A Trip Along Alt 74 in NC

 From the twists and turns of Ms. Pac-Man at the PinBall Museum ....

To the twists and turns of Alt. 74 between Asheville and Chimney Rock, NC.

This was always our favorite route from Lake Lure area to Asheville.

The Mister loves driving the curves.

Although Google Maps showed the route being open, 

we may or may not have slipped through a barrier 

showing the road was closed to all but local traffic.

Well, we were kinda local, right?! 

Areas of the road were reduced to a single lane due to undermining of the road

from the waters of Hurricane Helene.

There were three areas manned controlled by stoplights. 

You could see some of the washed out areas,

but what you couldn't see, unless you knew the area, were the washed away buildings.

Many of them.

Parts of the highway have been shored up and rebuilt.

Other parts have been created along new paths where what remained of the

valley was too steep or narrow to carve out a new section of road.

The road used to be on the far left of the picture, 

near the buildings you can see. There's not enough room to remake the road there. 

You can see a bit of the former highway on the left, 

its destination is now covered by a dirt slide. 

The reshaping of this valley, 

the moonscape that has been left,

is hard to stomach. 

One wonders if its beauty will ever return....

probably not in my lifetime.

And to think that this is only one small area of North Carolina 

that suffered such destruction from the storm. 

The story is retold in countless other villages and towns that were

flooded and lost structures and infrastructure. 

Lake Lure - Closed!

As you approach Lake Lure from the south, on State Route 9 in NC, you drive down a hillside and the grandeur of Lake Lure sweeps out ahead of you. Some of that grandeur is missing this year. 

In September 24, 2024 Hurricane Helene devastated this area. Over 20 inches of rain fell in a day (after days of rain) causing local rivers to rise to phenomenal heights, roaring down the gorges and sweeping trees, fences, cars, shops, restaurants and homes down river. There were harrowing stories of people who rode the raging waters on mattresses, the roof of a house or on other debris. There were horrific stories of people being swept away and drowning. Bridges were torn out, roads were undermined, power was out, sewer lines were torn apart, water sources were contaminated. Life as folks knew it was disrupted for months. For some, normalcy won't return for years - if ever. The lake was, and still is, closed to all recreational use: no swimming, boating, paddle boarding...nothing. Therefore, the tourist trade, the mainstay of economy in this area, is non-existent. Many restaurants, shops and hotels were swept away in the flood in nearby Chimney Rock, and many establishments in surrounding communities were flooded - some having 2 feet of mud left by the storm. 

Clean up began almost immediately after the storm. The water level of the lake was dropped and is now over 20 feet lower to help with access to the debris from the storm, which in some areas was over 50' in depth! Additionally tons of dirt and silt poured into the lake from various rivers. 

Buffalo Creek is in the foreground in this picture, where it enters Lake Lure at the northern end of the lake. The creek used to have water almost up to the trees on the right. In the middle of the picture you see Lake Lure...or what used to be the lake where you'd see water craft and the water extended to the trees on the far side of the picture.

When we visited the lake in June you would have seen earth moving equipment in the lake bed in this picture. Dump trucks were moving silt and dirt dug from the lake. At one point it was reported that 140 trucks were carrying over 25 tons of dirt making up to three trips each and every day! 

More recently heavy equipment was digging out the marina (just out of sight from this picture) and the beach and swimming area, pictured below. You can see the life guard chair sitting amongst a sea of sand and dirt! 

Continuing excavation of the lake was halted as of a few days ago. Government funding was pulled. As of that time a total of 1,254,230 tons of sand/silt and sediment had been removed from Lake Lure, as well a total of 100,374 cubic yards of debris has been removed from the waterway.  To put this in perspective, I read online that 1 million tons of sand/silt would fill 300 Olympic size swimming pools! 

The lake is being allowed to slowly fill. The rate at which it does so is dependent on the amount of rain. 

The white structure with one door showing (above) is a boat house. 

The owner previously would pull his boat into the structure.

In some areas you can see boats resting on the mud banks, 

some still in below their boathouses!

This is the Lake House Restaurant on Lake Lure.  

We have eaten here many times over the years.

Last year we would ride with friends, in their boat, from our end of the lake 

and tie up at the dock to enjoy a nice lunch.

It will be a while before the lake fills enough to be able to do that again.

Whether the lake will reopen for recreational use next season remains unanswered. If additional funding is procured then dredging will continue in an attempt to make the depth of the water in the lake match what it was originally, and it is likely the lake won't reopen. If there is no new funding, the lake will fill, and it will open for recreational use again. But it will not have the original depth of water. 

PS: Did you know that many of the scenes in the film 'Dirty Dancing' were filmed at Lake Lure? The film was taking so long to shoot that the leaves began turning. Film crew had to go out in some areas and spray paint the leaves green! 

