I’m an Asheville resident and was already a follower before Helene, but Geologist Philip Prince has been the man for the moment when it comes to making sense of why our landscape became such a hellscape during the storm. Thank you for continuing to add detail to the picture.
For some reason, this channel has been therapeutic for me following the storm. It brings reason to how it happened. The world seems so large, and this shrinks it a bit. Thank you for the content from WNC!
I moved from Montana into Western North Carolina 6 years ago and have been attempting to understand the topography/geology of the region. Your series have been instrumental in giving me a greater understanding of the home I have chosen. In coming East, my 1st choice was Asheville but due to various circumstances I've ended in Morganton and have been forever thankful. I feel for the folks further west. Again, thank your for your series!
Your videos have been extremely helpful in understanding the flooding and areas that were most affected. That area has been my home for 25 years. The lives of friends, acquaintances & neighbors have been forever changed. May God give them strength.
Not one given to hyperbole, but your explanations are simply the best I've found to gain understanding of what happened and why. And your MSPaint skills very impressive. Thank you.
Thanks for making these videos. I was a subscriber before Helene because of my layman’s interest in geology. And as somebody who’s never been to western NC, your videos and drawings on these tragic floods really help show why these floods were so catastrophic in these areas.
People don't realize how close WNC actually is to the ocean. Whenever we wanted to go to the ocean from anywhere in the area we always went to Folly Beach, SC, next to Charleston. It was a 4.5 hour drive. If we wanted to go to the Outer Banks on the Eastern seaboard of NC it was about a 7 hour drive each way! So imagine driving from Marshall, NC all the way down to the ocean is just 4.5 hour drive. Helene didn't need to drive. It just pulled ALL OF THAT WATER, crested the highest ridges and duuuuummmmped all of that water into the highest peaks and lowest valleys. The original storm was one thing. Once the water made it's way down from the ridges it was madness. Add to that the rain we already had and the debris flows and it was a catastrophe. People claiming it's man made is just nonsense. I get their disbelief, because we've always been the place everyone in the South and Southeast escape hurricanes. I would be going about my day and suddenly downtown was FULL of out of town plates and finally we would all look around and realize, "Oh, there must be a hurricane." Mid week is a weird time to suddenly see tourists pour in. We would look around and figure out where the most plates were from and base it on that until we could grab a newspaper to see what was going on. (That dates me, doesn't it? Yah, pre Internet, I know)
Enhanced isn't the same as man made. I'm a senior too and believe me, I get not wanting to entertain the idea that TPTB would do such a thing, for ANY reason. The facts are there that it's indeed possible and much as I tried to ignore it, I can't rule it out completely. I'm so sorry for what you've collectively suffered. I wish I could still say with confidence that the government I've supported my whole life had it's citizens best interests and safety as it's only imperative. Hours of independent study shows me I've been trusting past what's reasonable. This isn't inference or speculation, it's actual government documents and programs you and I aren't told about 😢
Josephine, I'm a senior too. I spent most of my life blindly trusting that the country I love was governed by people who always had my safety as it's first imperative. Enhanced isn't the same as man made. There's documents and programs that you and I haven't had wide access to until the internet. I'm so sorry this has happened to you and those around you. Other parts of our country and indeed the world have suffered catastrophic events that have, without doubt, been manipulated by an unseen force. When someone tells you what they're doing, you might want to consider they're telling the truth, however difficult that may be in your beliefs of the basic good of the majority. Praying for your area and for all of us my friend.
Man made the houses in that area, burned lots of fuel and released heat, cut the logging roads that looked like they spawned some of the slides. Surely some of all that has been happening historically but humans maybe encouraged it. Sorry for the loss, though. I have been to your town, very nice.
I am up by lake erie and some of those storms bring up the gulf air and ot smells totally different. Not so far for the storms and you are much closer.
I live in Blantyre, Transylvania County, about 1 mile from the French Broad River. That river floods regularly with frontal passages, thunderstorms, but never has it ever turned my area into a lake the way it did 9/27. I’m higher than flood stage, some aren’t…I had tree damage to my house, I am lucky as many lost everything to these rivers. It also doesn’t help matters that county commissioners routinely allow construction in flood plains, all in the name of the all mighty dollar.
Those dollars mean tax revenue. We all take calculated risks that fail catastrophically at times. There is probably a vocal contingent of tax payers that want more revenue for public works. Are you part of the governing committee that makes these decisions or just an unaffected critic from afar? Why not become involved and let the governing bodies learn from your expert opinions?
@@gottasay4766 Hi - looks like the OP is affected and I’m an affected critic too. Construction tends to come from outside developers and public comments on these projects are usually so well hidden since the county obviously wants the $, we have no real way to change the course of the development.
@@gottasay4766the tediousness of government and council meetings is something that I can’t stand .. law is like sausage .. if you like it … you don’t want to see it getting made
@@ohheyitskevinc If you stay involved in your community, you’ll know what is going on in you area.Your choice. I live 1000 miles away from Helene damaged area but I live in a coastal state. If my state prohibited beachfront properties, there goes tourism and then there goes the state. I strongly disagree with your statement that “outside” developers are responsible for development. Most development has local interest or local support or local approval or local funding.. My mother always said “If you like the view, you better buy it, otherwise it will be gone.” Welcome to America.
You do a great job of explaining the interaction of topography and weather to create an event like Helene. Your knowledge of the rivers of this part of western North Carolina is also impressive.
