The Individual And Community Effects Of Tropical Storm Fred On Haywood County, North Carolina

On August 17, 2021, the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred (TSF) tore through Western North Carolina. The flash floods and landslides it caused were particularly severe along the Pigeon River in Haywood County. To study the effects TSF had on individuals and communities in Haywood, I conducted a series of ten interviews with 12 people associated with the communities of Canton and Cruso. I then transcribed the interviews and analyzed them for emergent themes. I found ten major themes in interview responses, five pertaining to individual effects (i.e., post-flood emotions, long-term individual trauma, attitudes towards the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response, attitudes towards the government's response, and concern for future floods) and five related to community effects (i.e., the relationship between TSF and the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationship between TSF and climate change, post-flood community cohesion, community-initiated cleanup, and TSF in collective memory). I conclude the thesis by discussing its limitations, comparing TSF and the 2022 Eastern Kentucky floods, and outlining future research opportunities.