After staying the night at the Chimney Rock Volunteer Fire Department, Bruce Godzik woke up Sept. 27 to see the Broad River rising rapidly as rain poured down from Tropical Storm Helene.
He told his wife, Rebecca, to give up barricading their basement against the flood waters and come get breakfast at the fire department. The flooding was already too bad. They would lose some basement contents, but they’d deal with it later.
The river, however, kept rising. In 15 years, Godzik had never seen it so high. It continued to rush through the town, wiping out roads and businesses along Chimney Rock’s Main Street
The only good news, of a sort: Chimney Rock Mayor Peter O’Leary confirmed there was just one death in the village from the storm, and multiple volunteers at the fire department said they had checked on everyone in the town.
Though Chimney Rock — a tourism-based town about 30 miles southeast of Asheville in Rutherford County —population is just 125. During tourist season, 8,000 to 12,000 people can be in the town on a given day, O’Leary said.
Godzik does a bit of everything in Chimney Rock, like many residents do. On top of owning Coffee on the Rocks, he’s on the Town Council and is an assistant chief of the Chimney Rock Volunteer Fire Department.
He was at the station Sept. 26, helping evacuate the lower-lying areas of Chimney Rock. He’d seen the Broad River climb high before, sometimes even creeping into his yard before settling back down. But when he went to check on his wife, she was trying to block water seeping into their basement.
They left to get breakfast up the hill at the fire department, leaving their Maine coon cat at home. Twenty minutes later, the water was flowing over the bridge and flooding Main Street. He told his wife there wasn’t time to go back for the cat.
Chimney Rock Brewing Co. went first. Highlands Kitchen and Bar followed. Houses, cars and propane tanks, spraying gas into the air, flowed through as the raging waters tore away at the ground beneath Main Street.
“We’re all standing there, a couple of us, just watching,” Godzik said. “We’re just like, ‘Hold on!’ We’re praying, ‘Hold on to the buildings!’”
A month ago, Gov. Roy Cooper visited Chimney Rock during the Labor Day Weekend. He shopped at Bubba O’Leary’s General Store, named after Mayor O’Leary’s golden retriever, and ate lunch next door at the RiverWatch Bar and Grill.
A month ago, Gov. Roy Cooper visited Chimney Rock during the Labor Day Weekend. He shopped at Bubba O’Leary’s General Store, named after Mayor O’Leary’s golden retriever, and ate lunch next door at the RiverWatch Bar and Grill.
On Monday, Cooper stood in front of the same buildings, which had been wrecked when the Broad River swelled to five times its normal size. Across the street was Gale’s souvenir and gift shop, which had been in Chimney Rock since 1947. Usually displaying knick-knacks in its window, it now was boarded up with a sign spray-painted in pink letters that read “KEEP OUT.” Next door at the Chimney Rock Gem Mine, the floor had collapsed.
On Monday, Cooper stood in front of the same buildings, which had been wrecked when the Broad River swelled to five times its normal size. Across the street was Gale’s souvenir and gift shop, which had been in Chimney Rock since 1947. Usually displaying knick-knacks in its window, it now was boarded up with a sign spray-pad collapsed.ainted in pink letters that read “KEEP OUT.” Next door at the Chimney Rock Gem Mine, the floor h
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