In 6 days, WNC saw 3 times more rain than it typically gets during all of May

ASHEVILLE — Heavy rain pushed the French Broad River well past flood stage Saturday in parts of Buncombe and Henderson counties, closing roads and impeding travel.

In the past six days, Asheville Regional Airport, one of the National Weather Service's monitoring stations, recorded almost 9.5 inches of rain. That's nearly three times the typical amount of rain the area receives during the entire month of May, said Scott Krentz a weather service meteorologist.

More: WNC under flash flood watch as heavy rains expected to continue through Friday night

More: Asheville-area rainfall: Flood warnings issued, more rain on the way

"It doesn't happen every year, but about every two or three years we get systems like this," Krentz said. "We can handle the first two or three days of rain like this, but after that the soil gets saturated and then we're going to get flooding."

That's exactly what has happened across Western North Carolina during the past several days, and forecasters with the weather service don't expect the rain to go away any time soon as we head into next week.

In South Asheville and Arden, yellow tape and makeshift sawhorse-style barricades were posted at the ends of Glenn Bridge Road, which runs along the river and was closed due to flooding. Portions of I-26 were closed overnight Friday and into Saturday morning due to flooding, according to the Department of Transportation.

Elsewhere, particularly in areas close to the river, roads not flooded were strewn with washout from the roughly 2.5 inches of rain that drenched southern Buncombe County over an eight-hour period beginning Friday night.

"That's a really high rainfall rate," Krentz said.

The high rainfall rates much of the mountains experienced overnight followed nearly a week of near constant precipitation that saturated the ground, creating perfect conditions for flooding, Krentz said.

A flash flood watch for Buncombe and Henderson counties was expected to continue through Sunday morning, and Krentz predicted intermittent showers and thunderstorms nearly every day next week.

Henderson County Manager Steve Wyatt issued an order for emergency assistance to all county agencies and departments Saturday afternoon requesting that they provide assistance, in whatever form necessary, to "help our neighbors during this time of distress."

Though the banks of the French Broad have been shrinking back to normal, they remained a foot over flood stage Saturday in parts of Fletcher, and additional rain could have the river rising again.

The amount of rainfall due our way in the next week is predicted to be lower than what the mountains got during the past week — Friday night especially. But so long as the soil is saturated, any additional rainfall "is suspect for flash flooding, Krentz said.