Family stuck for hours after rockslide and flooding shuts down highway

By Nate Stanley

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    COLFAX, North Carolina (WYFF) — A family was stuck on the highway for three hours as they were surrounded by flooding and rock slides.

It started as a normal road trip for the Yoder family, coming back from a trip Wednesday in Pennsylvania, when rain started to roll in.

“My husband’s family owns Yoder’s Country Market there in Pulse Gap, so we stopped there and got drinks and snacks for the way home and left. We were on the road for about an hour, and it was starting to storm,” Amber Yoder said. “There was a lot of, like, more water on the road. And as vehicles were passing us, we were getting all of this is getting sprayed over on us. But it was not just water. It was like sludge and mud. Traffic really slowed down and then it stopped, and it was still really raining, so we couldn’t really see what was going on in front of us for a little while.”

What was going on was a flash flood and rock slide around the highway. The Yoders’ car was between two separate washouts.

“There’s water in front of us. There’s water behind us. There was a rockslide. We aren’t going anywhere,” she said.

After waiting on the road for three hours, the Yoders were finally able to move and get back to their trip home.

“We were within seconds of being one of the ones in the water, and we didn’t realize until we were detoured just how fast that water rose behind us. So that reality was kind of hitting on the way home. And even yesterday it was just like that, like, God kept us safe,” Yoder said.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation said the road near Exit 451 should be shut down for two weeks as crews work on repairs.

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