A driver is dead after ignoring warning signs, blowing past barricades and tumbling down an embankment on a highway damaged by Hurricane Helene.

HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C. ( WBTV /Gray News) - An evening drive turned disastrous over the weekend after a woman drove her SUV around barriers and plunged down an embankment along a hurricane-damaged stretch of Interstate 40 in North Carolina.

Officials say a driver has died after going around a barricade on a hurricane-damaged North Carolina highway that became a symbol of Helene’s destruction.

A 63-year-old woman, Patricia Mahoney of Southern Pines, North Carolina, died after driving around a barricade and off a hurricane-damaged stretch of Interstate 40 that had been severely eroded by Hurricane Helene.

Debris torn from Western North Carolina and East Tennessee by flooding rivers largely dumped into one East Tennessee reservoir, and the cleanup of a hazardous debris field is taking the coordination of local,

Officials with the North Carolina Department of Transportation estimate that a portion of I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge will be open to traffic by the start of the new year.

North Carolina Hurricane Helene victims are struggling and feeling forgotten as winter approaches. Temperatures are dropping, and many hurricane survivors are living in tents or trailers without insulation.

Christmas In Action, Midland partnered with Heroes for Humanity and the Anglican Relief and Disaster Fund to connect with those affected by the storms.

Seven weeks after Hurricane Helene damaged parts of the southeast, students in one western North Carolina county are still out of school.

Heavy rain fell across parts of western North Carlina on Thursday for the first time since the devastating flooding event from Hurricane Helene and many continue to rebuild their homes.