Blowing Dust Leads to Pile-Ups in Washington
Photo showing a pile up in southeast Washington Saturday.(Twitter/BentonFire1PIO)
In southeast Washington early Saturday evening, Benton Fire District 1 Officer Devin Helland tweeted that state route 221 was completely shutdown due to a multi-vehicle accident and reported “lots of blowing dust around the area.”
The National Weather Service reported that a total of 20 cars were involved, and that the accident led to one death and multiple injuries. Visibility was very low due to blowing dust where the pile-up occurred between the towns of Prosser and Paterson.
Smoke from a grass fire near the highway added to the poor visibility, the Tri-City Herald reports.
According to the Herald, Washington State Patrol troopers responded to an earlier accident, also caused by dust, on Interstate 82, about five miles west of Benton City. A multi-vehicle pileup resulted from three drivers running into the back of a fourth vehicle, who had reduced speed due to low visibility from dust blowing across the highway.
The NWS reported 13 cars were utlimately involved. Wind gusts up to 50 mph and near-zero visibility from blowing dust was reported in the area at the time.
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