Bridal Veil Falls is located beside U.S. 64 near Highlands in Western North Carolina.
Bridal Veil Falls is near the mountain town of Highlands in western North Carolina.
Neither the patient's identity nor their condition has been released to the public. Investigators have not said how the SUV ended up under the waterfall, leaving the circumstances of the plunge unresolved for now.
A Waterfall Once Famous for Driving Through It
Bridal Veil Falls has a strange claim to fame in North Carolina highway history. U.S. 64 originally routed traffic directly behind the cascade, making it the only waterfall in the state that motorists could drive under, until hazardous icing during freezing weather pushed state transportation officials to reroute the highway around the front of the falls in the mid-20th century, according to Wikipedia.
The old drive-through loop did not disappear entirely, though it stopped carrying through-traffic decades ago. In 2003, a massive boulder slid from the cliff face and was removed by a local developer in July 2007. Visitors are still allowed to walk behind the waterfall on foot, according to Romantic Asheville.
Diminished Flow, Dramatic Scenery
Water flow over Bridal Veil Falls can shrink to a trickle during drought and swell into a heavy sheet during wet mountain weather, since Bridal Veil is fed by a small tributary rather than the main river, Romantic Asheville notes.
The falls are fed by a tributary in the Nantahala National Forest, according to Sherpa Guides.
A Corridor Known for Rescues and Roadway Hazards
Highlands Fire & Rescue leadership has asked Macon County for budget adjustments to expand daytime staffing and maintain specialized rescue apparatus, according to Citizen Portal.
Technical rope and swiftwater rescues are not new to this corridor. Crews from Highlands Fire & Rescue and the surrounding Cullasaja Gorge area have long responded to waterfall emergencies along U.S. 64, including a fatal 2009 entrapment rescue at Quarry Falls downriver from Bridal Veil, according to WFMY News 2. The narrow, winding gorge has also drawn state regulatory attention: in July 2024, Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 593 into law, imposing steep civil weight-based penalties on heavy commercial vehicles using the Cullasaja Gorge section of U.S. 64 in an effort to cut down on dangerous roadway incidents that strain local responders, per CDLLife.
Run-off-road crashes remain a persistent safety concern on the mountainous stretches of U.S. 64 more broadly. North Carolina Department of Transportation evaluations found that installing roadside barriers significantly reduced the severity of off-road vehicle incidents on the corridor's steep slopes, according to Connect NCDOT. It remains unclear whether such barriers played any role, or were absent, at the site where Saturday's SUV went over the embankment.
