‘Chimney Rock will be back’: Rebuilding begins after Helene’s devastation

CHIMNEY ROCK, N.C. — A coffee shop is gone without a trace after Helene barreled through the town of Chimney Rock. All that remains are the rocks.

The shop was named Coffee on the Rocks, owned by Bruce Godzik and his wife for 15 years. Their home next door is gone too.

“Watched the whole house collapse, and the business went in right after,” Godzik told WSB-TV in Atlanta.

Godzik had walked to the fire department up the hill as the Broad River exploded through the valley, and then he went to get his wife. Twenty minutes later, the house, the coffee shop, the T-shirt shop, and the brewery were all gone.

HELENE HITS CHIMNEY ROCK:

“It was just horrific. We saw all our friends’ businesses slowly peel away and go down the river,” Godzik said to WSB′s Bryan Mims. “We were hoping the river would stop, but it was relentless.”

His cat Josie, adored by customers, was also gone.

“Just didn’t have time to get her,” he said. “She went down with the house. It’s heartbreaking.”

The tsunami-like river gouged out the town’s Main Street and a parking lot, rolling massive boulders like marbles.

“It was crazy,” said Teresa Cauthren, who owns the Chimney Rock Inn, which escaped damage. Their house sits along the river, and the river spared it.

Soldiers from the 82nd and the 101st Airborne are in town to help with the grueling recovery.

For two weeks now, Cauthren and her neighbors have worked together, cleaning, fixing and encouraging. Look beyond the mad maze of boulders and ragged storefronts, and the beauty of this place is plain to see.

Godzik plans to stay, to rebuild and his neighbors do too.

“We will be back 100%, 100% stronger,” Cauthren said. “We will be back. Chimney Rock will be back.”

(WATCH BELOW: Volunteers with Panthers, Falcons help clean up Helene-ravaged neighborhood)