Heavy rains sets off rock slides in Appalachia, the latest in Great Smoky Mountains
Torrential rain in the Southeast is blamed for multiple mud and rock slides, the latest of which is blocking one of the nation’s busiest tourist highways outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The National Park Service reported Tuesday that 100 feet of U.S. 441 between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge was covered by falling mud at 10:30 p.m. Monday, according to a press release.
Detours were put in place, after it was determined none of the highway’s lanes were safe for travelers, the release said.
“Depending on the stability of the slope and amount of material, crews may begin removing debris today in an effort to open at least one lane of traffic,” the park service said in the release.
“Slope instability” is being assessed before a reopening date is set, the park said.
More rain is expected in the region through Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
One to two inches will fall in the mountains along the North Carolina-Tennessee border Tuesday and Tuesday night, bringing a risk of flooding, NWS forecasters say.
The rain, which began late last week, is blamed for landslides in North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia, some of which resulted in injuries.
On Thursday, “50 or 60 truck loads” of rock and mud fell on U.S. 19/74 in the Nantahala Gorge of North Carolina, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
In West Virginia, a mud slide crossed Rt. 12 in Wetzel County on Monday and later that day a boulder tumbled off a hillside in Morgantown, sending three people to the hospital, police said in a Facebook post.
Among the vehicles hit was a public transit rail car with nine West Virginia University students inside, according to a West Virginia University press release.
In Tennessee’s Hawkins County, a highway worker reported Thursday that he watched as 100 feet of pavement “just slid the side of the road off” along Barrett Hallow Road, reported The Times News.
“The slide took out about half the road,” the news site said.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 8:36 AM with the headline "Heavy rains sets off rock slides in Appalachia, the latest in Great Smoky Mountains."