68-Vehicle Crash Kills 1, Injures Dozens

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

68-Vehicle Crash Kills 1, Injures Dozens

HAZLETON, Pa. (AP) -- A blinding snow squall caused a 68-vehicle pileup on an interstate highway in northeastern Pennsylvania, killing at least one motorist and injuring several dozen, authorities said.

The snow led to the mid-afternoon pileup on Interstate 81. Northbound lanes were shut down and motorists detoured.

A woman died when her car became wedged underneath a tractor-trailer, said Lt. Jason Zoshak of Hazleton Township Fire and Rescue. About 35 people were injured. And at least 24 people whose cars were not drivable were placed in shelters.

"They had a heavy snow squall going through the area, zero visibility, high winds," he said. "There were vehicles everywhere."

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INTERSTATE_CRASH?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[Mojorabbit]

1. How awful.

I wonder if it was an expected squall or blew up quickly.

[Tesha]

6. Mr. Tesha and I were driving in North Reading, MA yesterday...

> I wonder if it was an expected squall or blew up quickly.

Mr. Tesha and I were driving in North Reading, MA yesterday
when in the space of about 2 minutes we went from no precipitation
to a light rain to a downpour to a blizzard-like whiteout. The
white-out lasted about five minutes, then tapered off over the
next ten minutes. About an hour later, the skies were blue.

We were very glad that when this happened, we were on a quiet
secondary road and *NOT* the nearby interstate.

And yes, these were forecast but their exact timing was, of
course, unknown.

Tesha

[rocktivity]

9. Two of these blew from the NYC area yesterday

It got dark, then a blizzard, then a flurry, then sunshsine. And less after thirty minutes after I got in.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Tesha]

7. (Duplicate removed by author)

(removed by author)

[BayouBengal07]

2. Holy shit!

68 cars! Lucky there was only one death.

[krispos42]

3. Only one death?

Truly incredible.

It is amazing how much safer cars are nowadays. If this had happened twenty years ago...

[aquart]

4. That's exactly what jumped into my mind. Only one????

But it may not stay that way. 68 cars, my god. I'll bet GPS and cell phones saved lives tonight.

[ManiacJoe]

11. Exactly right: the cars are safer.

The engineers are making it harder and harder to die in a car crash.

Now, if we could do something about making the DRIVERS safer....

[TommyO]

5. I was up in Hazleton with friends on Saturday

They were telling me how bad that section of I-81 can get in fog and snow. Less than 24 hours later this happens. I live about 80-minutes from the area and we also had snow squalls which resulted in white-out conditions as well.

[Tesha]

8. These were amazing "stormlets"!

Mr. Tesha and I were driving in North Reading, MA yesterday
when in the space of about 2 minutes we went from no precipitation
to a light rain to a downpour to a blizzard-like whiteout. The
white-out lasted about five minutes, then tapered off over the
next ten minutes. About an hour later, the skies were blue.

We were very glad that when this happened, we were on a quiet
secondary road and *NOT* the nearby interstate.

And yes, these were forecast but their exact timing was, of
course, unknown.

Tesha

[0007]

10. This is what a Texan sez just before he's about to crash.

"Here hold this beer and watch this!!"