A Tennessee hospital destroyed by a flood will reportedly be rebuilt on land experts say is a potential flood plain.
Unicoi County Hospital, a small hospital in rural Tennessee, was destroyed during Hurricane Helene in September 2024. Ballad Health, the organization which owns the hospital, announced the plan in January and will reportedly spend $44 billion, KFF Health News reported Monday.
Experts told the outlet that a 100-year-flood could cover the new location in over two feet of water. Oliver Wing, chief scientific officer at flood data modeling company Fathom, said the site is “obviously a flood plain.”
“You don’t need a model to see that,” Wing continued, KFF Health News reported.
According to Wing, the new location is even more susceptible to floods than the old location. However, the risk of flooding is less severe at the new site and can be further mitigated by establishing embankments or elevating the building.
Chad Berginnis, Executive Director for the Association of State Floodplain Managers, said Ballad Health should acknowledge the data provided by Fathom, according to KFF Health News. He also recommended Ballad follow American Society of Civil Engineers standards which recommend buildings be elevated to avoid the risk of 1,000-year floods.
The hospital was originally located along part of the Nolichucky River, an area the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) labeled a flood zone years earlier. In a February 2025 press release, FEMA awarded Ballad Health $9.8 million to rebuild the hospital.
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