7-year-old girl dies in Great Smoky Mountains National Park after tree falls on her tent
A 7-year-old girl was killed after a tree fell on her tent while she and her family slept in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, according to a news release from the National Park Service.
Park rangers responded to an emergency in the Elkmont Campground at around 12:30 a.m. on July 27 after the tree fell on the girl, who is from Georgia. Other family members, including her father and two siblings, were not injured, the release said.
The large tree — a red maple — was about two feet in diameter.
The Elkmont Campground is located between Gatlinburg and Townsend. Emergency responders from Gatlingburg Fire Department, Gatlingburg Police Department and the National Park Service responded to the site, the release said. The campsite affected and adjacent campsites were closed, while Elkmont Campground remains open.
The area is under a flash flood threat with storm chances increasing this weekend, according to CBS affiliate WVLT in Knoxville. Storms continued to pop up Thursday in southeastern Kentucky and east Tennessee.