Motorcycle shop owner victim of TN storm

TOWNSEND, TN - The owner of Frazier Harley Davidson in Buford was one of two people killed when storms tore through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park Thursday night.

Park spokeswoman Melissa Cobern confirmed that Ralph Frazier, Jr., 50, was killed by a falling tree during the storm as he traveled near Townsend Wye.

Cobern said a female passenger on Frazier's motorcycle was not injured. The dealership's web site said the woman sustained an injury to her leg, but is okay and back home.

A 41-year-old woman also was killed by a falling tree in another part of the park in a separate incident, according to Cobern.

The storms struck Thursday evening at the west end of the 500,000-acre park on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. Most of the damage appeared to be in the popular Cades Cove area of the park and in communities just outside the park boundaries.

The storm hit around 6 p.m., blowing down many trees from Metcalf Bottoms across Cades Cove to the Abrams Creek section of the park.

Multiple injuries were reported.

At last report, National Park Service officials have closed access to Cades Cove.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.