Nov. 11 -- A woman who initially survived a 100-foot tumble after driving over the edge of a missing section of Interstate 40 has since died from her injuries.
The driver, who has not yet been identified, drove around barricades to access a section of I-40 with numerous washed out segments. She was airlifted following a nighttime rope rescue by volunteer firefighters.
"You don't need to be driving around these barricades," Junaluska Fire Chief Charles Wood said. "They're there to protect the motoring public from accidents like this."
The driver got on I-40 at mile marker 7 in Haywood County, ignoring the barricades across the road. She was heading west toward Tennessee, however, went up the off ramp and was heading west in the east bound lanes.
The east bound lanes -- on the outside edge closest to the river -- suffered significant damage from Hurricane Helene when the Pigeon River undercut the road bed, causing portions of I-40 to slough away. Both east bound lanes are completely missing in some segments.
The barricades are manned by troopers. Law enforcement officers pursued the driver, trying to stop her before she got to the missing section, but to no avail.
"They were pursuing her when she drove off the edge of the interstate," Wood said.
The accident occurred just after 8 p.m. Saturday. The vehicle landed at the bottom of an embankment, stopping just short of tumbling into the river itself.
By the time the Junaluska Fire Department arrived, two North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers had already reached the vehicle. They scrambled down the steep, rocky embankment in the dark and pulled the driver out through the sunroof.
The challenge, however, was getting her back up the bank again.
Two rescue techs with the Junaluska Fire Department rappelled down to the driver. Grassy Fork Fire Department from Tennessee responded, as well, and also sent two rescue techs down the bank.
"We had to set up a rope system to bring them back up the bank," Wood said. "Once we got her up the bank, we transferred her over to EMS that came out of Cocke County. They took her to an LZ (landing zone) we had, and a helicopter took her to the hospital."
The driver succumbed to her injuries Sunday morning, Wood said.
Wood said that area of the interstate has its fair share of accidents, but this one was different than anything he's ever seen.
"We've had a lot of accidents there, but we've not had anybody go over like this and be down the bank like this one was," Wood said.