Housing drive has raised money for more than 40 houses so far, with more in the pipeline. The original goal of 10 houses has been raised to 50 after a strong local response. The total number of houses in need isn’t yet known.
If you’d like to contribute to rapid-rehousing efforts in Haywood County, we urge you to make a donation to the United Way of Haywood County, 81 Elmwood Way, Suite 140 or PO Box 1139, Waynesville, NC 28786.
If you’d like to learn more about rapid rehousing, please call or email Mountain Projects Executive Director, Patsy Davis, at (828) 492-4124 or [email protected]. Mountain Projects is also accepting donations for a general flood recovery fund.
“We expect the recovery from this flood to take several years,” said Davis.