I canoed and rafted the French Broad with my sons with church groups over 60 years ago. Every visit we noticed that human development seemed to pinch the flow a little more. Nature has a way to restore water flow and if man gets in the way don't be surprised that there will be catastrophic floods. Great explanations and a fan of the channel.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the geology and the dynamics of the water flow from Helene. I live off of Bee Tree Road just up from the Bee Tree Christian Church and saw a 10 foot wall of water and debris tear the church meeting hall apart in seconds. It was terrifying thinking about what was happening to our friends that lived closer to the reservoir. Your presentations are very valuable and helped us come to terms with this area that we love.
Your videos always give me a sense of understanding and I think so many of us in this expanded area of WNC, need to make sense of this storm. It was unbelievable to witness and even more so to see the devastation it left behind. We will be trying to make sense of all of this for years to come no doubt. You are a great part in helping us to understand. Thank you!
Enjoyed. I drive a cab part time in Asheville. As a semiretired guy, I have driven alongside or over every river you mentioned, including out West of Brevard, where the French Broad looks more like the Swananowa when docile. We have a contract with Mission Hospital that can send us a 100 miles away or more. My only recomendation is to explain the color coding in the maps. I'm sure I got it right, but as a first time observer, it was not explicit as to what colors meant exactly what.
Thanks for doing this one! I remember being one who asked for it. I pulled out a good old relief map of the Knoxville quadrant to illustrate to my daughter (tactile) how this event happened. Your videos are awesome!
Your MS Paint diagrams are so helpful for understanding the geology of different features and places. Is there any chance you could do a video on the Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia? The tilt of the eroding bedrock in that part of the Bay of Fundy coast is incredible, exposing 10+ miles of rotated sediment layers that predate the dinosaurs by a hundred million years and contain an insane amount of the earliest discovered fossils as the area was once a rainforest, which is why it was made one of the first UNESCO world heritage sites. It's in a weird position geologically, to me at least, as it seems to be squeezed in between the Appalachian range with eroded granite mountains to the north and south of the formation. Given it's relationship with the Appalachians, the incredible history and geology on display, and how confusing it can be for a layman to understand what they're looking at, I figured it might make a good candidate for a future video & ms paint diagram. 🙏
Your videos are honestly some of the best content on the internet right now. I like the use of illustrations and topographical maps, and you articulate very well. I'm honestly shocked that you don't have a lot more viewers. I hope you get more exposure in the future, because videos like this one are true gems
Grateful for that initial over view of the placement of these valley and river systems within North America. Did notice that on some of the earlier videos that there was a slight presumption that folks, generally, would know where some of these place names were located. Also that, when the maps & models were rotated, it's still useful to know the orientation without a North arrow on the display. In the grand scheme it's just a minor point. Keep up these great explanations (the lectures pre-storm are also informative)
I live close to the french broad river at rosman guage near the headwaters of the muddy broad. We had flooding but I kept thinking it wasn't THAT bad. You can view the data from river gauges online and you can easily move to the next available gauge downstream or upstream. It turns out there is no upstream gauge from where i am because obviously im at the headwaters so im not downstream from anyone. This video does a great job showing how the volume of water really accumulates as you move downstream and how the topography can turn all of that extra volume into a pressure washer and explains why the flooding in my area wasnt bad relative to nearby areas
Thanks for the video. I grew up in Botany Woods, which Driftwood Ct is part of. My parents still live in the neighborhood and I saw a glimpse of the destruction when I drove by the entrance to Riverbend Dr, the other street in the neighborhood on the Swannanoa River, a week after but the satellite image of the area from before and after really gives a scale to the destruction.
The recurrence interval would be interesting to understand. I think lots of folks are trying to do that. It was a weather-meets-landscape situation that has probably happened before, but might not happen regularly. Actually has many things in common with the Valencia, Spain flood.
It's all about the terrain and population distribution. Johnson City Tennessee got the same amount of rain as Asheville North Carolina, yet Johnson City had minimal damage. Few people are in the lower elevations of the Appalachian Highlands here and the water pretty much just drained away.
I have learned so much from you in the last month. Thank you! I have also shared a LOT of info and clips with my sin and students. Many do find it interesting, but they have also laughed and teased me about my excitement and nerding out. They ask, "Why didn't you become a geologist?" Great question! If only we had more time.😊 Anyway, I appreciate this do much Thanks again!
It didn't help that we'd been unseasonably dry most of the summer. Then we got a bunch of rain earlier that week that softened everything up before Helene even got here.
This is very helpful to those of us in other parts of the US who may not be familiar with this area. Thank you for putting this together. I enjoy your "boots on the ground" trips up some of these waterways. 👍👍
This is top notch content. Like a college lecture. Has me absolutely spellbound. I don't think it's necessarily your specialty but can you do a video covering the role that dams play in these river systems? There seems to be a lot of rather insidious misinformation out there saying that much of the flooding is because of dams, blaming it on the TVA, Duke Energy, the Asheville water district, etc. But when I look at the facts as I am able to discern, it seems that this is the opposite of the truth: in nearly every case where there is a dam, the flooding and destruction from Helene was much less severe downstream of the dam than what is seen upstream.
Thank you very informative watching from west Wales some similar topography maybe not quite the same scale. The devastation is hard to fathom. Be well.
Subscribed today and have been telling lots of others about this channel. Thank you for covering how all of this devastation occurred in our beautiful mountain region.
I wanted to let you know that your channel is very useful for discussing infrastructure, especially the coupling of multiple infrastructure grids to the geology. I used a screen grab from your channel to discuss the resilience of infrastructure in a talk I gave recently.
