No Place Is Safe, Apparently: Famed Dollywood Theme Park Flooded Out, But Like Dolly Parton, It Can't Be Defeated

People fleeing through floodwaters at 
Dollywood in Tennessee this past Sunday.
Photo via X by @ParkFanatic

Lord knows we in Vermont have had our big problems with flash flooding lately, but the weather gods, climate change or whatever is trying to take down everything with water. 

Case in point:  The famed Dollywood Theme Park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee was swamped by a big flash flood July 28 that had hundreds of visitors fleeing muddy, quickly rising water. 

Slow moving, intense storms moved over Dollywood Sunday afternoon, dumping 4.5 inches of rain in just a few hours. Park officials, along with the Pigeon Forge police and fire departments, hastily ushered guests out of the park as water quickly rose.

They managed to get hundreds of people out of the park with only one minor injury, which is great considering how dangerous flash floods are. 

Video and photos on social media showed visitors struggling through water that was as much as waist deep.  Several cars in parking lots were ruined by the high, rushing water. Others walked through, and then drove through ankle deep water to escape. 

Several cars were destroyed when parking lots flooded. "Dollywood is supporting guests whose vehicles were affected by this weather event, and cleanup crews have been deployed," park officials stated in post on X, formerly Twitter.

Like Dolly Parton, the park's indomitable namesake, Dollywood rose from the mud and water quickly enough to reopen by noon the next day, less than 24 hours after the deluge.