On a good day, the Rio Cobre gives little indication of the stories that have followed it for generations. Beneath Flat Bridge, the water is clear and blue, almost still. When no vehicles are passing, the old bridge becomes strikingly quiet, with a towering cotton tree standing across from it.

But when the weather turns, so does the river.

The tranquil blue gives way to murky, reddish-brown water rushing through the gorge, and 59-year-old Kent Village resident Robert Larmond has seen it become so rough that he wondered whether the centuries-old bridge would survive.