Posted on 05/02/2023 1:15:30 AM PDT by Libloather
A massive car crash involving 72 vehicles in Farmersville, Illinois, Monday morning left at least six people dead and 37 people injured, police said.
According to Illinois State Police, the surviving victims - whose ages ranged between 2 years and 80 years old - were transported to local hospitals with various injuries. Some of whom are said to be in critical condition.
"At 10:55 a.m. there was a crash on northbound Interstate 55 at Milepost 76. At the same time, there were numerous crashes on southbound Interstate 55 at Milepost 76. The crashes occurred within a two-mile stretch - from roughly Milepost 76 to Milepost 78," the police statement read.
It continued: "Reports show there are six fatalities, all occurring in the northbound lanes. At this time, one decedent has been identified as 88-year-old Shirley Harper of Franklin, WI. The Montgomery County Corner’s Office is working diligently to identify the other five individuals and notify their families."
The lanes remained closed through the afternoon and into Tuesday morning.
"Once the interstate is clear of all vehicles, the Illinois Department of Transportation will have to inspect the roadway before it is re-opened," the police said.
At least two of the tractor-trailers involved caught fire.
State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said the crash was caused by a windstorm that kicked up clouds of dust.
"The cause of the crashes is due to excessive winds blowing dirt from farm fields across the highway, leading to zero visibility," Starrick said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Sounds like dustbowl days.
When conditions went from bad to worse I wonder if anybody slowed down? I notice when there’s a downpour a lot of people don’t slow down and as they pass me like it was clear conditions I sometimes think to myself “well, there’s an accident looking for a place to happen.”
Video and images at the link. What a mess.
But considering how people drive on interstates, it’s no surprise. It reminds me of that fire and fog combination in FL some years back that had a similar result. Massive interstate accident and several fatalities.
I am stunned how fast drivers are going down I-5 in our state. At one time, as these fools are rolling along at 90 mph, rain water caused the freeway to became filled with pools of water. These speedsters hydroplaned over those pools and went out of control off the road; rolling their car. Lucky they didn’t cause a pile-up. We drove by several sets of emergency vehicles tending to those reckless drivers.
I was driving through Illinois on I 57 just east of there at this same time. I drove through Effingham at around 11:00 AM. It was quite windy, but there was no dust at all. The thing that ‘impressed’ me the most was the plethora of Highway patrol and sheriff cars. I saw well over a half dozen. There must have been some sort of patrol concentration there. They were, obviously in the wrong place.
Prayers to the victims families.
In the Syracuse area, the same thing would happen on the snow covered I-81.
Conditions were terrible, and someone would be blasting by in the left hand lane in their honking big SUV with all season radials, then a couple miles up the interstate, you’d see the vehicle upside down in the median.
They thought they were so cool showing everyone how to do it and they were invincible.
Yeah, right.
Idiots.
I was driving up I-5 in Oregon one Thanksgiving weekend, driving at about 45 mph in the middle lane because there were big patches of packed snow and ice on the road.
Along comes a Chevy Blazer in the left lane, doing about 70 mph. He was maybe 50 yards ahead of me when his back end swung around to the left and suddenly he was sliding sideways across the three lanes. He ended up on the right shoulder, facing the wrong way.
I laughed...
I have as well.
“The cause of the crashes is due to excessive winds blowing dirt from farm fields across the highway,
= = =
It is Agriculture’s fault. Stop the farms.
The interstate reopened around 6 AM this morning. It took around 18 hours or so to clean up the scene.
https://www.wcia.com/news/isp-i-55-closed-due-to-large-crash-south-of-springfield/
Just speculating. Central Illinois has had some hit and miss rain in the area. It is entirely possible I57 has been in the rain corridor while sections of I55 haven’t.
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