At least three people have died after a snowstorm led to a multi-vehicle crash on a Pennsylvania highway on Monday, state coroner’s office spokesman John Mika confirmed to CNN.
Heavy fog and precipitation caused a mass accident of about 40 vehicles on Interstate 81. About 20 people were taken to area hospitals, according to John Blickley, deputy emergency management coordinator for Schuylkill County.
More than two dozen firefighters responded to the accident, where several vehicles were on fire, Blickley said.
The pile-up happened shortly after 10:30 am on Monday in the north lanes of Interstate 81, near mile 116, Blickley said. The location is about 50 miles west of Allentown. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation wrote in a tweet Monday morning that all lanes on the highway were closed near the accident.
Mike Moye was one of those involved in the accident and captured video of the chaos. he told the CNN who was driving on I-81 when snow and fog made it difficult to see the road, so he pulled his Dodge Charger to the side of the road.
“I thought it was going to be okay. I thought the cars in the back would know how to slow down, but no one slowed down. They kept piling up,” he told the CNN.
Moye got out of his car and veered off the road and began filming as a series of cars and trucks skidded down the road and slammed into the backs of other vehicles.
In the video, a black sedan crashes into a highway sign; an 18-wheel white truck slams into the back of two other vehicles; two other cars slam into the rear of the 18-wheeler; and a minivan leaves the road. A vehicle then comes flying into the wreckage and crashes into the black sedan and Moye’s car as he yells, “Watch out!”
On the road, huge clouds of smoke rise from a truck that caught fire, the video shows. Moye was not hurt, he told the CNN.
Other videos show the consequences of pile-up. Drone footage of the scene shows dozens of cars and trucks pointed in various directions along the road.
A snowstorm alert for the county and several others in Pennsylvania was in effect as of 1:30 pm, the National Weather Service said.
A blizzard is an intense period of moderate to heavy snowfall of limited duration that is accompanied by strong surface winds and possibly lightning. Snow accumulation can be significant.
A strong arctic front moved through the region of New York and New England on Monday, bringing flurries of snow that were supposed to lead to dangerous travel conditions.
There was no snowstorm warning issued for the crash site at the time the crash happened.
However, a narrow swath of snow was falling nearby and on I-81 based on radar data analyzed by meteorologists from the CNN. Winds of over 20 mph were reported in the region, which could have resulted in poor visibility.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
