HOT SPRINGS, N.C. — When Helene barreled through western North Carolina, it sent the French Broad River surging through downtown Marshall, a half-hour’s drive north of Asheville. Every business in this town of fewer than 900 people was heavily damaged.
However, six months later, those businesses are beginning to open their doors again.
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Downriver in Hot Springs, another brewery, Big Pillow Brewing, recently began opening on weekends and expects to return to normal business hours soon.
“We’ve been really, really crowded every day that we’ve been open,” Amy Rubin, one of the owners told Channel 2′s Bryan Mims. “I think the community just really needed a place to come back to again.”
Hot Springs, home to about 550 people, is named for the warm thermal springs in the ground. At the Hot Springs Resort and Spa, where you can soak in 102-degree water, 12 of the 16 tubs were destroyed by floodwater from the French Broad River.
However, workers are rebuilding the shelters and the resort plans to be fully open by the first of May.
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The oldest business in Hot Springs, Gentry Hardware, is considered a rock in the community, but the family-run shop is still working to recover.
“We’re not officially open, so if somebody needs something and we have it, and we can find it, then we will help them out,” said Jean Gentry, one of the owners. “We lost a lot of inventory in the mud, the flood, the water.”
Back in Marshall, Donna Wallin was running an errand at the license plate agency, which is only a seven-minute drive from home. Before it reopened, she had to drive much farther to Burnsville or Asheville.
“This is one of the places I’m so grateful for,” she said. “It helps build the foundation back because these businesses are so needed. I’m grateful that Marshall is gonna stay alive.”
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