Woman recounts escape from flash flood at Dollywood theme park
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PIGEON FORGE, Tennessee (WLOS) — An East Tennessee woman is sharing her story after making it out of Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park on Sunday, July 28 during flash flooding.
Strong thunderstorms caused high water to move so fast that parts of the park looked like a river.
Jada Bates, who lives just outside of Knoxville, was there with her adopted grandchild and two of her friends. She said they were able to find shelter within the park for about an hour.
They have benches for people to stop and rest and those were floating,” she said. “It was just nothing like I had ever seen before. Eventually, she decided that the rain had slowed down enough to try and make it out and to their car.
She says luckily, the water was still low enough near her car, and her group was able to get in and head towards a park exit.
“My thought was: we’ve got to get to the car to see if the car’s still out there and to see if we were going to be able to get home,” she said.
Bates filmed some of the experience on her cell phone, which shows parts of the park with so much flooding that it was almost unrecognizable.
Earlier this week, park officials said one person suffered minor injuries.
In a statement, they added that they worked with those whose cars were affected by flooding. They are now focusing on evaluating the park’s infrastructure to see if any changes need to be made.
As for Bates, she said she plans on heading back to the theme park soon, but next time, she will be better prepared.
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