A Cocke County Swiftwater Rescue Team and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol respond to a crash that happened after the driver of a vehicle drives around road closed barriers and plunges down an embankment on a Helene-damaged stretch of I-40 in western North Carolina.
The Junaluska Fire Department said the crash happened around 8 p.m. Saturday on I-40 East near Dry Gap Ridge in Haywood County. Firefighters say the SUV drove around a blockade and crashed down the rocky embankment before coming to a rest on the passenger side of the vehicle, right on the bank of the Pigeon River. The crash was just miles from the Tennessee state line.
Emergency crews utilized a rope rescue to repel down the embankment and free the driver from the vehicle. Officials said the SUV ended up an estimated 100 feet from the roadway.
The driver was airlifted to the hospital but their condition has not been released. Officials say the driver is “very fortunate to be alive.”
