HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A woman has died after she reportedly drove through road closure signs and her car landed in a gorge off of Interstate 40 in Haywood County.
According to a Nov. 10 social media post from the Junaluska Fire Department, the accident happened around 8 p.m. on Nov. 9, and the single occupant of the vehicle was transported to a local hospital. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol told News 13 on Nov. 11 that the driver of the vehicle succumbed to her injuries on the morning of Nov. 10.
The Junaluska fire chief told News 13 there is no evidence the driver tried to brake and that the driver was traveling in the wrong direction on the interstate. Her identification is being withheld, pending notification of next of kin.
Initially, the Junaluska Fire Department posted on its Facebook page on Nov. 9 that “a few travelers are very fortunate to be alive after they drove around a blockade on Interstate 40 ,” but on Nov. 10, the fire department provided an update, saying there was only a single occupant in the vehicle.
Crews from Junaluska Fire Department and Grassy Fork Fire and Rescue set up a rope system to reach the woman and get her out of her vehicle, which ended up very close to the Pigeon River, the fire department said in its Nov. 10 post.
Cocke County Swiftwater Rescue also responded, along with the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, Haywood EMS, Priority Ambulance Service, the North Carolina Highway Patrol, the North Carolina Department of Transporation and Rabbitskin Towing.
The sheriff’s office and the fire department is warning drivers to pay attention to barricades and signage on I-40.
