Lake Lure Flowering Bridge to be rebuilt — and 135 pet collars from Rainbow Bridge have been found

One year ago, September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida made its way north, causing catastrophic flooding in Western North Carolina. A year later, we are still early in the process of recovery.

But recently, one small, but heartwarming piece of good news emerged. Lake Lure Flowering Bridge, including the Rainbow Bridge, were destroyed in the flood. Many people had attached the collars of their deceased pets on the railing of the Rainbow Bridge and they were all washed away.

But in late September of 2025, workers clearing the channel to the Lake Lure boat marina discovered a section of the Rainbow Bridge in the sediment, with pet collars still attached.

A volunteer cleaned and catalogued 135 pet collars and tags. You can look online at lakelurefloweringbridge.org/rainbow-bridge/ to see if your pet’s collar is among the ones that were found.

The organization doesn’t have the resources to send pet owners the collars, but more good news: the bridge is going to be rebuilt, hopefully in spring of 2026, and all those collars will be attached to a section of the new Rainbow Bridge.

Check here to see if your pet’s collar was recovered.

 

Upcoming Events in the Charlotte area

Check out our full events calendar, where you can enter any date, or look at the events for the next few days here: