Entire homes were demolished after a massive landslide in the North Carolina mountains.
The homes and several cars are now buried under dirt along Highway 194 west of Newland.
Officials said it could take a month before the major highway in Avery County is back open.
The ground was so unstable that Channel 9 reporter Dave Faherty had to be escorted into the area.
Faherty talked with two families who were able to escape the landslide alive.
It is a night Heather Bailey, her husband and her 5-year-old daughter will never forget.
"We seen the lights flicker and my husband went to the door and he said, 'Run.' So I grabbed our youngest daughter and ran to the door," Bailey said.
Three lanes of the highway are gone as nearly 100 yards of the road gave way around 11 p.m. Monday.
Bailey's brother-in-law lives next door, and somehow he and his family climbed out once the slide stopped.
"I had to climb up a wall and I was holding on to carpet and remember climbing through a hole, me and my little girl," said homeowner Charles Bailey.
Channel 9 had to cut an interview with Fire Marshal David Vance short as more the hillside gave way.
The families lost much of what they owned.
Roy Bailey couldn't believe the extent of the damage when the sun camp up Tuesday morning.
He is just glad his sons and their families weren't hurt.
"It sounded like fireworks, like the Fourth of July. It was power lines and the whole hillside going out," Bailey said.
Vance said it is hard to estimate how long it will take to make the repairs because more on the mountainside could give way.
Early estimates are at least a month.
The homes and several cars are now buried under dirt along Highway 194 west of Newland.
Officials said it could take a month before the major highway in Avery County is back open.
The ground was so unstable that Channel 9 reporter Dave Faherty had to be escorted into the area.
Faherty talked with two families who were able to escape the landslide alive.
It is a night Heather Bailey, her husband and her 5-year-old daughter will never forget.
"We seen the lights flicker and my husband went to the door and he said, 'Run.' So I grabbed our youngest daughter and ran to the door," Bailey said.
Three lanes of the highway are gone as nearly 100 yards of the road gave way around 11 p.m. Monday.
Bailey's brother-in-law lives next door, and somehow he and his family climbed out once the slide stopped.
"I had to climb up a wall and I was holding on to carpet and remember climbing through a hole, me and my little girl," said homeowner Charles Bailey.
Channel 9 had to cut an interview with Fire Marshal David Vance short as more the hillside gave way.
The families lost much of what they owned.
Roy Bailey couldn't believe the extent of the damage when the sun camp up Tuesday morning.
He is just glad his sons and their families weren't hurt.
"It sounded like fireworks, like the Fourth of July. It was power lines and the whole hillside going out," Bailey said.
Vance said it is hard to estimate how long it will take to make the repairs because more on the mountainside could give way.
Early estimates are at least a month.
WSOC
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