50-Vehicle Crash During Blizzard Prompts I-75 Lockdown, 18 Are Injured

18 people have been injured after a 50-car collision on Interstate 75 in Ohio, reports say. Most of the crashes occurred between Monroe and Middletown. The victims are hospitalized and have not incurred life-threatening wounds.

A snowstorm caused limited visibility on the highway, before noon, Monday, January 21. The Interstate was locked down for a few hours after vehicles started piling up, but reopened later in the day.

Motorists, quoted by News Oxy, explained that weather conditions went from light snowing to a full-fledged blizzard in a matter of moments.

“For those criticizing people driving in the snow, this was a freak situation. Conditions went from dry and light flurries, to blizzard-like conditions (very low visibility, slick, etc.) in seconds. I had seconds to adjust and slide. We missed the pile up by 10 seconds,” Keith Clasgens writes on Facebook.

“We’ve been stopped on I-75S since noon,” he adds.

Latinos Post writes that drivers were dealing with a particularly icy road, apart from low to zero visibility conditions.

“It was complete ice all over the highway. [...] Cars were coming straight toward us at 60 miles per hour...We ended up getting hit head-on by a truck,” describes Luke Stevens, who was injured in the crash.

“All I could see were cars starting to swirl in front of me. As soon as I tapped my brakes my car started to kind of get out of control,” Jackie Jones, a second victim, details.

AccuWeather announced heavy snowfall in the Midwest and Northeast areas – “more weak, fast-moving snowstorms, and cold for the Midwest than previously forecast.”

“We'll have to watch for exploding, rapid development of storms at the last minute,” meteorologists tell us. Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. could also be hit by heavy snowfall.