Hurricane Helene Destroys Asheville River Arts District

Asheville’s River Arts District, one of the liveliest arts hubs in North Carolina, was flooded during Hurricane Helene’s devastating sweep of the southeastern United States. According to FEMA, water from the bloated French Broad River rushed into the gathering of businesses and artists’ studios on Friday, as Asheville residents watched, aghast, from the suspended safety of the Riverlink Bridge.

Video and photography shared by the Citizen Times and social media users show muddy waters 25 feet above the river’s bank carrying empty cars and skimming the roof of salons, breweries, galleries, and other institutions on the district’s Depot Street and the nearby Riverside Drive. In one video, an entire house is dragged away by the current.

Over decades, West Asheville residents refashioned the disused industrial zone into a thriving arts hub. When Hurricane Helene landed in the United States as a Category 4 storm on Friday, having first torn a path through Florida, precautions were taken in the River Arts District to prepare for flooding. But the disaster was far worse than many had expected.  

“I’d spent the night in the studio trying to do preventative measures because I was expecting two to three feet of water to rise,” Spencer Beals, a painter with a studio in the district, said in an Instagram Reel. He described using a shop vac and a broom to sweep water from his studio, but the situation swiftly deteriorated, so he was forced to wade through “chest deep water” to safety.

Speaking in the video, he points to a building peeking above the pale brown water. “The black roof there is the Foundation Studios, as the whole river arts district is just getting catastrophic flooding; the roof’s collapsed.” Foundation Studios was for the last two years home to Sketchbook Club, a free popular meet-up for amateur art lovers.

“I lost all my original paintings,” Beals says. “All of my prints, all my canvas work. Art supplies, vending supplies. A lot of people here just lost their whole creative practice.”

As of today, at least 115 people have reportedly died across the six states in Hurricane Helene’s path, though officials say that the death toll will likely rise due. Asheville officials have reported at least 35 dead, with many more missing, as damage to the communication infrastructure and roads impedes rescue efforts.

The Asheville Art Museum has been closed “for inclement weather” since Friday, but has not reported any damage to its collection.