MARION, NC (WNCN) - The North Carolina National Guard was deployed to the North Carolina mountains after the western part of the state was pummeled with more than a foot and a half of snow Sunday.
Sunday afternoon, soldiers from a company with the 690th Brigade Support Battalion were sent to Marion from Greensboro.
The mission was to assist the North Carolina Department of Transportation with vehicle recovery, officials said.
Soldiers were helping to free ambulances, NCDOT plows and trucks, according to photos.
Many roads in the mountains were impassible thanks to at least a foot of snow through most of the mountains and areas of 18 inches were seen in many counties.
The snow is so deep that an NCDOT plow truck got stuck on a road in Newland in Avery County late Sunday morning. A snow plow and another DOT crew were deployed to assist the truck from a snow-filled ditch on Pittman's Gap Road.
In Burke County, the county's Emergency Management Services said Sunday that ambulances were getting stuck in snow "on almost every call."
Burke County EMS reported that "Only two National Guard Humvees have been assigned to Burke County despite requests."
Photos from Chesterfield Fire Rescue later Sunday showed at least one ambulance being pulled from deep snow by a Humvee.
The NC National Guard was deployed to nearby McDowell County. It's not clear if more resources were or will be sent to Burke County.
One photo Sunday evening showed the National Guard even helping on foot.
A guardsman with the 883rd Engineer Company from Winston-Salem was carrying a baby on a snow-covered road. Officials said he was taking the baby to Hudson, a town in Burke County.