Chimney Rock After Helene – Returning the Broad River to a Stream In Harmony with the Roadway While Minimizing Manipulation
Liz DiNatale, PE
GFT
Raleigh, NC
In September of 2024, the mountains of North Carolina were inundated with the strongest storm to reach the Blue Ridge Mountains since Hurricane Frances (2004). The effects of Helene were felt deep into the hollers of the mountains, with effects ranging from flooded crawl spaces to catastrophic failures of bridges and roadways, and the complete destruction of homes and businesses. Chimney Rock, an idyllic mountain town, sits on the banks of the Broad River, colloquially called the Rocky Broad River. The North Carolina DOT shut down access to HWY 74 as the storm surge topped the roadway. The Rocky Broad would never be the same.
The aftermath showed alarming damage. Large portions of the quaint town were swept downriver to settle out in Lake Lure. Entire buildings, bridges and roadway portions are gone.
The NCDOT and Wright Brothers worked quickly to reestablish a working channel and a temporary roadway. Nearly 2 years later, our team is working diligently to design a channel that is not only a nature-based solution but also works within the corridor of the new roadway design, the new access bridges, and future park plans for the town of Chimney Rock. We’re working closely with the STV and Write Brothers to ensure buildability and phase are part of the conversation at the beginning. We’re minimizing additional channel manipulation while still ensuring a resilient stream solution to bring harmony back to Chimney Rock.
About Liz DiNatale, PE
Liz has over 15 years of experience in water resources and related engineering projects. She has been responsible for numerous water resources projects, including roadway drainage and culvert design, H&H modeling, stream stabilization and restoration, and permitting. She has been successful on a plethora of HEC-RAS analyses and No-Rise certifications for greenway development, bridge replacements, and stream restoration projects. I have been responsible for construction observation as the engineer on a number of restoration projects, including a dam removal. In addition, I have worked as a stream restoration contractor and have managed construction crews to install stream restoration projects throughout North Carolina and South Carolina. Including being responsible for the successful execution of engineering plans and details on schedule and on budget. Her certifications include PE licensure (NC, SC & TN), NCDOT Erosion Control Level 3 certification and levels 1-4 of Natural Channel Design by Dr. Dave Rosgen, and I hold a NC Technical Service Provider (TSP) certification.