Heavy rain on Tuesday, July 30 led to flash flooding in parts of Henderson County.

Victoria Cortes, Henderson County's Emergency Management Planner, said that summertime in the mountains normally does mean pop-up thunderstorms at any time. But, they did not anticipate the amount of rain they received.

Cortes said that once they started to receive the flash flood warnings, they immediately mobilized as there were many calls at once.

The night brought many downed power lines and trees, but thankfully the rain moved out. Cortes said they were able to start focusing on the damage at hand.

"As far as I know, there's been no injuries which is very remarkable," she said.

But, much of the damage occurred to roads and driveways in areas like Willow Creek Road.

Ray Brouillard, a resident of Willow Creek, said that it was a very scary situation.

"It was coming down in torrents," he said.

He described the rain as washing away his backyard.

Then the water eventually came up here and it was just insane," he said. "I mean, we couldn't go anywhere — it was just coming down so fast.

Through all of this, Cortes says this has shown just how resilient this community is.

They are doing such a great job on working together and a lot of people are out there with tractors, fixing roads and helping each other," she said.

She said that it is important for people to always keep an eye on the weather and anticipate that storms may be coming through.

She also recommended that people keep kits in their houses or cars so they can be ready if necessary.

 

STORY & PHOTO COURTESY OF ABC 13 WLOSResidents rally to repair damage after severe storms hit Henderson County (wlos.com)