Although FEMA and the NC DOT are making rapid progress on road repairs, the region is in economic paralysis.
Former architecture clients in Asheville Area told me yesterday that very little building reconstruction is occurring in the region. Less than 1/2% of the destroyed or seriously damaged buildings had flood insurance.
Occupants of homes or owners of commercial buildings are being legally required to make full, monthly payments on loans, even though the structures were completely destroyed or are too damaged to be occupied.
Insured houses and commercial buildings of affluent property owners with only wind or fallen tree damage are making some progress, but less affluent homeowners can’t afford the costs and there is a shortage of both workers and materials,
Virtually no commercial and residential tenants had flood insurance. Many of them are now permanently out of business and their employees out of work.
There has been almost 100% destruction of Native American mounds and town sites near banks of rivers and major creeks.
Update by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner
An apocalyptic case of Catch 22
Lending laws in the Southeastern United States
During the past 24 years, state legislators in the Southeast, Texas and Oklahoma have stripped so-called homeowners of so much of their legal protection, their status is little different than renters. Mortgage holders now can immediately foreclose on houses that (1) Are arrears in their mortgage payments for over 30 days (2) Do not carry adequate property insurance to cover the full value of the house in the current market (3) Are not maintained in sufficient condition to be immediately sold (4) Have not immediately begun repairs from fire, wind, falling objects, rain or flood damage (5) Have become rental property or are not occupied.
In some states, the legal situation is even worse. When the Republican Party took control of the Georgia General Assembly in 2006, they immediately passed a law that prohibited home owners from challenging a foreclosure or eviction in court. The law seems grossly unconstitutional, but state judges continue to protect it.
Sleazy companies filed foreclosures on house mortgages that they didn’t even own. This triggered a rash of bank boards of directors seizing valuable houses to resale for personal profit . . . which then led to the collapse of the Georgia real estate market . . . which then led to failure of over 100 banks in Georgia . . . which then spread to the rest of the nation and became the Great Recession of 2008-2012.
Thus, in North Carolina and Tennessee, mortgage holders may legally seize flood-damaged properties just because the flood damage has not been repaired adequately or their insurance does not cover the value of the house in our inflated residential market or if they did not have flood insurance. Whether or not the occupants have continued to make mortgage payments is not a legal consideration. However, the catastrophic Hurricane Helene flooding also stripped many home occupants of their means of employment or caused such damage to their personal property, they do not have the means to make repairs.
Flood Insurance not available or affordable
If your property is not within a flood hazard area as determined by the US Army Corps of Engineers, you cannot get flood insurance. Apparently, neither FEMA nor the ACOE hold any liability for miscalculating flood hazards. The civil engineering firms, who contracted with ACOE to calculate flood hazard zones, often grossly underestimated flash flooding and failed to identify seasonal wetlands.
Many long term residents of western North Carolina or eastern Tennessee literally could not afford the median $6000 a year for flood insurance, now demanded by FEMA. The insurance premiums were statutorily set by Congress, whose members seem to think that $6000 is mere pocket change.
In 2018, the Trump Administration ordered the North Carolina FEMA office to reduce the size of flood hazard districts in certain mountain regions like the Asheville Area in order to increase the availability of restriction-free developable land. Hundreds of North Carolinians were suddenly denied flood insurance that year, who are now looking at completely destroyed or severely damaged homes. Even though they made flood insurance payments for many years, they are also among the many, soon facing seizure of their flood-ravaged land by banks or mortgage companies.
History of FEMA flood insurance
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was established by Congress in 1968 to supposedly help protect property owners and reduce flood damage. In fact, it was a gift to the insurance industry, which removed their responsibility to provide flood insurance. Unless a property was designated to be in a flood hazard area, the owner could not get flood insurance.
1968: The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 created the NFIP. The US Army Corps of Engineers was directed to prepare flood hazard maps of the United States.
1973: The Flood Insurance Protection Act of 1973 requires some homeowners in high-risk flood zones to purchase flood insurance.
1979: Executive Order 12127 made the NFIP part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
2003: The NFIP modernized its flood mapping process by digitizing it.
2004: The Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004 increased transparency in the claims process and eliminated incentives to rebuild on properties that flood repeatedly. Congress also statutorily increased the minimum insurance premiums required from property owners.
The Americas Revealed 
Have you been up to see it yet?
I have been a small help to a few, but I had a couple people tell me that when they purchased their homes that their insurance company told them to not get the flood insurance because their area (Swanannoa and Black Mountain) and up river in the hill areas, never floods.
when speaking to the adjuster, they asked why she left the home, she replied because she is in a wheel chair and afraid of dying. (She is missing a foot and hand). They accused her of leaving too soon. She was out of the house for a week, went to go back and the house was torn down by either the town or some other gov agency to clear the road so no full assessment could be made. She was denied insurance claims. She told them it was not flood that hit the house, it was landslides of trees, they denied her claim.
I spoke to a fema rep, asked if I was allowed any assistance for my small losses, (Greenville, SC), (my food, about $200 worth), and was told that because I was not displaced that I did not qualify. I added how I was without power 6 days, had to eat out, does that add in to any accounting, he said, no, sorry.
I said, Okay, no sweat, my losses were small by comparison, I was just curious.
But the woman whose story I just told you about, with the wheelchair, she didnt even get the $750, nor did she get a trailer or funding for housing. She is living with a friend and has her daughter with her. Lost it all, house, car, all possessions.
It still makes me weep. I bring propane to a church I know up in Swanannoa each VA visit. They are still serving meals and handing out clothes and soaps and household items to those still in tents. As of 2 weeks ago, while they lifted the boil water order, some neighborhoods, northeast of the VA had no running water. I want to get an update on that tomorrow.
It rips my heart out.
we lost a dozen trees, lost power 6 days, cable for 2 weeks, but I have my car and my apartment. Restaurants opened within 3 days, gas same time period.
Asheville, Black Mountain, Chimney Rock, Swanannoa, the river valley, downstream from the dam, anything downstream from the hollers got avalanches of mud and water and trees. There is material in power lines in the arts district on riverside road in asheville, or was 2 weeks ago. Train tracks ripped up. I have been through hurricanes at the beach, inland, had 4 feet of rain in the Philippines in 1981, but I never saw this.
3rd world level of destruction. Water levels 15 to 20 feet above where the rivers are now, open bedrock exposed, too, in some places, makes you wonder just how much sediment was carried downstream. ( Rte 70 near ex 55 off I40)
There’s an old dam at the intersection of Azaela road and Swanannoa River road, one half of it got ripped away, the bridge part. Swanannoa River Road was scarfed out, about 4 to 5 feet of it gone for about 1 mile till you get to Walmart area near 240. You can see the bridge section to the right of the dam. In the other picture, look in the distance, there is a drainage/sewer manhole sticking up in the middle of the dirt, they had been adding gravel to get it this high. I think you can drive on it now. This is where that gold course was, down the road from here. Across the river is the Nature Center.
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I tried to post a picture, originally it said I could, but I htink they were too large.
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Land grabbing done the easy way.
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That is my fear too . . . given that the USA has surrealistically and instantly changed into an oligarchy. The banks and mortgage companies will soon gobble up thousands of acres of land at almost no cost.
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OMG This is awful Richard. There have been bad floods in England too. My family were flooded because there is a river nearby and the banks of that river gave way so, it’s been one big clear-up job for that past few weeks.
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