CNN
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Dolly Parton’s theme park was on Zoe Ballesteros’ bucket list, and when the California resident started planning a trip to Philadelphia to see Arsenal play this week, she decided to stop in Tennessee to add Dollywood to her list.
But instead of enjoying the energy, amusement park food, rides and shows that the famous country singer’s theme park and resort had to offer — Ballesteros’ brief two-hour visit ended with her soaked in the murky floodwaters caused by a downpour — Mother Nature instead decided to bring her to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, home of Dollywood, on Sunday evening.
A flood warning was issued for central Sevier County in eastern Tennessee, including Pigeon Forge, at 5:39 p.m. National Weather ServiceAt the time the warning was issued, “1.5 to 2.5 inches” of rain had fallen in the previous hour. When the warning was extended at 9:33 p.m., the National Weather Service said 4 to 5 inches of rain had fallen in the Pigeon Forge area. A local road at the entrance to the park collapsed due to the rain. Pigeon Forge Police Department Said.
Dollywood visitors fled the park as brown floodwaters spilled over the sidewalks and into the parking lot, and images on social media showed people helping each other wade through knee-deep water, some carrying small children, to get to their cars, some of which were also submerged in high water.
Among those fleeing the park was Sarah Myers and her family of six. Myers, who lives 45 minutes away, has been going to Dollywood since she was a child. Her family has season passes and has visited the park when it rained before, but Sunday’s storm was “definitely of a different nature,” Myers said.
“It went from funny and ironic to terrifying,” Myers recalled, as she and her husband, holding their 6-year-old in their arms, pushed a stroller and walked slowly through the floodwaters to their van with their children, ages 8, 12 and 14.
“At one point, my husband said it was like we were in a race on the Oregon Trail, ‘Who’s going to survive?'” Myers said.
One minor injury was reported, Dollywood Park statement Dollywood spokesman Wes Ramey told CNN in an email on Monday that Dollywood could not confirm the specifics of the injuries.
“Dollywood is assisting guests whose vehicles were damaged by this weather event and has deployed cleanup crews,” the statement said.
While the park has tried to keep visitors informed on social media, some visitors have expressed frustration with X, complaining that not enough is being done to help visitors evacuate safely.
Ballesteros and two family members purchased their tickets at 5:18 p.m., but the parking lot had already started to flood, she said, and she didn’t realize the situation inside the park until she was inside.
“You could actually enter the park and walk just a few hundred yards to see murky water cascading,” she said. “A few shops and the Dolly Experience were open, but there were no rides or shows.”
“Most of the employees said they’d never seen anything like it,” said Ballesteros, who plans to return at a later date and hopes to be refunded the roughly $300 she paid for tickets.
Dollywood’s policy is to offer rain tickets or refunds if patrons request them, Ramey said.
The park was scheduled to open at its usual time of noon on Monday.
CNN’s Carol Alvarado contributed to this report.
