Morning snow leads to serious multi-vehicle crash, closures
A quick blast of winter weather caused major problems on Iowa highways Saturday, including a 70-plus car pileup on Interstate 35 south of Huxley.
The accident forced the closure of I-35 in both directions between Exit 96 near Alleman and Exit 102 near Huxley, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. A KCCI viewer sent photos of the pileup, and traffic was at a standstill.
“Everybody just yelled brace in the car, and we were up against the wires,” said Scott Wilson, of Cedar Rapids. “We got hit two or three different times.”
Iowa State Patrol officials said the chaos started around 10 a.m. because of low visibility in the winter weather.
Sgt. Nathan Ludwig said drivers were traveling too fast and too close to the person in front of them.
“It only takes one car to spin out and crash into the cable barrier, come back into the travel portion,” he said.
Ludwig said there were serious injuries. Officials advised drivers to steer clear of the area as emergency response crews worked the scene.
One person was flown to a central Iowa hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.
“Just unbelievable these quick little half-inch snows (make) things get out of hand,” Wilson said. “It was snowing when we left Ames. We were just coming down the road, and everybody was moving maybe just 45 mph or 50 mph. Nobody was going crazy at all, and then all of a sudden, everything went tail lights.
“Then you look in the rearview mirror and there were two semis coming, and they went right through the middle.”
Crews were able to clean up the mess within two areas because there was a staging area at a nearby rest stop filled with tow trucks.
Ludwig said the crash – similar to one about two weeks ago near Ames in which 50-70 cars piled up, resulting in one death and five critical injuries – serves as a reminder for Iowans to look ahead, slow down and adjust to the driving conditions.
“That is the biggest thing because now the sun’s out, the pavement’s wet, and two hours ago it was icy,” Ludwig said. “The driver I talked to said you couldn’t see more than two telephone poles down the road.”
Another crash happened at the same time as the I-35 pileup, forcing the closure of westbound lanes on I-80 near Colfax. That pileup included more than 20 cars. No injuries were reported to be life-threatening.