4 killed in 46-car pileup in Ohio as weather upends holiday

12/25/2022

4 killed in 46-car pileup in Ohio as weather upends holiday.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol said it responded to a crash Friday afternoon in the eastbound lanes of the Ohio Turnpike in Erie County.

Authorities said the crash was a result of “white-out conditions” that left dozens of vehicles, including at least 15 commercial trucks, mangled and piled up on the snowy interstate.

Photos released by the highway patrol show crumpled 18-wheelers and cars backed up for miles, with some stuck in the median.

Sgt. Ryan Purpura of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said in a video posted to Twitter late Friday that four people had died, with many injured from the pileup. The names of the victims were not released, and authorities did not specify how many were injured.

“This is a stark reminder of what can happen when you get behind the wheel and try to drive in bad weather conditions,” Purpura said in the video. “We ask that you do not travel unless you absolutely have to. If you do have to travel, we ask that you take precautions, take it slow, be patient, wear your safety belt and increase your following distance.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) echoed authorities in urging people to stay off the road.

“Our sympathy goes to those families who have lost a loved one during this severe weather situation in Ohio,” he said in a statement. “Please continue to remain home if at all possible and be vigilant with these extremely dangerous road conditions.

The fatal pileup in Ohio was an effect of a winter storm that the National Weather Service has described as “once in a generation” and is expected to carve out a 2,000-mile path across much of the country through the Christmas weekend.

Despite more than 200 million Americans being under alerts for potentially hazardous weather in their area, many travelers who defied suggestions to stay home and faced flight cancellations, road closures and train and bus systems that had shut down.

Nearly 6,000 U.S. flights were canceled Friday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Roughly 1,800 U.S. flights scheduled for Saturday had been canceled as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, according to FlightAware

Source {Msn}