Almost three-quarters of a century before Hurricane Hugo, the “Great Flood of 1916” devastated the Catawba River Basin. History-making floodwaters came barreling down from the North Carolina mountains toward Lancaster County when two category-4 hurricanes converged over a period of six days in mid-July. The record-breaking rainfall saw the Catawba River cresting at 47 feet and Van Wyck was underwater in places where water had never been before. The resulting flood waters affected thousands of people from Asheville to Fort Mill, South Carolina as it washed away homes, bridges and businesses and killed 80 people.