Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge evacuated due to wildfires

Officials in Gatlinburg said Monday that fire threatened the city’s Mynatt Park neighborhood.

In a statement released by her publicists, she said she had been watching the “terrible fires” in the Great Smoky Mountains, and added: “I am praying for all the families affected by the fire and the firefighters who are working so hard to keep everyone safe”.

With flames dripping from tree branches and the air filled with embers, thousands of people raced through a hellish landscape as they fled wildfires that killed three people and destroyed hundreds of homes and a resort in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Despite evacuation orders, some people – including guests at one Gatlinburg hotel – could not safely leave the area as the fire advanced.

The mountain is part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where “extreme weather conditions. led to the exponential spread of fires”, park officials said.

The Dollywood DreamMore Resort and its Smoky Mountain cabins were also ordered to evacuate as the fire approached.

Strong winds pushed the fires from the mountains into the more-inhabited areas Monday afternoon, destroying the homes and businesses in the Gatlinburg area, officials said. Severe wind gusts of over 80 miles per hour, unprecedented low relative humidity, and extended drought conditions caused the fire burning in the National Park to spread rapidly and unpredictably, in spite of suppression efforts on Sunday that included helicopter water drops.

In Mississippi, trees were reported downed Monday in almost 20 counties across the state. More than 11,500 people didn’t have power on Tuesday morning. The fate of that structure is not known, nor is the popular “arts trail” between the city hall and Dollywood.

“I have no clue”, he says.

A storm system moving across the South announced itself in MS with hours of wind before heavy rains arrived. At least three counties have requested water for residents whose wells have run completely dry of water.

One seventh grader said it was tough to breathe as they left the school. Photos taken by Willingham show a tree branch plunged through the roof.

“And with the windy conditions expected today, it gives the fires likely a chance to spread”.

The storms moved across Alabama on Monday night and fell on Georgia during the overnight hours.

No fatalities had been reported as of Tuesday morning but officials reported four people suffered burn injuries. Additional ground firefighters were also requested to help with suppression efforts in anticipation of predicted winds for Monday afternoon. Several of the largest fires are in Georgia and North Carolina.

“This is so close to the resort, so close”, she said while driving by flames.

The rain forecast “puts the bull’s-eye of the greatest amounts right at the bull’s-eye of where we’ve been having our greatest activity”, said Dave Martin, deputy director of operations for fire and aviation management with the southern region of the U.S. Forest Service.

Outages are concentrated in central and southeast MS, according to power providers. “And bringing our dog to a kennel”, said Froelich. Rainfall amounts will average a quarter to half of an inch, with isolated higher amounts of up to an inch possible.

Rain forecast for Wednesday should help the area after weeks of punishing drought, but the bone-dry ground should soak up the moisture quickly, forecasters said.