CHIMNEY ROCK – Images of Bubba O’Leary’s General Store collapsed in mud and silt in the middle of the town’s main street became a symbol of the widespread devastation across Western North Carolina wrought by Tropical Storm Helene.
But 10 months after the historic and deadly storm in late September, the Chimney Rock landmark is back in business, in a freshly renovated space finished in rough-sawn wood and full of customers, with plans to rebuild the adjoining yellow storefront that was damaged beyond repair last year.
There’s still a lot of construction going on in the muddy street, but “it’s a different world once you come inside the store. It gives you a feeling of being somewhat back to normal,” Bubba O’Leary’s owner and Chimney Rock Village Mayor Peter O’Leary told the Times-New July 31…