When Hurricane Helene swept through western North Carolina, it devastated small towns like Lake Lure. Now, locals are focused on rebuilding the Flowering Bridge.
Saturday marks one year since Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southeast and forever changed communities in East Tennessee and western North Carolina. One of the places affected by the storm is the town of Lake Lore. It’s an area that relies heavily on tourism. A unique attraction there was the Lake Lore Flowering Bridge made up of several gardens along two bridges. It connected the town to Chimney Rock. It’s based off a poem which reads in part, just this side of heaven is a place called the Rainbow Bridge. The poem says that’s where pets go when they pass away waiting to be reunited with their owners, — but
— Hurricane Ely washed it away. Sam Perez met up with the people who are dedicated to bringing back the bridge. They say you only have one hot dog. — She was definitely my heart
— dog for Bonnie Lo. Pepper was her ray of sunshine. She was small but mighty. She was about 25 pounds of crazy but always by my side, and uh I miss her dearly. She was one of a kind. When Pepper passed away unexpectedly, Lo wanted. A way to memorialize her just up the road from her cabin was the perfect place. Sharing grief, I think is really important as people, as friends, and that’s why I think the Rainbow Bridge is important. For years, Cathy Tanner has worked to maintain the gardens around the Rainbow Bridge. Where owners can leave their pets callers. It’s derived from a poem about animals who pass away to be one day reunited with their owners at the Rainbow Bridge outside heaven. But Hurricane Helene swept away that bridge, the colorful callers adorning it and much of the surrounding town. It was heartbreaking. It really was and also around the country. People came here all the time. Visitors came here all the time. The brilliant colors in several gardens and attractions were quickly darkened in a matter of hours, wiped out in the floodwaters, but now a year later, some of that hope is restored. I go out and dumpster dive and pick up scrap metal and just try to do things for the community that I. Hey everybody, this is Papa Scrap. Eric Elder goes by the nickname Papa Scrap on YouTube. He lives about 45 minutes from Lake Lore in South Carolina and had seen the Rainbow Bridge before during trips to the area. I thought it was really cool, really cool to honor the animals and the pets. When he heard that it was destroyed, Elder knew he could help. So he made a rainbow bridge of his own and dropped it off in the town. That’s the way we are in the South. We’ll help anybody with anything we can do. And in the past 10 months that bridge is serving as a symbol of hope once again nearly filled up with callers. It kind of gave me hope to see it rebuilt so quickly. — You would be surprised how many callers are out there today
— already, including 3 to honor Elder’s own dogs. Maddie, Scooter, this was Toby. Toby was my little teacup Yorkie and when I drove a truck, he rode with me everywhere I went. Now he’s remembered along with other pups like Pepper. I was really thrilled to find that it had so quickly been rebuilt and actually the road that I drive on out to my uh cabin passes where the new Rainbow bridge is, so I see it all the time and I actually was able to place her collar there. Well, the bridge is in a temporary place with a permanent home coming soon. Tanner says a garden design task force is working to figure out future plans. She says now they’ve found the right spot for a new permanent rainbow bridge and a rainbow garden, although there’s no scheduled completion date, Tanner says work will begin soon.
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My sister and I had just visited the flowering bridge a month before Helene. We saw the rainbow bridge and we were amazed at the gardens.