This is great to hear. I had hoped some folks might find it useful in linking infrastructure and planning to topography as it can be seen with digital tools in today's world. I wish I had more time to prep these videos, but I'm hoping that the visuals are useful to people affected by the event and people elsewhere who might have similar potential outcomes. Thanks so much for the comment!
I live in Louisiana and am fascinated by geology, especially since the only rocks we have near New Orleans have been trucked in and purchased. You are an excellent teacher
Thank you so much for these wonderful videos. Our school adopted a family to help in Swannanoa that was almost totally wiped out by the storm. Seeing the tremendous burm of debris at their property, I've been trying to understand how. It's like the whole bottom of the river was deposited beside their house. Debris at least 15 ft high, and multiple feet of silt and smooth river rocks. Thank you, and great work!
Great explanation about the French Broad River and Swannanoa River drainage and why the flooding was so bad in the places where the river valleys get narrow. Maybe you have an older video explaining why the French Broad River is draining west into the Gulf instead of East into the Atlantic. That is an older geologic story, but it seems strange to have the drainage divide so far to the east of the high ridge of Blue Ridge topography here.
Thank you so much for these videos. You are an excellent teacher and make me wish I had become a geologist. So informative to explain what devastation happened to my wonderful state.
@@TheGeoModels like, I love how clean and sterile your videos are by comparison to like, the remnants of a car, beaten to hell and back, wrapped in electrical wires, hanging suspended in the air (I guess it was carried up there by flood waters) off a telephone pole that is at 45 degrees off vertical--a scene which was present down at the end of Cane Creek road where it meets 74a. As a scientist (well, medical doctor...close enough) having had quite enough of the nonsensical unbelievable hellscapes around me, I find a lot of comfort in stuff like this video, where it's like "actually it's neither nonsensical nor unbelievable, here's a very reasonable scientific explanation for exactly WHY this crazy stuff happened."
Appreciate these videos more than you’ll ever know, for many many reasons. Not being from Appalachia this helps provide amazing color to everything and why weather behaves the way it does and the lay of the land.
Thank you. It is an interesting place that is hard to "see" from a landscape standpoint because it's forested (compared to western US, for example). With its proximity to Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic, it gets events like these now and again, but the real recurrence interval is impossible to really pin down. That said, I really don't think I can see the effects of something like this in the LiDAR imagery, which might suggest it's been awhile since one this big. I also might not know exactly what to look for. Time will tell!
@ 7th generation farmer here in Florida and we simply never look at things from this perspective. We know dirt and prices lol, but seriously your videos has caused me to become fascinated with geological info as a whole. My 4 year old son is learning a ton from this, thanks again bud!
@@W.R._Arms No problem. Ought to do one about the big landslide in Florida from a storm event back in the day. There's a bunch of crazy landscapes and miniature "gorges" up in the panhandle that are really cool to look at on lidar.
@ Heck yes! I’ve never heard of that, gonna look into it. Thanks for the info! This lidar stuff is amazing, looking for ways we can utilize in farming.
usually water flows from higher elevation mountains through narrow constrained flow channels eventually spills out onto wide open farmland. here it's opposite. wide open farm land has to get funneled into the narrow the mountain channel so it gets backed up.
9:36 The "funnel" effect is why New Orleans flooded so badly in Katrina, when Katrina hit Waveland in Mississipi, and not New Orleans directly. There was a shipping channel that focused the storm surge like a rifle barrel, it is called the MRGO. 9:36 this hydrology was argued in federal court, and the USACE, who cut the ship Channel, was found liable
I know the West and volcanology may not be your specialty, but being from Albuquerque, (now living in Cincy which is probably how i stumbled upon your videos) the Valles Caldera has always captured my interest. If there is anyway you could help by bring along your version of context to the formation. With your illustrations and explainations. I think it could be absolutely fascinating. This side of america absolutely deserves your attention as well. (Another fascinating fact is Los Alamos being down the street, perched on the volcanos north east side)
Is it true that when the French Broad is so high, it acts like a dam to the Swannanoa river and backs it up even more inundating Biltmore Village area?
Used to deliver to the Ingles DC in Swannanoa/Black Mountain for years. I have pictures of my children in front of the little Swannanoa River that runs right next to the DC. it’s absolutely insane to see how much flooding happened there. Semi trucks were halfway submerged in the check in area. That river is a good 30ft away from the check in area and probably about 5 feet below. Judging by the videos it looks like it grew about 25x its size. Maybe even more. I never thought that little river could cause that much damage. It’s insane.
is there anyone like you doing topography of the pnw videos similar to this? cause i'd love to follow them too. this has been such a great education you're giving us.
most of the flooding seemed to have occurred where the streams/rivers were perhaps a shallow quick moving stream. while there was tremendous amounts of water in a couple of days its amazing how wide the water spread in "highest elevations." have not heard of major flooding down stream towards lower elevations? after watching what i think is that the water percolating to a point that was once stabile areas get saturated then fail to then flow out to inhabited areas in amounts incapable of adjusting in respect to the flows? i don't know just fascinated by all this but staying aware of the inhabitants displacement...sad for them.
Initially, the entire section of the BRP was closed within the State of North Carolina. Some portions have reopened now, but the entire section around Asheville was just decimated and will probably take years to rebuild. The economic loss to the region from this loss alone will be staggering. I think I heard more than 10,000 trees down along the parkway and whole sections of road just gone.
