By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C. — Tropical Storm Helene washed out multiple sections of Interstate 40, but that didn’t stop one motorist from bypassing a roadblock to try it anyway, according to investigators in North Carolina.
The gamble ended badly, with the driver discovering too late that the asphalt — and mountainside that held it up — were gone.
It happened around 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, near the Tennessee state line, and photos shared by the Junaluska 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 identity of the driver and details of their injuries were not 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.
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