Rock slides shut highways in the N.C. mountains, prompting emergency alerts to drivers
Rock slides closed parts of two highways in the N.C. mountains this weekend after rains, emergency officials said.
A slide closed Interstate 40 westbound in McDowell County on Friday night and U.S. 19/74 in the Nantahala Gorge on Saturday afternoon.
McDowell County emergency officials tweeted the I-40 closure at about 6 p.m. Friday, saying rocks tumbled near the top of Old Fort Mountain. McDowell officials had not updated travel conditions on Saturday.
At about noon Saturday, state highway officials tweeted about a “small slide” that closed U.S. 19/74 in the Nantahala Gorge. Crews were expected to reopen the highway at about 3 p.m, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
“NCDOT crews are clearing the area — about 25 truck loads — then will install catchment and temporary stop lights,” NCDOT officials tweeted. “Traffic will be in one-lane through once the area is clear.”
Officials have not said what they believe caused the slides. Similar rock slides that closed parts of I-40 and other roads in the mountains for months at a time in recent years were blamed on heavy, persistent rain, the Charlotte Observer previously reported. One slide closed I-40 near Tennessee in February 2019, the Observer reported.
Ongoing rain showers were expected to transition to snow showers across most of the mountains on Saturday afternoon, according to a winter weather advisory bulletin early Saturday by the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C.