Current:Home > Contact-usDriver dies after crashing on hurricane-damaged highway in North Carolina-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Driver dies after crashing on hurricane-damaged highway in North Carolina
View Date:2025-01-11 14:58:44
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A driver has died after going around a barricade on a hurricane-damaged North Carolina highway that became a symbol of Helene’s destruction, then driving off the roadway, officials said.
Photos of Interstate 40 with multiple lanes washed out by Helene near the Tennessee state line garnered widespread attention in the days after the storm as the region was largely cut off by numerous road closures.
Emergency workers from Tennessee and North Carolina responded to a report of a crash involving a vehicle that went off the collapsed road and down an embankment on eastbound I-40 on Saturday night, according to a news release from the Junaluska Community Volunteer Fire Department.
Crews rappelled down the embankment to reach the vehicle on its side about 100 feet (30 meters) from the road, the fire department said. Images from the scene show a worker trying to reach the crumpled, white vehicle at the bottom of a steep, rubble-covered slope. The driver, the only person in the vehicle, was extricated and taken to a hospital.
The driver, identified as Patricia Mahoney, 63, of Southern Pines, North Carolina, died later that night, according to Sgt. Brandon Miller of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, which is investigating the cause of the crash. She got on the highway around the 7-mile marker, headed westbound in eastbound lanes and went off the road around the 4-mile marker where the road ends. An autopsy is scheduled. There’s no indication of why she went around the barricade, Miller said.
The highway has been closed since late September when flood waters from Hurricane Helene washed away the interstate’s eastbound lanes in four long swaths along the Pigeon River, but the North Carolina Department of Transportation has said it expects to reopen one lane in each direction by the new year.
veryGood! (51)
Related
- Dave Coulier Says He's OK If This Is the End Amid Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Battle
- Ireland Set to Divest from Fossil Fuels, First Country in Global Climate Campaign
- U.S. Wind Energy Installations Surge: A New Turbine Rises Every 2.4 Hours
- Western Colorado Water Purchases Stir Up Worries About The Future Of Farming
- 'Red One' review: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans embark on a joyless search for Santa
- ‘We Need to Hear These Poor Trees Scream’: Unchecked Global Warming Means Big Trouble for Forests
- How to start swimming as an adult
- Cost of Coal: Electric Bills Skyrocket in Appalachia as Region’s Economy Collapses
- RHOBH's Kyle Richards Addresses PK Kemsley Cheating Rumors in the Best Way Possible
- The Canals Are Clear Thanks to the Coronavirus, But Venice’s Existential Threat Is Climate Change
Ranking
- DWTS' Gleb Savchenko Shares Why He Ended Brooks Nader Romance Through Text Message
- American Whitelash: Fear-mongering and the rise in white nationalist violence
- Why Ayesha Curry Regrets Letting Her and Steph's Daughter Riley Be in the Public Eye
- Alzheimer's drug Leqembi gets full FDA approval. Medicare coverage will likely follow
- Man jailed after Tuskegee University shooting says he fired his gun, but denies shooting at anyone
- The Surprising List of States Leading U.S. on Renewable Energy
- Hundreds of Clean Energy Bills Have Been Introduced in States Nationwide This Year
- American Climate Video: How Hurricane Michael Destroyed Tan Smiley’s Best Laid Plans
Recommendation
-
Olivia Munn Randomly Drug Tests John Mulaney After Mini-Intervention
-
Taylor Hawkins' Son Shane Honors Dad by Performing With Foo Fighters Onstage
-
Sister Wives' Kody and Janelle Brown Reunite for Daughter Savannah's Graduation After Breakup
-
Man killed, cruise ships disrupted after 30-foot yacht hits ferry near Miami port
-
Kirk Herbstreit berates LSU fans throwing trash vs Alabama: 'Enough is enough, clowns'
-
Blake Lively Reveals Ryan Reynolds' Buff Transformation in Spicy Photo
-
Ulta 24-Hour Flash Deal: Save 50% On a Hot Tools Heated Brush and Achieve Beautiful Blowouts With Ease
-
Plastic is suffocating coral reefs — and it's not just bottles and bags