Lurecrest friends and family,

This Friday, the community of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock experienced catastrophic flooding and storm damage at the tail end of hurricane Helene. Camp Lurecrest has survived with relatively little damage while the surrounding area is nearly unrecognizable from the amount of destruction and debris that the flood waters brought. Our community is without cell service, without water, without power, and many without access to and from their homes. Our entire team is safe and in good spirits but every day we see and hear more tragic news from our neighbors and friends. We have seen the Lord’s faithfulness through adversity firsthand and now we find ourselves again living in day-to-day gratitude for the Lord’s provision. Below you will find an account of what happened here and how you can partner with us going forward.

During the lead up of the storm we were expecting high levels of rain and had taken the standard precautions to prepare camp. Throughout the night on Thursday, the sirens at the dam had been indicating that the spillway was fully open but the sound changed as Friday morning came and the loud speakers announced a mandatory evacuation of everyone below the dam. Our power flickered and failed early Friday morning and I went outside in the rain to assess camp. The text messages I sent as I went out the door were the last that would go through, additionally that would be the last time my feet were dry for the next 14 hours. The wind was gusting up to 60 mph and had already broken several of the tent posts. A large oak tree fell onto the dining hall during the wind gusts and the protective netting around the volleyball court with its 16’ metal poles had folded in half.

We hurried to move vehicles into safe areas and started the process of getting the large oak tree off the Barn (dining hall) while also setting up generators. Our Facilities Director, Mac, had come onto camp and we quickly realized he needed to go back get his family from their house 5 miles away. The power poles along the way had already slid down the hillside and we wanted to make sure we were all together. While Mac was getting his family packed and bringing them to camp, the tent poles tore through the canvas and collapsed the tent. Meanwhile we were using the chainsaws to remove the tree on the Barn section by section.

We had checked the lake first thing in the morning and noticed a lot of debris and heavy winds but everything was secure. It wasn’t until one of our staff was driving across the street that we realized the lake was 8 feet higher than normal. We immediately rushed down to the lake, secured the boat dock, and began retrieving our benches, picnic tables, and chairs as they floated away. This is when we got a message that the dam was near catastrophic failure. By this time trees had fallen across every road even blocking our path across the street. I wanted to see the dam and so we moved some trees out of the way and went across the street to picnic point which looks over the dam. That was when we started to understand the full scope of the damage. The first thing we saw was a pontoon boat and water trampoline smashed against the dam getting sucked in by its current. There was a wall of mist as water rushed over and around the dam walls. I saw a husband and wife in a canoe trying to collect their lost property, and we saw the huge sea of debris floating in the center of the lake, evidence of the damage done by the flooded river.

We spent the rest of Friday clearing trees, emptying freezers and refrigerators, and securing power cords and generators around camp. We started a meal rotation and used the generators to fill our water tanks intermittently. On Saturday we decided to scout the area, clear up the tent and broken gaga ball court, empty the walk-in freezer and then start helping the community in the afternoon. Ten of us drove in 2 UTVs with all of our chainsaws and clearing equipment and turned left by the Fire Station. It didn’t take long to get to trees across 64 and we started clearing. The first downed tree, a woman came and watched us work and tearfully thanked us for caring enough to move the debris. One lane was clear so there were a lot of cars trying to get through and our team directed traffic while the others cut and removed tree after consecutive tree working our way down the highway. After a while, we met the national guard coming the other direction and our two teams integrated and started working together. They eventually left us to finish up that section and we worked all the way down to the water treatment plant at the broad river, below the dam. Throughout the work we saw evacuation buses, countless emergency response teams, the fire chief and several community members but not a single power truck, which led us to believe that power was going to be a long time coming.

After clearing trees, we drove to Canopy Ridge Zip Tours and saw that their deck overlooking the river was completely washed away. The water had completely covered the road some 14 feet above the river. We saw items from Chimney Rock scattered along the river’s edge and entire portions of decks and houses along the river were gone. The people we saw let us know that the folks at Rumbling Bald were ok but all reports from Chimney Rock and the Town of Lake Lure were bad. The head of the zoning and planning committee told us that engineers had looked at the dam and concluded that it was not in immediate danger. The Ingles parking lot had become a staging point for evacuees and helicopters were constantly flying over.

On Sunday we held a worship service with our staff and then set out trying to find ways to communicate with people outside of camp. We have found intermittent phone service and some local businesses down the road that are willing to share their Wi-Fi. As we move forward our goal is to take care of the resources we have and care for the community around us in whatever ways we can. Camp Lurecrest has always existed to serve others and to be a representation of God’s love to our community and we currently have the opportunity to serve in a challenging and needy environment.

It was just a year ago that we were celebrating our 75^th anniversary as a camp. Throughout our 75^th event, our thoughts and reflections continually came back to the faithfulness of God. Over the last serval days we have seen God’s faithfulness first hand. God has protected this place and its mission as well as giving us the chance to serve others despite all that is happening. Thank you for your prayers and support as we join our community in the rebuilding process. We believe in the life changing power of the Gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ brings hope to the hopeless through his death, resurrection, and ascension. It is in this belief that we seek to restore the grounds of Camp Lurecrest and use our resources to show the love of Christ to our community.

You are part of the Lurecrest family and this ministry is a reflection of all the campers and staff that have been here through the years. Your support carries this place through challenging seasons like this and will help us in the process of maintaining camp as well as serving our community. Thank you for your constant prayers through this season, we covet your specific prayers for the Lord’s wisdom and our obedience to His call. We also love your encouragement as we can sometimes be overwhelmed in the work and forget its impact. Many of you have asked how you can tangibly help so we've set up a Hurricane Recovery Fund on our donation page. Any gifts given to this fund will go directly to helping the recovery for Lurecrest and our surrounding community.

We will send out regular updates and try to communicate needs as they arise. It is a privilege to be a part of such and incredible family of faithful believers. Thank you again for your care and connection.

Serving Christ

-Dan Bragdon

Need to get in touch?

During this time, Dan has very limited cell service. Beck Muse, Assistant Camp Director is at a family home in Georgia and has the most regular communication with the rest of the Lake Lure team. If you need to get in touch with a specific question, feel free to email Beck Muse at bmuse@camplurecrest.org or call/text at 828-429-9199.