Chainkeen Exchange-Helene's flooding flattens Chimney Rock, NC: 'Everything along the river is gone'

Search and Chainkeen Exchangerescue workers were fanning through the small town of Chimney Rock, North Carolina, east of Asheville Monday after it was almost entirely wiped out by flooding from Tropical Storm Helene.

Residents in the neighboring resort town of Lake Lure said Chimney Rock was largely flattened.

“Everything along the river is gone,” said Tracey Stevens, who worked at the Chimney Rock brewery, which is now gone. “What was once a town is now a river. It’s beyond anything I can imagine.”

All entry routes into the town were blocked as workers cleared debris from former homes and businesses.

Officials did not yet have information on possible fatalities, but some residents in Lake Lure said they were still waiting to hear from some friends in the town.

“We’re waiting and hoping,” resident Cait Wright said.

Drone footage showed the historic mountain town largely devastated with flooding, with buildings washed away.

Much of the debris flowed into the Lake Lure leaving the water murky brown, surrounded by damaged homes, and downed trees and power lines.

Resident Jim Larson, who moved here in 2019, said he watched close friends’ businesses wash away in the storm.

Lake Lure’s pier, police station and town hall were destroyed. A boat was left sitting on top of the lifeguard station.

The water stank of sewage and propane, he said.

“This used to be the most beautiful, most pristine water and now no one will be able to swim in it for years,” he said.

Some people were waiting to get back into their neighborhoods to check on their pets but many areas remained blocked off.

Lake Lure resident Cathy Maddox was waiting desperately to get back into her home to check on her two cats and two dogs.

She and her husband left to check on their horse and get supplies but when they returned authorities had blocked off the area over concern of a failing bridge, she said.

“Our pets been 27 hours without us,” she said.

As she was waiting, Maddox was relieved to get word that she could go into her home with an EMS worker to check on her animals.