Rock slides and flooding close damaged section of I-40 in Smoky Mountains

Heavy rain, flooding and a rock slide have again closed a section of the major cross country highway Interstate 40 along its narrow corridor through the Great Smoky Mountains. The slide and flood happened Wednesday afternoon around mile marker 450 in Tennessee, just to the west of the state line with North Carolina. Transportation officials have not said when they think the road could be reopened. The flooded section is part of 12 miles of I-40 in North Carolina and Tennessee that was washed away or heavily damaged by flooding that roared through the Pigeon River gorge during Hurricane Helene in late September. Crews reopened one narrow lane in each direction in March.