Flooding damages bridge, road in Tryon, spills mud onto Harmon Field
TRYON - When town of Tryon Parks and Recreation employee Travis Aldred arrived at Harmon Field in the early morning hours of June 20, he said he couldn't believe what he saw.
"All of that over there was under water when I got here at 6:30 this morning," he told the Times-News on June 20, pointing to the right of the baseball field and the main entrance sign.
Heavy rains overnight caused the Pacolet River to rise over its banks and flood portions of Harmon Field. According to the Tryon Public Works Department's website, the town had nearly 4 inches of rainfall in a 24-hour period. It also caused a large chunk of the roadway on Howard Gap Road to collapse at the end of a small bridge over the river. According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation Western Mts. Twitter page, NCDOT engineers will examine the full structure when the water recedes and then develop a plan for replacement. The tweet said "It could be weeks ... it could be months. It's TBD."
Tryon Fire Department Chief Josh Walton said the day started for him and his crew at 4 a.m. with a medical call and the rest of the day was filled with calls about the flood.
"It was a busy day," he said. "We had two things that had significant damage. The bridge on Howard Gap road collapsed off Lynn Road. The other was a mudslide on Old Howard Gap Road that made it to the road and has a great potential with more weather coming to go completely over the road. We also had several washed out driveways on Warrior Drive and 176 down in the valley."
Meg Rogers, cashier at Tryon City Town Hall, said living outside the town limits can be tricky getting to work when flooding occurs.
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"It can be very difficult to get to work if you live out in the county when Tryon has a river crossing near Landrum (S.C.) and close to the water coming through Lynn," she said on June 20. "I was lucky to get to work today."
By late morning, the water had receded, but evidence of its power was left behind. Aldred and his fellow workers had been working all morning, cleaning up the debris left by the flooding. Most of the grass beyond the riverbanks was coated in a thin layer of mud.
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"There's mud everywhere. It's a mess. This morning, the river was coming through here," Aldred said, as he stood on the small road leading to one of Harmon Field's paved walking paths. "You couldn't drive past this mower right here. It came through the screened-in shed and the playground. It's all gone down now, but in some parts, there is still standing water in the park."
For June 21, the National Weather Service's forecast for Tryon, which remains under a flood watch, is more showers are likely in the morning, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm are forecast between 9 a.m.-4 p.m. More showers are expected after 4 p.m. The chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts could be between 0.75 inch and 1 inch.
With more rain on the way, the National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for most of Western North Carolina until 6 p.m. June 22.
Dean Hensley is the news editor for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him with tips, questions and comments at DHensley@gannett.com. Please help support this kind of local journalism with a subscription to the Hendersonville Times-News.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Heavy rain leads to flooding in Tryon, NC; small bridge collapses
