Driver dies after crashing off hurricane-damaged highway in North Carolina

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A driver has died after going around a barricade and driving off the edge of a hurricane-damaged North Carolina highway that became a symbol of Hurricane Helene’s destruction.

Photos of Interstate 40 with multiple lanes washed out by Helene near the Tennessee state line drew widespread attention 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 that a vehicle had driven off eastbound I-40 and down an embankment on Saturday night, according to a news release from the Junaluska Community Volunteer Fire Department.

Crews rappelled down the embankment to reach the vehicle, which landed 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 was alone inside. She was extricated and taken to a hospital.

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 crash.

Mahoney headed westbound in eastbound lanes and went off the road around the 4-mile marker. 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 Helene washed away the eastbound lanes in four long swaths along the Pigeon River. The North Carolina Department of Transportation has said it expects to reopen one lane in each direction by the new year.