The River Arts District (RAD), the riverside cluster of studios, galleries, breweries and restaurants along the French Broad, was among the areas worst hit when Hurricane Helene flooded Asheville on 27 September 2024. Its recovery is one of the defining local stories, and a flagship culture beat for LocalBrief Asheville.
What happened
The French Broad rose to catastrophic levels during the storm, inundating the low-lying RAD buildings closest to the water. By most accounts the flood damaged around 80% of the district's buildings, destroying artists' work, equipment and studio space. The district's geography, the reason it is beautiful, is also why it flooded.
The rebuild
Reopening has been real but uneven. As of 2026, more than 70% of RAD businesses have reopened, many in their original locations, according to WLOS, while others remain closed or have relocated. Blue Ridge Public Radio has tracked studios springing back to life across the district. The City of Asheville has committed roughly $30 million through its federal CDBG-DR action plan toward revitalising flooded commercial districts. Where we state that a specific business has reopened, we confirm it directly first.
What we are still reporting
Open questions remain: flood-resilience measures for the riverfront, the pace of public-infrastructure repair, and how recovery funding reaches small arts businesses that do not fit standard programme criteria. The stakeholder-led Unified RAD coalition is setting out a longer-term vision for the district. We credit the local outlets, including Mountain Xpress and Asheville Watchdog, whose reporting informs ours.
For the county-wide picture see our Helene recovery tracker, and for practical help, our guide to where to get recovery assistance.
