Driver tries using washed-out I-40 in NC and drops into mountain gorge, officials say
Tropical Storm Helene washed out multiple sections of Interstate 40, but that didn’t stop one motorist from bypassing a road block to try it anyway, according investigators in North Carolina.
The driver, a woman, died of injuries sustained when her SUV reached an area where the roadway was gone and tumbled into the gorge below, the Junaluska Fire Department reports.
It happened around 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, near the Tennessee state line, and photos shared by the fire department show the vehicle “drove off Interstate 40 from a large hole in the roadway.”
The tumble ended with the vehicle teetering at the edge of the treacherous Pigeon River.
“Crews found the vehicle with a single occupant on its passenger side an estimated distance of 100 feet from the roadway,” the volunteer fire department reported in a news release.
North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers got the driver out and a rope system was created by teams of first responders working with Junaluska Fire Department to “bring the driver to an awaiting ambulance,” officials said.
The driver was traveling in the wrong direction when the crash occurred, and there was no indication she tried to apply her brakes, WLOS reports.
Her identity has not been released.
Among the teams responding to the scene was Grassy Fork Fire and Rescue, Cocke County Swiftwater Rescue and Haywood EMS, officials said.
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol is investigating the cause of the crash. Fire department officials say the vehicle went around “the large orange and white ‘Road Closed’ signage and concrete barriers” and ran out of pavement near mile marker 3.5.
That stretch of the interstate has been closed since late September after flooding associated with Tropical Storm Helene “washed away the interstate’s eastbound lanes in four long swaths,” the North Carolina Department of Transportation reports.
The missing sections tower over the boulder-filled Pigeon River, photos show.
A temporary fix of one intestate lane in both directions is expected to be in place by New Year’s Day, officials say.
This story was originally published November 11, 2024 at 7:57 AM with the headline "Driver tries using washed-out I-40 in NC and drops into mountain gorge, officials say."