Thread: So much of Gatlinburg TN. GONE

So much of Gatlinburg gone


BREAKING NEWS
Wildfires scorch at least 250 buildings in eastern Tennessee

• Houses destroyed and relatives missing
• Watch: Flames engulf TN hotel
• Fires scorch Southeast

Wildfires scorch Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, destroying homes and businesses

By Jason Hanna, Artemis Moshtaghian and Madison Park, CNN
Updated 4:06 PM ET, Tue November 29, 2016

Gatlinburg, Tennessee (CNN)Wildfires damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings in and near eastern Tennessee's resort towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge in a dizzying 24 hours, officials said.

Responders still are trying to evaluate the destruction caused by the flames that spread with little warning from the Great Smoky Mountains.

"Ash was raining down like snow," said Jonathan Frye, who evacuated his home Monday night with his wife and children.
Frye is a chef at Dollywood and lives just a few miles from the park. He said the smoke was so thick it was hard to see the car in front of him as he drove away from the fires, which he could see from his doorstep. His home was not damaged.

Some major tourist attractions appeared to have been spared by the fires that spread to the communities Monday evening, and Gatlinburg's fire chief said the worst appeared to be over Tuesday morning.

Gatlinburg fire victims: Houses torched, relatives missing

But many homes and businesses in the Gatlinburg area have been destroyed by the fires, which strong winds pushed from the wooded mountains into the more-inhabited areas Monday afternoon, authorities said. And officials were working to assess how much has been damaged in a vacation hub now enveloped by dingy smoke.


Thick smoke looms in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on Monday November 28.


Wildfires have burned in parts of the Southeast for weeks, fueled by the region's worst drought in nearly a decade.

Here's what you need to know:
• More than 14,000 residents and visitors are believed to have been evacuated from Gatlinburg alone, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday morning. Evacuations also have been ordered in other communities, including Pigeon Forge.
• About 12 people were taken to hospitals, mostly with non-life-threatening injuries, Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said. Three with burns were taken to the Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, the hospital said.
• Among the hundreds of structures destroyed in the area, more than 100 were in Gatlinburg, Mayor Mike Werner said Tuesday morning. That includes a 16-story hotel and an apartment complex, TEMA said. More than 150 other structures in the county are believed damaged or destroyed.
• Werner said he believes his house is among those lost. "But things can be rebuilt. Our downtown's intact, and that's really great for our economy" and the city's future, the mayor said. "We will rebuild, and we will remain the premier resort community that we are. ... It will be OK."
• Miller said about 14 active structure fires remained in the city Tuesday morning, but because winds have died down, "the worst is definitely over with."
• Fires were at the edge of the Dollywood theme park in nearby Pigeon Forge on Tuesday morning, officials said.
• All 1,500 animals at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg are safe, the aquarium said on Twitter. Staff members were forced to evacuate from the attraction on Monday.

'Like a perfect storm'





Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast

Fires burn on both sides of Highway 441 between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, on Monday, November 28. Gatlinburg city officials have declared mandatory evacuations in several areas as firefighters battle at least 14 fires in and around the city. More than 30 large wildfires have left a trail of destruction through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, according to the US Forest Service.

Follow
GreatSmokyNPS @GreatSmokyNPS

Due to continued erratic winds, the fires are very unpredictable and more fire growth is expected.
5:14 PM - 28 Nov 2016

• 
  
• 
  631631 Retweets
• 
  345345 likes

Elsewhere, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park evacuated employees from the Elkmont and park headquarters housing areas on Monday.
Facebook activated its safety check feature.

Rain could bring relief


Up to a half-inch of rain fell Monday night into Tuesday morning, and that might be enough to "virtually stop the spread of the fires," said Bill Gabbert, managing editor of WildfireToday.com and former executive director of the International Association of Wildland Fire.
But it wouldn't be enough to extinguish them, he said. There still will be smoldering logs and burning areas protected by trees, and it will take a thorough soaking to put the fires out.
What could help more is a batch of storms expected to hit the area early Wednesday into Thursday. They could drop 2 to 3 inches of rain, CNN Meteorologist Dave Hennen said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/29/us/gat...res/index.html

This is so tragic. Hope they get more rain!

All of TN and NC and SC need rain! It is the middle of Fall and we are in severe drought conditions. We had heavy rains with Hurricane Mathew and then all the rains stopped and most of those did not even reach Tennessee!

W

Rain finally comes to fire-ravaged Tennessee — along with tornadoes, mudslides and the threat of floods

Los Angeles Times

- ‎5 hours ago‎

At long last, rain fell on the scorched Appalachian town of Gatlinburg, Tenn., on Wednesday after savage wildfires blazed across eastern Tennessee, killing seven people, forcing thousands to evacuate and burning hundreds of homes to the ground.