PS 2: After I wrote this post we took a drive through Lake Lure, through Chimney Rock and up the gorge a bit. That area is almost unrecognizable. What used to be a steep-sided, narrow gorge with a road clinging to the hillside is now a wide open, boulder strewn expanse. And by boulder, I mean house-size boulders! No wonder Lake Lure was full of dirt and debris - the dirt from the gorge, the dirt that covered and surrounded all of the boulders, was what filled the lake. The road was washed away in areas and a new road has been constructed, some of which runs in the newly deepened, widened gorge. Pieces of the previous highway can be seen clinging to the hillsides here and there. The scene was out of this world. I couldn't even take pictures, as they'd never show the immensity of the damage and the unbelievable chance in the landforms. The images were are haunting. 

It's Not the End at RiverBend!

I haven't posted in a while due to Internet issues we experience when we are on the road. Most campgrounds now have WiFi, but all of the campers collectively are trying to suck a swimming pool worth of connectivity through a garden hose. We get a trickle at best.

However, now we have Internet at the new house. We don't have much in the way of furniture... but we can get online!

So, I will go back in time to a few days following Irma's landfall in Florida on September 11. There were 13 residents of the RV resort who weathered the storm in the resort's clubhouse. They soon were without power and water, and cell phone connectivity was sketchy. However, we did get reports that all was well. There was little structural damage throughout the resort, no flooding and only the plant life was damaged by the storm. Within a few days staff from the resort took pictures of each of the 315 lots and set up a drop box online so that residents who were far away could see their property.

These are pictures from our lot:

 

The Royal Palm (on the left) lost most of its fronds. However, one of the onsite managers said that within a few days he could see new growth coming up on the Royals. Our Bismarck Palm (center) is very droopy and looks like it lost fronds. The fan-like palm on the right has some fronds broken in the middle. I wish I could have been there when the picture was taken. It would have been interesting to see if straightening the bent fronds and splinting them would have kept the fronds alive. 

The center part of the picture with all of the leaves (and a stray pot) was actually just sand. This area used to be grass and we had pavers installed in all but this one area, where we planned to put in some fake grass sod. We may have to add some more sand before we get around to adding our "grass". 

Considering all of the trees that are behind us, this pile of limbs is not all that impressive.  I had nightmares that the tree would fall in the storm. The tree was one of the reasons we picked this particular lot. We like the shade it provides!

This view of the back of the lot shows more damage with fallen limbs in the foreground and by the oak. That oak 3' or more in diameter and it seems to have lost a lot of smaller limbs. It isn't on our property, and may not even be on the resort's property. We had intended to clean up around it anyway, our cleanup just may be a bit more extensive!

In June we had pavers installed on our property wanted a paver walkway behind our "coach house" (storage building). The original shrubs were removed as they had grown tall and leggy, and were in the way of the pavers.  We replaced the shrubs with Podocarpus. This one is leaning. It looks like at least one of the shrubs was broken. 

Our coach house sustained no visible damage. But, it is strange to see the neighbor's coach house. We will have to give the podocarpus some time to recover, grow and bush out.

This is a shot of our neighbor's property and his storage cabinet. It is possible that the cabinet caused some of the damage to the shrubs we had planted in the spring. 

Our 

The Aftermath

We watched in horror as Hurricane Irma slammed into Marco Island on the gulf coast of Florida. This was expected but being a dreamer, I always hold out hope for a last minute change. In the week before the storm as I watched projections, I had finally begun to relax as I saw that Irma was going to skirt along the western edge of Florida, the projections inching ever so slowly westward. But as we watched, Irma took a turn to the east, bearing down on the RV resort that we call home. NO! This wasn’t the last minute change I wanted. She wasn’t supposed to go that way!  What was left of the eye of the storm, now Category 2,  passed right over the resort. 

The RV Resort is just west of Labelle, FL.
This is a screen shot of the storm on Sunday at 8:29 EDT

There were 11 (or was it 13?) residents of the resort who stayed and rode out the storm in the club house, which was built as a hurricane shelter. 

We received a few updates on FaceBook:

Sunday 6:28 PM “The eye will pass over Ft. Myers in the next 1-2 hrs. Wind about 70 mph here at 6:15PM. Big tree blew down in front of the clubhouse but because wind was from east fell away from clubhouse. Power went out 2 1/2 hours ago. The emergency gen started but did not transfer power to the clubhouse. Lots of debris. Lakes over flowing.”

Sunday 9:09 PM “We’re OK here but we got clobbered. Will let u know when we can see tomorrow.”

Monday 3:31 PM “… sometime after 6:30 the worse of the storm went by. We had gusts in excess of 100 mph, you could not see through the rain going sideways out the back windows of the clubhouse. These gusts I believed did the most damage. They tore at already weakened trees, bushes, awnings and anything round. We watched as leaves disappeared from tops of trees and branches continued to fall. When we went out this morning, it explains why there was so much more damage then they saw around 3:30. The Royals, bigger trees uprooted, some awnings completed torn from coach houses not just the canvas. It will be a massive clean up job.”

