Storm hits while rescue workers respond to ATV accident

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — Burke County rescue workers fought a severe thunderstorm and rough, mountain terrain to get to a couple stranded up this mountainside.
 
The couple was celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary when the ATV they were riding flipped.
 
Rescuer said it was a steep part of the mountainside that the ATV overturned backward. 
    
Halfway into the rescue volunteers not only had to deal with the rugged conditions but the weather overhead.  
 
Far below where the rescue took place, a Channel 9 reporter could see the lightning off in the distance and hear the thunder as the storm moved closer.   
 
At the Brown Mountain off-road vehicle park, a woman was injured while riding with her husband.   
 
Forty-five minutes into the rescue, the storm hit. 
 
"It came in pretty quick on us. Torrential rainfall for probably 15-20 minutes. Lightning bouncing around,"
 said Cameron Taylor with Burke County Rescue Squad. "Plus we're sitting on rocks too and dealing with slippery rocks trying to get her down off the rocks."
 
The rescuers said with nowhere to take cover they kept moving on the rocks getting the injured rider into a basket for the 30-minute ride back out.
 
By the time Channel 9 saw them, the storm had moved out but everyone was still drenched. It is one rescue volunteers said they won't forget. 
 
"We had to keep going in the rain. We had a mission to do and we had to get through it. No matter any rain or lightning," said Dakota Davis with Oak Hill Fire Department.
       
The woman injured here was taken to Carolinas Medical Center-Morganton.  Rescuers said they don't think her injuries are serious.

WSOC