Gatlinburg wildfires: Rain helps, hurts firefighting efforts

He said the wind and rain also cleared vegetation and created several mudslides and rockslides in the area.

Tod Hyslop, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Morristown, Tennessee, says the Gatlinburg area got about ¾ of an inch to 1 inch of rain overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

Friends said all three brothers play in a band together and moved to Nashville from Cordova to pursue their music careers.

The park wasn’t damaged, a spokesman said, but the fire was perilously close.

Wildfires have been spreading for weeks in the Southeast, where a severe drought persists.

U.S. Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander said they would work with local authorities to ensure funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was timely and useful.

A Memphis couple is missing as fires rage through Gatlinburg.

Eighty people have been treated at LeConte Medical Center for fire-related injuries, authorities said, with some still hospitalized.

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) – Crews discovered the remains of three more people as they searched the rubble of wildfires that torched hundreds of homes and businesses near the Great Smoky Mountains, bringing the death toll to 10, officials said Thursday. “And that grew and that grew and that grew”, Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said. Her son Lyle Wood said his mother and brother lived in a home at Chalet Village in Gatlinburg and she frantically called his brother Monday night because the house had caught fire. And while several brush fires had flared up that evening, there was “some relief” when rains poured down on Wednesday.

The fires first threatened neighborhoods Monday night. Wildfires started in the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park and spread quickly to neighbouring countryside.

Winds knocked down power lines – contributing to thousands losing electricity. The mayor said the three were OK. “The President expressed his deepest condolences for the lives lost in the fire as well as his sympathies for the affected residents who may have lost their homes or businesses”, read a statement from the White House.

Smoke filled their truck as they hurtled past blazing, burned-out structures. “Not one single warning on the news, and you’re telling me nobody knew nearly every cabin in Chalet Village is burning to the freaking ground?”

Dozens of guests and staff found themselves trapped inside the Park Vista, a modern, high-rise hotel perched on a ridge above downtown Gatlinburg.

“The road was on fire and every house was engulfed in flames”. General Manager Ryan DeSears told WBIR-TV the building was still standing and staff members were anxious to return to check on the well-being of the animals.

Two days later, some Gatlinburg residents continued to search frantically for loved ones. Morrison and his wife, Shirley, lost their home, a few cars and three cats in the fire. “We got disconnected and I have not been able to get in touch with her since”. More than 700 structures in Sevier County were damaged in the fire, about 300 of them in Gatlinburg. At least 53 people were taken to hospitals. As I said earlier this morning, we’re strong.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol went door to door Wednesday checking on residents and sharing information about shelters – Gatlinburg was still under a mandatory evacuation order.

Road were still closed on Wednesday, according to the state department of transportation, as more than 100 members of the Tennessee National Guard helped transportation and utility workers remove debris from roads into and out of town.

The containment of the fire, mostly to the upper part of the property, means the main campus remains landscaped and accessible, said Waltrip.

“It’s a devastating time for us, and for Gatlinburg”, Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner said.