I was just out here doing work, and will be going back. I would be remised if I didn't mention that you should an Ivy Creek to the tributaries shown. It has several branches and the destruction along it was remarkable.
How far down the river system did flooding have an impact? How does the impact diminish as it flows into larger rivers? Did the level at the Mississippi get impacted?
As global warming continues to accelerate, the added moisture content in the atmosphere does not bode well for these areas. All of us that call this land home might need to rethink where we choose to build and live. From landslides to flooding one might wonder where to go.
Don't forget the toxins all around us. It need not be a flood, other "natural" forces can be enhanced. Then there's regulatory agencies that are completely corrupted and protect businesses instead of citizens.
Thank you for mentioning human caused climate change/global warming. As packed with information as these videos are, I find it distressing that it is a lost opportunity to explain how climate change is making some storms much worse than they otherwise would be. The current consensus is that there was as much as 50% more rain in this storm than there otherwise would have been because of warming. An inconvenient truth, but nonetheless a reality.
Can you do a model for the Barnardsville area. This area is along the Big Ivey River and had an extreme amount of flooding in that small area. The big Ivey feeds into the French Broad just above Marshall. Thanks,
A topic to consider for a future video: Nelson County flood explanation for the 1969 Hurricane Camille. A perfect storm scenario for both the sky and the land. 50 years since that rapid change in the landscape, perhaps there is something that we could learn from the after effects.
Where is the headwaters of the Catawba River shown on your map? There was some significant flooding along it from Helene at Old Fort, Marion and Morganton. I can't find its beginnings on any maps I have looked at.
Fabulous presentation again! For a curious layperson such as myself, are there any books that you would recommend on geology? Not overly technical, but I formative and interesting? Thanks
just glimpsing at the area i would have guessed asheville area would drain to the atlantic. so i guess the french broad must have existed before the appalacian mountain building even began? and as the mountains grew it just countinued. cutting through them? otherwise the area would have drained into the atlantic? no?
Not associated with hurricane Helene; have you produced a video about the New River and where it forms and how it reaches wherever it goes? I will be interested in watching that. Thank you.
Do you think that the relative ages of the eastern and western regions (Unakas vs. Blue Ridge front range) of the Blue Ridge mountains are an issue in understanding this drainage pattern, especially the increased incision of the river valleys as the rivers proceed to the west toward the great valley?
From the very beginning of Helene flood, and living in TN, I have questioned why NC doesn’t have a system as TN’s TVA? I saw that the Swannonoa River flowing into TN was a funneling problem into TN.
I hope this puts hydrologist on alert in the future as when we are watching our troposphere bringing in dangerously heavy rain to also model the severe discharges and torrent debris flows to any areas in the potential pathways. I get it that the lead time on this hurricanes behavior was so sudden to not move typically NE to the Atlantic Ocean instead stall or move NW into the Appalachian Mountains. Compounding this is the fact that power was knocked out & it wouldn’t do much to alert all to the rapidly changing and erratic discharging of mud flows etc. How different would future alerts be for this area & others? Albeit this was 1/1000 year type of weather event.
I’m an Asheville resident and was already a follower before Helene, but Geologist Philip Prince has been the man for the moment when it comes to making sense of why our landscape became such a hellscape during the storm. Thank you for continuing to add detail to the picture.
We are sending positive energy your way.🙏🏽
Me too. This is really fascinating to me.
I hear Ya' ! :)
Paired with Huneycutt's vids they're quote a powerful pairing
Very sorry about the devastation.
For some reason, this channel has been therapeutic for me following the storm. It brings reason to how it happened. The world seems so large, and this shrinks it a bit. Thank you for the content from WNC!
I moved from Montana into Western North Carolina 6 years ago and have been attempting to understand the topography/geology of the region. Your series have been instrumental in giving me a greater understanding of the home I have chosen. In coming East, my 1st choice was Asheville but due to various circumstances I've ended in Morganton and have been forever thankful. I feel for the folks further west. Again, thank your for your series!
Congrats on that move. I can apprecaite your angle and move from there (eg Rocky Mtn states).
Morganton is a nice town. We’re in Rutherford county…
Your videos have been extremely helpful in understanding the flooding and areas that were most affected. That area has been my home for 25 years. The lives of friends, acquaintances & neighbors have been forever changed. May God give them strength.
I forgot to mention that thanks to your videos, I received an A+ on my last imaginary Geo exam 😂 lol
Now you're talking!
:)
Doctor Phillip, you are a treasure! Thank you!
I came here to say something like this
Looking forward to watching! Again, your work is incredible for the layperson! Thank you sir
Thank you. Hope you find this one interesting.
Not one given to hyperbole, but your explanations are simply the best I've found to gain understanding of what happened and why. And your MSPaint skills very impressive. Thank you.
Thanks for making these videos. I was a subscriber before Helene because of my layman’s interest in geology. And as somebody who’s never been to western NC, your videos and drawings on these tragic floods really help show why these floods were so catastrophic in these areas.
thank you
Superb, erudite and clinical, the World is very lucky to have such a 'teacher', thank you!
People don't realize how close WNC actually is to the ocean. Whenever we wanted to go to the ocean from anywhere in the area we always went to Folly Beach, SC, next to Charleston.
It was a 4.5 hour drive.
If we wanted to go to the Outer Banks on the Eastern seaboard of NC it was about a 7 hour drive each way!
So imagine driving from Marshall, NC all the way down to the ocean is just 4.5 hour drive. Helene didn't need to drive. It just pulled ALL OF THAT WATER, crested the highest ridges and duuuuummmmped all of that water into the highest peaks and lowest valleys.
