LAKE LURE, N.C. — Over the last century, the Hickory Nut Gorge, Lake Lure and Chimney Rock State Park have stood as staples of western North Carolina.

But they’ve never experienced what we saw after Helene.

What You Need To Know

  • Lake Lure and Chimney Rock Village were hit hard by Helene

  • The village of Chimney Rock was ripped apart with debris flowing down the river

  • The bridge to access Chimney Rock State Park was also washed away

  • The town of Lake Lure is now trying to widen an access road to be able to reopen the park

“When you saw that water rushing down and trees just coming down like missiles and just impaling themselves,” Lake Lure Mayor Carol Pritchett said. “It's horrifying to think of, you forget just the force of water.”

For Pritchett and Town Commissioner Jim Proctor, driving through the damaged areas is still difficult.

“It's tough,” Proctor said. “What we're getting ready to see is 100 times better than it was four months ago. Four months ago, where we're driving right now, there was water flowing, and I experienced that walking here. You couldn't drive here because there were so many utility poles and trees on the road. Everything here was impassable."

Proctor grew up in the Lake Lure area. When Helene first hit, he says he never would have imagined the damage that was caused.

“I had been told, back near my house, that Chimney Rock had washed away. And you hear something like that, and you think, yeah, right. And then we get here,” Proctor said.

In just a few hours, the storm ripped apart the village of Chimney Rock, sending debris barreling down the river into Lake Lure and including the bridge that sits at the entrance of Chimney Rock State Park.

The storm destroyed the towns, and their economies, in the process.

“Tourism gets kind of a disparaging tone when people talk about just tourism,” Pritchett said. “But it's visitors who come here, and they bring in money for the state.”

Since Helene, crews have been working around the clock to clean up Lake Lure and begin to rebuild Chimney Rock. Still Pritchett says they have a long road to recovery.

“Our revenue is going to be down like 45 to 50% for the year,” Pritchett said. “And that doesn't even count the expenses that we've had, because so much we had to fund immediately.”

As for Chimney Rock State Park, Pritchett says they’ve been given a two-year timeline until the N.C. Department of Transportation can build a new entrance for the park. A timeline Pritchett and Proctor say isn’t possible to wait on.

“All the people have bed and breakfasts, the restaurants, the hotels, they just can't hold out,” Pritchett said.

The town of Lake Lure is urging the state to help with a new plan to open Lago Vista Road, a back access road behind the Lake Lure Inn and build a new entrance to Chimney Rock State Park.

Pritchett says the town is already working to get a design and traffic study for the road to fast track the project with state agencies.

She admits, to some, it may not seem like a top priority to open a state park. But without it, Pritchett says the Hickory Nut Gorge area may never fully recover.

“I will tell you, it is critical for our survival,” Pritchett said. “What we have is outside. It's just all the way people live. It's the way they make their living.”

Pritchett and Gov. Josh Stein both say the town has been in talks with state agencies about their plan.

Stein said it is an idea being discussed, along with a number of other plans at this time.