We have had a few more reports and some pictures. One property owner was able to share pictures on Facebook. 

Another property owner managed to upload some videos showing damage in Fort Myers and at our resort. How comforting for us to see so much that wasn't damaged, but how sad to see the trees.

We are all anxious to see our individual lots to reassure ourselves that everything is OK. All of this will come, in time, as power is restored. 

But, the good news is that we are safe and our friends are safe. Life is good!

Unsettled Anticipation

Hurricane Irma represents a horrific fascination for me. Harvey was the same. I am drawn to watching the progress of the storms. I experience visceral reactions as I watch the plight of people caught up in the dramas brought about by the storms. I believe this intrigue is partially because I lived in coastal SC for 34 years where we experienced more than one close call with storms. It may also be what I call the “rubber-necking” phenomenon where humans seem to be drawn to stare at tragedies, even though we don’t really want to look. And of course, the path of Irma could impact Mr. Dreamy’s family on Amelia Island, many of our friends in SC and Georgia, and…. our property near Labelle, FL and friends who live there and those along the gulf.

No matter which way the storm turns, someone I know loses.

 I’ve often said I’d rather experience a hurricane over tornadoes as there is plenty of warning about the arrival of hurricanes (which often spawn tornadoes, too!). But…. living through days of projections means days of angst.

Hurricanes are driven by highs and lows…
And where Irma lands only time will tell!

Hurricanes

As I write this,  Hurricane Irene is skirting the Carolina's. The TV news is reviewing hurricanes that have caused damage in the US and is evoking memories of past hurricanes.
We lived in coastal SC for 34 years and had our share of hurricanes. We were lucky. We had only one direct hit. That was Hurricane David, which was barely a category 1 when it came on shore. As the hurricane approached, several of my friends who lived on an island evacuated to our house. We were up all night greeting new visitors, finding places for folks to lay their heads, but never actually making it to bed ourselves. As the sky began to lighten we could see swirling masses of grey clouds. The wind was picking up. You could feel the moisture on the breeze, but the rain had not yet begun to fall. We brewed a strong pot of coffee and listened to the news, trying to determine where to go next. As we debated, a series of small water spouts, spawned by the wind over the river, spun the tops off of several of our tall pine trees. Within fifteen minutes my hubby and I were alone, staring at each other. Our guests decided it was time to leave! We talked to some neighbors and evacuated with them to a home on a high bluff. I was a wreck. I was sure that the roof would blow off the house any moment. After three or four strong drinks I relaxed a bit, and actually enjoyed going outside as the eye of the storm passed over the house. We all marveled at the sunny calm that existed within a cylinder of nasty, grey clouds. We were back in our own bed before midnight. We had a few downed limbs and lots of twigs and pinecones on the ground, but no other damage.
Over the years we had quite a few near misses. Storms would often head our way, and then turn toward the north, avoiding our area. On several occasions school was cancelled and we were advised to prepare for evacuation, all for nought. Then, along came Hurricane Hugo. As the storm developed we realized how large and strong it was becoming. We made reservations at a hotel about 150 miles inland, packed both cars with precious belongings; children, pets, food and clothing. As we checked in at the hotel a prominent sign announced, "No Pets". When I asked about it, the clerk merely shrugged. As we went to our room we joined a parade of folks with dogs, cats, gerbils and goldfish! The hotel was more than willing to look the other way. We finally fell asleep around midnight when we saw that the hurricane had taken a slight turn to the north and would skirt our home. Friends living in the Charleston area of SC weren't quite so lucky. Hugo was a powerful storm and brought flooding and damaging high winds to vast areas of the Carolinas.
The last hurricane we evacuated for was Hurricane Floyd. This was a monster storm, as far as it's size,  covering an area almost the size of South Carolina. We boarded up our windows, packed the car and prepared to evacuate. Evacuation did not go smoothly. There were just too many people trying to get out of Dodge! This particular hurricane first looked like it was going to hit southern Florida. Folks in that area evacuated to the north. Then, the storm took a turn to the north. More evacuees joined those already on the road. The storm took another turn, and Georgians got in line with those from Florida to get out of the way of the storm. Then it was South Carolina's turn. People trying to leave Charleston were stuck in traffic. A trip of 80 miles was taking up to 6 hours. It was a mess. We finally left our home at around 4 AM. We travelled back roads and didn't have a problem until we had to connect with the Interstate and try to merge in with all of the traffic from other coastal communities. We were lucky once again. The storm turned and our area was spared.
Hearing of Hurricane Irene brings all of this back... and more.  I'm seeing a number of posts from my blog friends who may be in the hurricane's path. They have spent the day preparing for the storm picking up items that could blow around the yard, collecting food, flash lights and water.
I hope that the storm turns east and weakens substantially.
Best wishes and prayers to those of you in the hurricane's path. Stay safe, everyone!