The original storm was one thing. Once the water made it's way down from the ridges it was madness.
Add to that the rain we already had and the debris flows and it was a catastrophe.
People claiming it's man made is just nonsense.
I get their disbelief, because we've always been the place everyone in the South and Southeast escape hurricanes. I would be going about my day and suddenly downtown was FULL of out of town plates and finally we would all look around and realize, "Oh, there must be a hurricane." Mid week is a weird time to suddenly see tourists pour in. We would look around and figure out where the most plates were from and base it on that until we could grab a newspaper to see what was going on.
(That dates me, doesn't it? Yah, pre Internet, I know)
Enhanced isn't the same as man made. I'm a senior too and believe me, I get not wanting to entertain the idea that TPTB would do such a thing, for ANY reason. The facts are there that it's indeed possible and much as I tried to ignore it, I can't rule it out completely. I'm so sorry for what you've collectively suffered. I wish I could still say with confidence that the government I've supported my whole life had it's citizens best interests and safety as it's only imperative. Hours of independent study shows me I've been trusting past what's reasonable. This isn't inference or speculation, it's actual government documents and programs you and I aren't told about 😢
It was man made.
Josephine, I'm a senior too. I spent most of my life blindly trusting that the country I love was governed by people who always had my safety as it's first imperative. Enhanced isn't the same as man made. There's documents and programs that you and I haven't had wide access to until the internet. I'm so sorry this has happened to you and those around you. Other parts of our country and indeed the world have suffered catastrophic events that have, without doubt, been manipulated by an unseen force. When someone tells you what they're doing, you might want to consider they're telling the truth, however difficult that may be in your beliefs of the basic good of the majority. Praying for your area and for all of us my friend.
Man made the houses in that area, burned lots of fuel and released heat, cut the logging roads that looked like they spawned some of the slides. Surely some of all that has been happening historically but humans maybe encouraged it. Sorry for the loss, though. I have been to your town, very nice.
I am up by lake erie and some of those storms bring up the gulf air and ot smells totally different. Not so far for the storms and you are much closer.
I live in Blantyre, Transylvania County, about 1 mile from the French Broad River. That river floods regularly with frontal passages, thunderstorms, but never has it ever turned my area into a lake the way it did 9/27. I’m higher than flood stage, some aren’t…I had tree damage to my house, I am lucky as many lost everything to these rivers. It also doesn’t help matters that county commissioners routinely allow construction in flood plains, all in the name of the all mighty dollar.
Those dollars mean tax revenue. We all take calculated risks that fail catastrophically at times. There is probably a vocal contingent of tax payers that want more revenue for public works. Are you part of the governing committee that makes these decisions or just an unaffected critic from afar? Why not become involved and let the governing bodies learn from your expert opinions?
@@gottasay4766 Hi - looks like the OP is affected and I’m an affected critic too. Construction tends to come from outside developers and public comments on these projects are usually so well hidden since the county obviously wants the $, we have no real way to change the course of the development.
@@gottasay4766 True, true, true! Thanks for saying it.
@@gottasay4766the tediousness of government and council meetings is something that I can’t stand .. law is like sausage .. if you like it … you don’t want to see it getting made
@@ohheyitskevinc If you stay involved in your community, you’ll know what is going on in you area.Your choice. I live 1000 miles away from Helene damaged area but I live in a coastal state. If my state prohibited beachfront properties, there goes tourism and then there goes the state. I strongly disagree with your statement that “outside” developers are responsible for development. Most development has local interest or local support or local approval or local funding.. My mother always said “If you like the view, you better buy it, otherwise it will be gone.” Welcome to America.
You do a great job of explaining the interaction of topography and weather to create an event like Helene. Your knowledge of the rivers of this part of western North Carolina is also impressive.
I canoed and rafted the French Broad with my sons with church groups over 60 years ago. Every visit we noticed that human development seemed to pinch the flow a little more. Nature has a way to restore water flow and if man gets in the way don't be surprised that there will be catastrophic floods. Great explanations and a fan of the channel.
thank you
Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the geology and the dynamics of the water flow from Helene. I live off of Bee Tree Road just up from the Bee Tree Christian Church and saw a 10 foot wall of water and debris tear the church meeting hall apart in seconds. It was terrifying thinking about what was happening to our friends that lived closer to the reservoir. Your presentations are very valuable and helped us come to terms with this area that we love.
Another outstanding explanation of our topography/geology and how it influenced the destruction we experienced.
Another crystal clear explanation of the events driven by terrific charts and overlays. Thanks.
The Broad River system is the 3rd old river system in the world and is one of few that flow north in the northern hemisphere.
Your videos always give me a sense of understanding and I think so many of us in this expanded area of WNC, need to make sense of this storm. It was unbelievable to witness and even more so to see the devastation it left behind. We will be trying to make sense of all of this for years to come no doubt. You are a great part in helping us to understand. Thank you!
Enjoyed. I drive a cab part time in Asheville. As a semiretired guy, I have driven alongside or over every river you mentioned, including out West of Brevard, where the French Broad looks more like the Swananowa when docile. We have a contract with Mission Hospital that can send us a 100 miles away or more. My only recomendation is to explain the color coding in the maps. I'm sure I got it right, but as a first time observer, it was not explicit as to what colors meant exactly what.
yeah I usually do that…thought I did here. always glad these videos get to people who are actually there.
