Source: Holly Kays, SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 8/17/22

When Gary Griffith woke up a rainy Tuesday on Aug. 17, 2021, he never imagined that by the next morning, the 12 acres of green peppers he’d grown along the Pigeon River in Bethel would rest in drifts miles downstream, the unofficial symbol  of the catastrophic tragedy that was Tropical Storm Fred.   After the floodwaters receded, Griffith — like many other farmers in Bethel and Cruso — was left without a crop to harvest and tens of thousands of dollars in damage to repair.

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