Almost a year after flooding from Hurricane Helene washed away the main entrance to a small Burke County community, a new $208,000 bridge was installed.
Jenny Overton said the Silver Creek Mountain POA originally had a large culvert bridge at the entrance of the community鈥檚 private road, Silver Creek Springs Drive. Overton said after the storm rolled through on Sept. 17, 2024, her husband and son were working to clear their driveway of fallen trees when she noticed the entrance bridge was washed out.
鈥淚t was pretty, scary,鈥� Overton said. 鈥淏ecause I knew of the amount of trees that were down in our driveway to get here (to the front entrance), I realized at that point that we were trapped and that we needed to all kind of get together to get an opening to be able to get people out.鈥�
The damage left the community stranded for several days until a path was cleared through the rear of the private road. The road is about two miles long. The two entrances are about three miles apart along Roper Hollow Road.
鈥淚 just was concerned that if something happened to somebody in here, we wouldn鈥檛 be able to get them out to get medical help,鈥� Overton said. 鈥淐ompared to people farther west of us, this was nothing but an inconvenience, but for a few days, it was pretty scary.鈥�
Overton said about seven neighbors worked together to cut their way through the back exit of the neighborhood. Overton said Silver Creek Springs Drive connects to old fire service roads. After the back exit was cut out, residents would leave a car parked near the front entrance on Roper Hollow Road and ride side-by-side vehicles from the back exit to the front. The residents also set up two ladders where the bridge washed out to be able to climb over to reach their cars.
Around two weeks after the storm, a neighbor let the community use an old logging bridge to temporarily cross the creek to exit from the front entrance of Silver Creek Springs Drive. Overton said the temporary bridge was just wide enough for one car and had no guard rails.
Overton said the storm knocked over numerous trees and powerlines. The community was also left without power for a little more than three weeks. There was only one spot near the front entrance where Overton said she could get cell service.
The community was given $100,000 by Samaritan鈥檚 Purse to build a new bridge. The rest of the cost was funded by FEMA and full-time residents of the community.
Innovative Bridge Company, out of Mississippi, built installed the new bridge in less than 36 hours. The new 70-foot-long bridge was completed on Aug. 27, 11 months after the storm.
Overton said the community is awaiting the last disbursement from FEMA to be able to pave the bridge.
鈥�(N.C. Department of Transportation), with all these bridges being replaced, they wanted it to be structurally engineered, and they wanted things to go completely over waterways and not be like a culvert,鈥� Overton said. 鈥淚鈥檒l never say this bridge will never wash away, but if it does, something more horrendous than this has happened.鈥�
Overton said the Silver Creek Mountain community is comprised of permanent residences and vacation homes. There are 18 full-time families living in the community and about 15 part-time residents. Overton said the families range from couples with children to retirees.