Thank you so very much for these invaluable videos.
thanks again for these videos. the zoomed out look helps me to more wrap my head around things. much appreciated.
Thanks for doing this one! I remember being one who asked for it. I pulled out a good old relief map of the Knoxville quadrant to illustrate to my daughter (tactile) how this event happened. Your videos are awesome!
Your MS Paint diagrams are so helpful for understanding the geology of different features and places. Is there any chance you could do a video on the Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia? The tilt of the eroding bedrock in that part of the Bay of Fundy coast is incredible, exposing 10+ miles of rotated sediment layers that predate the dinosaurs by a hundred million years and contain an insane amount of the earliest discovered fossils as the area was once a rainforest, which is why it was made one of the first UNESCO world heritage sites. It's in a weird position geologically, to me at least, as it seems to be squeezed in between the Appalachian range with eroded granite mountains to the north and south of the formation. Given it's relationship with the Appalachians, the incredible history and geology on display, and how confusing it can be for a layman to understand what they're looking at, I figured it might make a good candidate for a future video & ms paint diagram. 🙏
Thank you for another excellent explanation of what occurred.
Excellent presentation. Thank you. As someone that spends a lot of time in this area, I am really enjoying this series.
Your videos are honestly some of the best content on the internet right now. I like the use of illustrations and topographical maps, and you articulate very well. I'm honestly shocked that you don't have a lot more viewers. I hope you get more exposure in the future, because videos like this one are true gems
thanks! some of the other ones got lots of traffic. always up to the algorithm. thanks for the support, and glad you found it useful
Grateful for that initial over view of the placement of these valley and river systems within North America.
Did notice that on some of the earlier videos that there was a slight presumption that folks, generally, would know where some of these place names were located. Also that, when the maps & models were rotated, it's still useful to know the orientation without a North arrow on the display.
In the grand scheme it's just a minor point.
Keep up these great explanations (the lectures pre-storm are also informative)
Always well-done and thought-provoking!
I live close to the french broad river at rosman guage near the headwaters of the muddy broad. We had flooding but I kept thinking it wasn't THAT bad. You can view the data from river gauges online and you can easily move to the next available gauge downstream or upstream. It turns out there is no upstream gauge from where i am because obviously im at the headwaters so im not downstream from anyone. This video does a great job showing how the volume of water really accumulates as you move downstream and how the topography can turn all of that extra volume into a pressure washer and explains why the flooding in my area wasnt bad relative to nearby areas
Thanks for the video. I grew up in Botany Woods, which Driftwood Ct is part of. My parents still live in the neighborhood and I saw a glimpse of the destruction when I drove by the entrance to Riverbend Dr, the other street in the neighborhood on the Swannanoa River, a week after but the satellite image of the area from before and after really gives a scale to the destruction.
Another good presentation, Thank You. Having 3 D Google Earth and lidar imagery, really helps put it all into perspective
Thanks for all of this. I've heard 1000 year flood to 30,000 year flood. Hope everyone is well.
The recurrence interval would be interesting to understand. I think lots of folks are trying to do that. It was a weather-meets-landscape situation that has probably happened before, but might not happen regularly. Actually has many things in common with the Valencia, Spain flood.
Excellent video. Clear explanations and illustrations, very informative. Thank you for sharing!
It's all about the terrain and population distribution. Johnson City Tennessee got the same amount of rain as Asheville North Carolina, yet Johnson City had minimal damage. Few people are in the lower elevations of the Appalachian Highlands here and the water pretty much just drained away.
You are a gem and we thank you for doing these! THANK YOU❤❤❤❤❤❤
I have learned so much from you in the last month. Thank you!
I have also shared a LOT of info and clips with my sin and students. Many do find it interesting, but they have also laughed and teased me about my excitement and nerding out. They ask, "Why didn't you become a geologist?" Great question! If only we had more time.😊
Anyway, I appreciate this do much Thanks again!
It didn't help that we'd been unseasonably dry most of the summer. Then we got a bunch of rain earlier that week that softened everything up before Helene even got here.
I’m looking forward to watching this. I live a few miles from the French Broad River in Madison County.
This is very helpful to those of us in other parts of the US who may not be familiar with this area. Thank you for putting this together. I enjoy your "boots on the ground" trips up some of these waterways. 👍👍
This is top notch content. Like a college lecture. Has me absolutely spellbound.
I don't think it's necessarily your specialty but can you do a video covering the role that dams play in these river systems?
There seems to be a lot of rather insidious misinformation out there saying that much of the flooding is because of dams, blaming it on the TVA, Duke Energy, the Asheville water district, etc. But when I look at the facts as I am able to discern, it seems that this is the opposite of the truth: in nearly every case where there is a dam, the flooding and destruction from Helene was much less severe downstream of the dam than what is seen upstream.
yep will do. you are correct; they are still standing and did pad the floor out quite a bit.
@TheGeoModels thanks!!
Excellent-- This land has seen other massive floods. What's the history of those? What shaped this land?
I'm from Ottawa Canada, thank you for all your content
Thank you for your great explanations. Makes it easier to understand the interworkings of earth and water. Talk about super powers!!!
Thanks a lot for all the great videos. So glad I found your channel.
Thank you very informative watching from west Wales some similar topography maybe not quite the same scale. The devastation is hard to fathom. Be well.
Fascinating. I wish every homeowner and residents in that area could see this.
Subscribed today and have been telling lots of others about this channel. Thank you for covering how all of this devastation occurred in our beautiful mountain region.
