A landslide has damaged or destroyed four houses in the North Carolina mountains, but no injuries were reported.

Authorities say the mud began moving around 7 p.m. Friday, heading down a road near Maggie Valley.

State Geological Service senior geologist Rick Wooten told The Citizen-Times of Asheville that the wall of debris was 30 feet high and moved 3,000 feet down the mountain, clearing a path more than 50 yards wide.

Wooten says if the landslide had hit a house directly, there likely would have been fatalities. Five people died in a 2004 landslide about 30 miles away.

Officials are still trying to determine what caused the slide, but forecasters say 2 1/2 inches of rain fell in the area Friday on top of at least 6 inches of slowly melting snow.

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A landslide has damaged or destroyed at least four houses in the North Carolina mountains, but no injuries were reported.

Multiple media outlets reported the mud began moving around 7 p.m. Friday, heading down a road near Maggie Valley.

Authorities immediately began evacuating about 40 other people living on the mountain, using all-terrain vehicles to get through the mud and up the mountain.

Officials are still trying to determine what caused the slide, but the National Weather Service says as much as 2 1/2 inches of rain fell in the area Friday on top of at least 6 inches of slowly melting snow.