From submerged homes and streets to now underwater high school playing fields, the devastation of Hurricane Helene can be felt across the southeastern United States. Hurricane Helene has flooded the athletic fields at Pisgah High School in Canton, N.C., just a 30-minute drive from Ashville, N.C.
Just three years ago, the fields were flooded by Tropical Storm Fred. That storm left the fields unplayable for both the 2021 and 2022 seasons. When Pisgah High School Stadium reopened in 2023, the team never could have imagined that they would be back in the same position only a year later.
“The fields at the school are a total loss again. The flooding impacted the stadium, the softball field, and the baseball field,” Heidi Morgan, Pisgah athletic director, told High School OT.
The stadium is only 25 feet from the Pigeon River. After the river flooded this weekend, it quickly submerged the stadium, with waters reaching all the way to the top of the scoreboard and within the top five rows of the bleachers. The average depth of Pigeon River is 1.5 feet, but this past weekend depths reached more than 25 feet.
High School OT spoke with several high school coaches from the affected areas in North Carolina. One said, “Football doesn’t matter right now, but it can give the community something to rally around. The state is going to have to help us out. We scheduled our game for Monday but there is no way that happens in my opinion. We could be out of school for a while."
Now, the remainder of Pisgah High School’s sports season, and the season of most western North Carolina high schools, is unknown. According to the team’s schedule, they should have played Franklin High School in just five days. The NCHSAA may adjust the season schedule as they did in 2018 following Hurricane Florence, but a deeper investigation into the damage of the schools is needed first.