I wanted to let you know that your channel is very useful for discussing infrastructure, especially the coupling of multiple infrastructure grids to the geology. I used a screen grab from your channel to discuss the resilience of infrastructure in a talk I gave recently.
This is great to hear. I had hoped some folks might find it useful in linking infrastructure and planning to topography as it can be seen with digital tools in today's world. I wish I had more time to prep these videos, but I'm hoping that the visuals are useful to people affected by the event and people elsewhere who might have similar potential outcomes. Thanks so much for the comment!
I live in Louisiana and am fascinated by geology, especially since the only rocks we have near New Orleans have been trucked in and purchased. You are an excellent teacher
Thank you so much for these wonderful videos. Our school adopted a family to help in Swannanoa that was almost totally wiped out by the storm. Seeing the tremendous burm of debris at their property, I've been trying to understand how. It's like the whole bottom of the river was deposited beside their house. Debris at least 15 ft high, and multiple feet of silt and smooth river rocks. Thank you, and great work!
Great explanation. Thank you.
Great explanation about the French Broad River and Swannanoa River drainage and why the flooding was so bad in the places where the river valleys get narrow.
Maybe you have an older video explaining why the French Broad River is draining west into the Gulf instead of East into the Atlantic. That is an older geologic story, but it seems strange to have the drainage divide so far to the east of the high ridge of Blue Ridge topography here.
Thank you so much for this very timely and informative information! 🎉
Thank you so much for these videos. You are an excellent teacher and make me wish I had become a geologist. So informative to explain what devastation happened to my wonderful state.
As someone who lives a literal stone's throw from Cane Creek, I appreciated the shout out at 4:24. We definitely got hit hard.
it did…unbelievably so.
@@TheGeoModels like, I love how clean and sterile your videos are by comparison to like, the remnants of a car, beaten to hell and back, wrapped in electrical wires, hanging suspended in the air (I guess it was carried up there by flood waters) off a telephone pole that is at 45 degrees off vertical--a scene which was present down at the end of Cane Creek road where it meets 74a. As a scientist (well, medical doctor...close enough) having had quite enough of the nonsensical unbelievable hellscapes around me, I find a lot of comfort in stuff like this video, where it's like "actually it's neither nonsensical nor unbelievable, here's a very reasonable scientific explanation for exactly WHY this crazy stuff happened."
Appreciate these videos more than you’ll ever know, for many many reasons. Not being from Appalachia this helps provide amazing color to everything and why weather behaves the way it does and the lay of the land.
Thank you. It is an interesting place that is hard to "see" from a landscape standpoint because it's forested (compared to western US, for example). With its proximity to Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic, it gets events like these now and again, but the real recurrence interval is impossible to really pin down. That said, I really don't think I can see the effects of something like this in the LiDAR imagery, which might suggest it's been awhile since one this big. I also might not know exactly what to look for. Time will tell!
@ 7th generation farmer here in Florida and we simply never look at things from this perspective. We know dirt and prices lol, but seriously your videos has caused me to become fascinated with geological info as a whole. My 4 year old son is learning a ton from this, thanks again bud!
@@W.R._Arms No problem. Ought to do one about the big landslide in Florida from a storm event back in the day. There's a bunch of crazy landscapes and miniature "gorges" up in the panhandle that are really cool to look at on lidar.
@ Heck yes! I’ve never heard of that, gonna look into it. Thanks for the info! This lidar stuff is amazing, looking for ways we can utilize in farming.
Good Job Phillip!
Love your videos! Thank you. ❤
usually water flows from higher elevation mountains through narrow constrained flow channels eventually spills out onto wide open farmland. here it's opposite. wide open farm land has to get funneled into the narrow the mountain channel so it gets backed up.
outstanding work! So much appreciated!
Another great vid showing how the combined weather, topography and geography created all of the devastation in this whole area.
9:36 The "funnel" effect is why New Orleans flooded so badly in Katrina, when Katrina hit Waveland in Mississipi, and not New Orleans directly. There was a shipping channel that focused the storm surge like a rifle barrel, it is called the MRGO. 9:36 this hydrology was argued in federal court, and the USACE, who cut the ship Channel, was found liable
Where I-240 comes into Asheville there is an absolutely amazing roadcut it goes through. Have you talked about that in any of your videos?
I know the West and volcanology may not be your specialty, but being from Albuquerque, (now living in Cincy which is probably how i stumbled upon your videos) the Valles Caldera has always captured my interest. If there is anyway you could help by bring along your version of context to the formation. With your illustrations and explainations. I think it could be absolutely fascinating. This side of america absolutely deserves your attention as well. (Another fascinating fact is Los Alamos being down the street, perched on the volcanos north east side)
In any case, seriously thank you for your work! Never expected geology to be so fascinating! 😆
Is it true that when the French Broad is so high, it acts like a dam to the Swannanoa river and backs it up even more inundating Biltmore Village area?
Used to deliver to the Ingles DC in Swannanoa/Black Mountain for years. I have pictures of my children in front of the little Swannanoa River that runs right next to the DC. it’s absolutely insane to see how much flooding happened there. Semi trucks were halfway submerged in the check in area. That river is a good 30ft away from the check in area and probably about 5 feet below. Judging by the videos it looks like it grew about 25x its size. Maybe even more. I never thought that little river could cause that much damage. It’s insane.
is there anyone like you doing topography of the pnw videos similar to this? cause i'd love to follow them too. this has been such a great education you're giving us.
