Rockslide closes North Carolina highway for second time in a month, officials say
A rockslide has closed a western North Carolina highway for the second time in a month, officials say.
U.S. Highway 19/74 in the Nantahala Gorge in Topton is closed for the rest of Thursday and for part of the day on Friday, according to a release from the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Crews are working to remove mud and debris from the area, the release says.
“There’s probably 50 or 60 truck loads of material in there that we’ll have to haul away,” division 14 maintenance engineer Wesley Grindstaff said in the release. “It’s not all on the road, but that’s what we’ll have to remove.”
The slide also changed the drainage path and crews are working to fix that to prevent more debris, the release says.
Topton is in Cherokee County, which got “excessive rainfall” and is under a flood warning Thursday evening, according to the National Weather Service.
Multiple road closures and “flooded streams” were reported in the area, NWS says.
The location of the slide is “troublesome,” the release says, and another slide closed the highway last month.
Drivers traveling west will be detoured to N.C. 28 to N.C. 143 and U.S. 129, then back to U.S. 19/74, the release says. Eastbound drivers should take the route in reverse.
The detour will add about 20 minutes to a commute, the release says.
