ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The Western North Carolina Nature Center reopened Monday, March 17, five and a half months after Tropical Storm Helene caused significant flooding and destroyed roads and the main bridge to the facility.
“When we came in two days after the storm, we took a look at the devastation that we had here. I don’t think any of us were prepared, quite honestly,” center director Chris Gentile said.
Many of the center’s boardwalks were damaged in some way, and the Swannanoa River washed the perimeter fence away.
“We didn’t fare nearly as bad as some of the areas around. But we did lose our entrance road. We had a lot of tree damage. We had roughly 40 to 50 trees that were either leaning or came down on us,” he said.
WNC NATURE CENTER SET TO REOPEN MARCH 17 AFTER STORM DAMAGE
About 15 zoos from across the country helped with more than just supplies, wood, fencing material and more.
“They also sent their teams out so we had extra hands. So, for example, we needed arborists to cut down some of the trees that were leaning. We needed welders to help reweld some of the fences that had come down. We needed people to dig holes to put new posts in the ground for our perimeter fence and things like that. That was incredible,” Gentile said.
“And the community effort that it took to get us back to where we are today is nothing short of incredible. We have so many people to thank, but more than anything we have the staff there at the nature center to thank for their resiliency. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. We didn’t lose any animals here at the Nature Center. So we fared better than a lot of people in our area.”
But there was a good side to being closed for several months.
In 2018, the nature center used a grant from the Tourism Development Fund for a $1.6 million renovation of the front entrance, Gentile said. The center asked for another grant to redo the other side.
“We always had plans of coming back to do the other side, but we needed to space it out a little bit. So, we went to them right before the storm, or actually in 2022, and got the funding,” Gentile said. “And then, of course, the storm interrupted some of the work that we were doing, but it wasn’t, it didn’t damage anything.”
The $1.7 million project was delayed by about six weeks.
“It continues our front entrance renovation, but it’s what we call Gateway to the Southern Appalachians. So when people come in, it’s like the gateway to all the things they’re going to see,” Gentile said.
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Mayor Esther E. Manheimer, who was there Monday, called the reopening a milestone in getting back to normal.
“We are, I mean, I would say, in terms of this recovery process, we are celebrating every milestone,” Manheimer said. “This to me is a big milestone to be able to reopen this facility to the public.”
CLICK HERE to watch “WNC Nature Center and Hurricane Helene,” a video by the city of Asheville.