This is Jeanie. Barbie's sister! I saw you on Fox Weather! It was great!
most of the flooding seemed to have occurred where the streams/rivers were perhaps a shallow quick moving stream. while there was tremendous amounts of water in a couple of days its amazing how wide the water spread in "highest elevations." have not heard of major flooding down stream towards lower elevations? after watching what i think is that the water percolating to a point that was once stabile areas get saturated then fail to then flow out to inhabited areas in amounts incapable of adjusting in respect to the flows? i don't know just fascinated by all this but staying aware of the inhabitants displacement...sad for them.
Great video!
What happened with the Blue Ridge Parkway? Is it intact and driveable? (One of my favorite destinations.)
at least 33 landslides, so quite a bit of it is closed
I would be surprised if it's fully open in the next 2 years
Initially, the entire section of the BRP was closed within the State of North Carolina. Some portions have reopened now, but the entire section around Asheville was just decimated and will probably take years to rebuild. The economic loss to the region from this loss alone will be staggering. I think I heard more than 10,000 trees down along the parkway and whole sections of road just gone.
Could you please possibly cover the Batcave, or Greenhill, or north to River area at some point?
Thank you sir for a most informative video.
I was just out here doing work, and will be going back. I would be remised if I didn't mention that you should an Ivy Creek to the tributaries shown. It has several branches and the destruction along it was remarkable.
How far down the river system did flooding have an impact? How does the impact diminish as it flows into larger rivers? Did the level at the Mississippi get impacted?
interesting question. Douglas lake are a lot of it. might do a vid on it
As global warming continues to accelerate, the added moisture content in the atmosphere does not bode well for these areas. All of us that call this land home might need to rethink where we choose to build and live. From landslides to flooding one might wonder where to go.
Don't forget the toxins all around us. It need not be a flood, other "natural" forces can be enhanced. Then there's regulatory agencies that are completely corrupted and protect businesses instead of citizens.
Thank you for mentioning human caused climate change/global warming. As packed with information as these videos are, I find it distressing that it is a lost opportunity to explain how climate change is making some storms much worse than they otherwise would be. The current consensus is that there was as much as 50% more rain in this storm than there otherwise would have been because of warming. An inconvenient truth, but nonetheless a reality.
Can you do a model for the Barnardsville area. This area is along the Big Ivey River and had an extreme amount of flooding in that small area. The big Ivey feeds into the French Broad just above Marshall.
Thanks,
A topic to consider for a future video:
Nelson County flood explanation for the 1969 Hurricane Camille. A perfect storm scenario for both the sky and the land.
50 years since that rapid change in the landscape, perhaps there is something that we could learn from the after effects.
Where is the headwaters of the Catawba River shown on your map? There was some significant flooding along it from Helene at Old Fort, Marion and Morganton. I can't find its beginnings on any maps I have looked at.
Fabulous presentation again! For a curious layperson such as myself, are there any books that you would recommend on geology? Not overly technical, but I formative and interesting? Thanks
Annals of the Former World by John McPhee
@Holabirdsupercluster thank you!
Thank you so much!!!! Green river "-)
Awesome presentation! Have you ever tried a 3D mouse? I used to give Google Earth presentations frequently and it makes for a super fluid experience.
just glimpsing at the area i would have guessed asheville area would drain to the atlantic. so i guess the french broad must have existed before the appalacian mountain building even began? and as the mountains grew it just countinued. cutting through them? otherwise the area would have drained into the atlantic? no?
Not associated with hurricane Helene; have you produced a video about the New River and where it forms and how it reaches wherever it goes? I will be interested in watching that. Thank you.
Do you think that the relative ages of the eastern and western regions (Unakas vs. Blue Ridge front range) of the Blue Ridge mountains are an issue in understanding this drainage pattern, especially the increased incision of the river valleys as the rivers proceed to the west toward the great valley?
Luckily, i chose to live on the headwaters of the new river. Our damage was slightly less. Your information is fascinating
It would be well outside your usual content, but with your MS Paint skills, I'd love to see a video where you play Drawful or Gartic Phone.
Thank you professor!
Man…so much to think about if you’re going to move anywhere. Especially if you want to live in the mountains.
Where did you get the updated aerial overlays that show damage in places not covered by the NOAA survey, like Garren Creek?
From the very beginning of Helene flood, and living in TN, I have questioned why NC doesn’t have a system as TN’s TVA? I saw that the Swannonoa River flowing into TN was a funneling problem into TN.
Great talk
G'day, Is there an image scale referance that you can add. I'm having trouble estimating distances.
I hope this puts hydrologist on alert in the future as when we are watching our troposphere bringing in dangerously heavy rain to also model the severe discharges and torrent debris flows to any areas in the potential pathways.
I get it that the lead time on this hurricanes behavior was so sudden to not move typically NE to the Atlantic Ocean instead stall or move NW into the Appalachian Mountains.
Compounding this is the fact that power was knocked out & it wouldn’t do much to alert all to the rapidly changing and erratic discharging of mud flows etc.
How different would future alerts be for this area & others? Albeit this was 1/1000 year type of weather event.
You are going to get me a divorce when I discover a new Geo Models at 11:00 p.m. and play it in bed when I don't have earbuds. Her is not amused.
dangerous!
this is such wonderful information to know
Yes, Thanks!
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the French Broad the oldest river in the western hemisphere? and how old is it approximately?
260-325 million years old
@ so it predates the Appalachians themselves.
What is the program you're using for the elevation overlay? Looks like Sentinel Hub... if so, what subscription plan is this from?