A barrage of showers and thunderstorms spread across eastern Tennessee on Sunday, causing significant flooding at Dolly Parton’s theme park, Dollywood, and injuring at least one person, officials said.
On Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service in Morristown issued a flash flood warning for the region, including the town of Pigeon Forge, where Dollywood is, until nearly 11 p.m. Within hours, rising waters had made what would typically be a pleasant afternoon of food, music and entertainment into a drenching experience.
Brandon Wasilewski, a meteorologist with the weather service in Morristown, said early Monday that he estimated between 3 and 5 inches of rain fell over the Pigeon Forge area over a two-hour period Sunday.
Videos and pictures posted to social media showed walkways inside the park covered in water as guests sloshed their way to safety.
Parking lots on the edge of the park also appeared to be dangerous. Guests were forced to wade through rising waters to reach their cars, some of which were partially submerged.
Dollywood officials said in a statement on social media that local police and fire departments had helped guests reach safety during the storm, but one person sustained minor injuries.
“Dollywood is supporting guests whose vehicles were affected by this weather event, and cleanup crews have been deployed,” the statement said.
The park was scheduled to reopen Monday at noon, although it was unclear if any parts of the park had been damaged or if the park planned to compensate guests who visited Sunday. A request for comment Monday was not immediately returned.
The Pigeon Forge Police Department said Sunday evening on Facebook that the rain had caused a road to collapse at the park’s entrance.
Some visitors at the park during the deluge later complained on social media that park employees were not more helpful, with one woman stating that her disabled mother was nearly swept away by floodwaters as she attempted to walk down a path.
More wet weather was expected across the region Monday, according to the weather service. Showers and thunderstorms will cover the area through the morning hours and into the afternoon, bringing between a tenth and a quarter of an inch of additional rainfall.
Dollywood, which sits on more than 150 acres in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, opened in 1986. It sees more than 2 million visitors each year.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Originally Published:
