Unfathomable devastation: McDowell County faces historic loss in wake of flooding

There’s extensive visible damage, but the sense of loss for what remains unseen is equally deep and painful, as McDowell County has been devastated.

“It’s unfathomable at this point,” Steve Little, Marion mayor said. “So much has just washed away.”

He says it took just a couple of seconds.

Steve Little has been the longtime mayor of Marion.

“Major, major mudslides,” Little continued, referencing the destruction, including the yellow house in Old Fort.

“It collapsed completely. It was destroyed,” he said.

People often hear about places like Valley Forge, but not about towns like this—places with deep history.

Old Fort, once a fort during the Revolutionary War, saw the largest volunteer militia gather here, with 2,700 men, rifles in hand, and their own food.

“There’s not just the destruction of property here,” Little said, “but also the destruction of history.”

It housed the manager of the Mountain Gateway Museum and contained state archives.

“So, I hope the archives are all in that building, but I have not yet heard,” he said.

This region is the spine of the continent, holding centuries of history. Nearby, the Historic Orchard at Altapass, with its 3,000 heirloom apple trees, has also been impacted.

“These are historic trees that have been there for 200 years or more,” Little said. “I hope that they were not washed away. But they’re on the hillside up there at little Switzerland.”

Little recalled stories from the flood of 1916, where water levels reached 50, 60, 70 feet above flood stage. History, it seems, repeats itself.

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” Little said.

The Swannanoa Tunnel, an engineering marvel and the first place in the Southeast to use nitroglycerin, runs through McDowell County.

“The railroad is in terrible condition,” Little said. “There are sections suspended 15-20 feet above the ground.”

And while we haven’t even begun to speak about the fatalities, they are tragic.

“Somebody’s dying,” Little said. “Yes, somebody’s dying.”

As for the future?

“It’s going to be a long haul, but we will recover. I know we will,” he said.