14 DAY TRIAL // A dust storm prompted a pile-up on the I-10 in Arizona and three people died in multiple collisions. The highway was closed down near Picacho Peak.
"Backup abt 10 miles in each direction for the closure on I-10 near Picacho Peak. No estimated time to reopen. Avoid the area!!" the Arizona DOT tweeted about five hours ago.
One hour ago, they alerted drivers that the I-10 is now open in both directions. However, traffic is very slow.
A dozen more people were injured when several vehicles slammed into each other near milepost 214.
The Department of Public Safety mentions that motorists have not pulled over when noticing the dust rise up, and a chain effect was created.
"It looks like one big event right now but in reality its probably a series of collisions. So you may have collisions one and two that became part of three and four," DPS Capt. Brian Preston says.
KPHO details that 19 vehicles have been involved in the crash, ten of which are semitrailers. Police have identified one casualty as 76-year-old Gordon Lee Smith of Mead, Washington.
"One truck hit another truck. Cars start piling into each other, and they pushed that one truck right into me and off to the side of the road.
"I couldn't see anything because the (dust) was so thick, but I could just hear it, 'Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,'" witness Henry Wallace recalls.
The Department of Public Safety informs that the crash took place at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, during extremely windy conditions.
"It’s very different than what we think of during the monsoon. In this case, a steady southwest wind created channels of dense, blowing dust.
"Unfortunately, one of those localized channels of dust ended up over a busy Arizona interstate," Chief Meteorologist Chris Dunn explains.