Brick by brick, crews work toward salvaging town of Chimney Rock

CHIMNEY ROCK, N.C. — One month after Helene devastated the mountains, Channel 9′s Dave Faherty got to ride along with Department of Transportation crews as they worked to build back roads in hard-hit Chimney Rock.

HELENE HITS CHIMNEY ROCK:

• ‘Chimney Rock will be back’: Rebuilding begins after Helene’s devastation
• ‘Catastrophically unsafe’: Neighbors find heartbreaking loss in Chimney Rock, vow to rebuild
• Lake Lure Dam no longer at imminent risk of failure, officials say

Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over the small town one day after the storm decimated it. Now, businesses are determined to rebuild.

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Damage left in Chimney Rock on Monday, Sept. 30, after flooding from Tropical Storm Helene

More than 40 businesses were damaged or destroyed by the flooding in Chimney Rock. Faherty got to see where the North Carolina Department of Transportation is building a temporary road to access homes along a 2.6-mile stretch west of the river.

On Friday, Faherty could see where one home after another was badly damaged by flooding.

Matt Banz owns RiverWatch Bar and Grill. He is working to rebuild the business from the floor up.

“We’re 100% salvaging every building in town that we can,” he said. “I own four buildings and I haven’t heard any of my neighbors say they weren’t going to rebuild.”

Flooding also heavily damaged the general store in town. A hundred yards away, Highway 64/74 is gone.

NCDOT crews said they first worked to push the river back and now, they’re using material and rocks from the landslides to build a temporary road.

“In the initial aftermath of the storm, the river was where the road was,” Nathan Moneyham said. “So in order to restore access to the homes and communities along this stretch of 64/74, the first step was to move the river.”

High above the town, Chimney Rock State Park remains closed. The bridge to the entrance was washed away.

At one business nearby, Faherty spotted volunteers like Tom Bunnelle who drove down from Michigan to help.

“We would love to do more. But whatever little bit we can do, we hope that makes a difference,” Bunnelle said.

Faherty also found out that a total of five bridges in town were damaged.

The NCDOT said since the storm hit, they’ve already repaired 871 roads in western North Carolina.

(WATCH BELOW: Traffic rerouted from closed western NC roads to Charlotte metro)

Traffic rerouted from closed western NC roads to Charlotte metro

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