Heavy snow and ice in Indiana led to a huge pileup of 45 cars and trucks.
On Saturday morning on the eastbound I-70 highway in Vigo county near the town Terre Haute, the bad weather caused vehicles to lose control on the road. A spokesperson for nearby Riley Fire Department told WTWO 2 it was the largest wreck they had ever attended.
Footage shows cars and trucks backed into each other along the highway, which Indiana State Police Public Information Officer Matt Ames said took about six hours to clean up.
But despite the large number of vehicles involved in the crash, there were no serious injuries, Ames said.
In multiple video messages on Facebook, Ames urged drivers stay vigilant on the roads with the cold snap set to continue.
“Folks if you could stay home, just you stay home,” he said. “People just need to drive smart when the snow starts falling, reduce your speed, make sure you’re buckled up and lets just all be safe out there.
“This shutdown is expected to be at least six hours to get cleanup. We’ve got multiple commercial vehicles and of course multiple passenger vehicles involved in this.”
After hours of cleaning, Ames said the road was open again but warned it was snowing again so people needed to remain vigilant.
“Good news is we’ve got interstate 70 opened back up at the 15 mile mark around Vigo county, bad news is guess what it’s starting to snow again,” he said. “If you don’t have to take any unnecessary trips please stay home.”
A major winter storm caused travel chaos across the Midwest over the weekend, with Terre Haute recording 3.7 inches of snowfall.
The bad weather occurred during the Thanksgiving holiday when many people were traveling so the roads were particularly busy. Flight tracking website FlightAware also recorded more than 2,000 cancellations.
Brenda Deter, a 50-year-old massage therapist from Fort Wayne, was just one of the many people forced to drive when their flight was cancelled.
“Everything got canceled going to Fort Wayne, so I’m working on getting a refund and renting a car,” she toldThe New York Times. “We’ll have to drive three hours in the snow now.”
