This is so much worse than we could have imagined Community still reeling from Hurricane Helene’s devastation

CHIMNEY ROCK, N.C. (WBTV/Gray News) - The tiny village of Chimney Rock in North Carolina, known for its large granite outcropping more than anything else, witnessed catastrophic damage from Hurricane Helene.

The massive storm swept through the Carolinas on Friday, Sept. 27, devastating western North Carolina.

On Tuesday, 11 days after Helene hit Chimney Rock, WBTV traveled to the town and spoke with Mayor Peter O’Leary about the unimaginable destruction left behind.

“Everybody that comes here says the same thing. This is so much worse than we could have imagined,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary said he has lived in the town for 34 years. He said he estimates about 40 businesses were lost along with 20 homes.

The village had one fatality in the storm, a woman who refused to leave her home despite efforts to evacuate by local firefighters. She was later pulled into the Broad River.

Broad River itself came so far out of its banks that it ripped a section of Main Street that connects the town to the unincorporated community of Bat Cave and pulled it into the water.

“This is not an event that we’re going to recover from in a few months. This is going to take a few years, many years, to recover and to rebuild," O’Leary said.

The Department of Transportation spent days clearing debris off Main Street and moving boulders back into place so they could reroute the river back to where it originally was.

As NCDOT continues to make progress, they plan to eventually rebuild the main road connecting the town back to Bat Cave.

Hurricane Helene claimed the lives of at least 227 people across multiple states, according to the Associated Press.

“A beacon of hope”

Amid the unthinkable, a breathtaking photo captured on Monday, Sept. 30, left behind what officials called “a beacon of hope.” 

At Chimney Rock’s peak is a large granite outcropping, which the village is notoriously known for. There lies an American flag, which was wiped away during Helene’s impact.

State park officials were able to raise the flag once more days later.

“We want to thank our State Parks team, who made it to the Rock and proudly raised the flag as a beacon of hope for all of western North Carolina,” the park wrote on social media.