A local couple was rescued Sept. 27, after their car broke down on a remote mountain road.
The Cherokee County 911 Center received a call around 2:30 p.m. from a female, stating she and her boyfriend had their car break down and that they were lost. She identified herself as Felicia Anderson and her boyfriend as Matthew Blevins, both of Robbinsville.
The call was transferred to the Graham County 911 dispatcher who got in contact with the couple. Anderson stated that she was not worried about her car and that she just wanted out of the woods, as it was turning cold and her cell phone was almost dead.
After getting a fix on the location, the calls seemed to be coming from Graham County. Rescue Squad members Tory Lynnes and Harold Sellers believed that the couple was in the vicinity of Porterfield Gap, on the Graham/Cherokee County line.
Lynnes located the couple around 7 p.m. on an old woods road that is no longer maintained and is impassable for a two-wheel-drive vehicle. The couple had driven out this road until a rock ruptured the oil pan, which caused the engine to lock down. Anderson told Lynnes she had to walk a considerable distance to get a signal for her phone.
The couple had driven up Beaver Creek from Andrews to a U.S. Forest Service gravel road that led to Porterfield Gap and down to Little Snowbird Road in Graham County. Instead of taking that road, the couple had turned right onto the old road.
Lynnes and Sellers brought the couple down Little Snowbird Road and arrived in Robbinsville around 8:30 p.m.
Lynnes added it was going to be very difficult to get the car out of the area due to the condition of the road.