Multi Car Pileup on I-44 in Oklahoma

Fox News ^ | 02-23-03 | chantal7

[guitar Josh]

Uh, Rodney…People in Oklahoma can’t drive when it’s 75 and sunny. I have never seen drivers as bad or as inconsiderate as the drivers in Oklahoma.

[TEXOKIE]

Hi PhiKapMom! Up here near the Kansas border, we are snowed in! Easily it's a foot at our house. I used to live in Norman years ago, and was consistently amazed at that snow-north-of-I240. Didnt always work, but very often it did.

[KC Burke]

This ol' Kansas City boy remembers staying the night in Oklahoma City once while making a trip to Dallas. That was in the days when south I-35 ran out of town in a lowered underpass type road cut.

There was a torrential rain storm with nearby tornados hitting apartments within a few miles of where I stayed. Went to leave and the roads had flash flooded and embankments had washed into the road drainage storm sewers and stopped them up. The sun had come out and the Oklahoma red mud had already started to dry, all this while the roads were awash with mud and stalled traffic. It was the literal happening of that great quotation we Kansas and Missouri people are always saying about Oklahoma:

Oklahoma, the one place where you can stand in the mud up to your ankles and have dust blow in your face.

...and we did.

We have about an inch or two on the north edge of KC but twenty five miles south of town, and beyond, they have six to eight.

[PhiKapMom]

I know that feeling well about 4-way stops and we have so many of them!

[PhiKapMom]

This guy got mad at me for calling the cops but it was the best thing I could do. Several witnesses told the Norman police what had happened because he tried to tell the cop that I was speeding and he stopped and didn't see me. Some guy got really mad at him and called him a liar.

[PhiKapMom]

We heard that I-35 near the Kansas border was closed and that the Univ of Kansas basketball team may have had to stay here in Norman for the night after losing to the Sooners!

Last year when they had the big ice storm, we had no ice here in Norman but right at the Moore border it started. Really strange. A couple of years ago we had the snow and they didn't have near as much just north of us.

[I'm ALL Right!]

I have never seen drivers as bad or as inconsiderate as the drivers in Oklahoma.

I guess you've never been to Los Angeles.

[I'm ALL Right!]

Accident on Will Rogers Turnpike shuts down highway for a time Sunday

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Authorities say at least two people were hurt in a 30-car pileup on Interstate 44 near the Oklahoma-Missouri border Sunday.

Oklahoma Transportation Authority spokeswoman Michelle Paul says a chain-reaction occurred about 12:30 p.m. when several cars driving into blizzard conditions on I-44 collided.

Other vehicles crashed into accident, including a semi that jackknifed and went over a concrete barrier wall into the eastbound lanes.

Paul says the truck landed on a vehicle with two people inside. Crews freed the pair and they were taken to a hospital, but their conditions weren't immediately known.

Paul says dozens of motorists are stranded along a stretch of the highway between milemarkers 309 and 313. Troopers and road crews have been unable to divert them because there aren't any exits nearby.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

You all call this snow? Wy I remember back in 1960 it started snowing in mid November '59 and when we pulled out for my beloved N.M. in late Feb it was still snowing.

And who can forget 1968! Now, that was a snow! That lying Don Woods Ktul 8 weasther man said it would be just a dry front! Well, It wasn't!
1977 was rough also.
Got 5 inches on the ground here in NW Ark now.

Lived in NE OK and Ark.

[2Jedismom]

We moved here from south of Houston (West Columbia?) in 1997...in September. That next month in October, we got 8" of snow (in Sapulpa). I swear, I went crazy! I couldn't believe my eyes!

One time, when I was a kid, back in the 70s and we lived in Alvin, it "sleeted" about an inch and they shut the school down for the day. It was the only wintery precipitation I ever saw and it was very exciting. Then I move here and several times a year it snows.

I personally love it.

[guitar Josh]

I guess you've never been to Los Angeles.

Actually, I’m from Orange County. The drivers out there are much better than they are in Oklahoma.

[2Jedismom]

We only got a couple of inches here in S. Tulsa...it would melt the minute it touched the roads, so it didn't really accumulate there, but everything is really really soaked. Now the temps are going to drop into the teens...I worry about my husband driving to work in the morning.

[ghostkatz]

Hey, I remember that same weather report out of Tulsa in 1968...They said clear and fair....next thing we knew was the sudden and major snowstorm that happened. All the way from Tulsa to most of NW/N Central Akansas. Got to stay home from school several days here in NW ARK!! That weather report stayed the butt of jokes for years around here. Have about 4" of snow from this latest storm...The snow covered the ground here in about 30 minutes w/ flakes as big as ping pong balls. The wind was blowing like a hurricane at times. This is about the 5th snow event this winter not counting the ice storms.I don't want to risk getting flamed commenting on Okie driving.....

[trussell]

Could someone please come claim this junk and get it outa here?

I would like to claim it, could you just redirect it towards Colorado?

We are in draught. They are saying we will not be allowed to water our yards, or plant new grass, flowers, or gardens. Anyone caught planting or watering will face consequences.

[Mad-Margaret]

You've got that right!

Michigan has got to be the only state where they break for green lights. I have never seen such stupid drivers in my life.

[Mad-Margaret]

B-R-A-K-E!

I've been in this state too long....

[Bad~Rodeo]

Pass the sun-tan lotion, would ya?....L~

[MeekOneGOP]

Well, the DMN finally figured it out ...

Storm causes 30-car pileup

2 hurt, dozens stranded hours as snow blankets Oklahoma roadways

02/24/2003

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY - A powerful winter storm dumped 10 to 20 inches of snow on northern Oklahoma on Sunday, causing a 30-vehicle pileup that injured at least two people and stranded dozens for hours, authorities said.

A chain-reaction accident occurred about 1 p.m. when several cars driving into blizzard conditions on westbound Interstate 44 collided between Afton and Miami, said Michelle Paul, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Transportation Authority.

"A semi was trying to stop to avoid the pileup and couldn't, and ended up jackknifing and going over the concrete barrier wall, westbound to eastbound, where he landed on a passenger car, pinning two people inside," Ms. Paul said.

Emergency crews were able to free the pair, but their conditions were not immediately known, she said.

Two more semis smashed into the other wrecked cars, Ms. Paul said. There were no immediate reports of other injuries in the pileup.

AP

Bill Graves of Miami, Okla., stocked up on groceries before the snow got too deep Sunday. About 12 inches had fallen by late evening.

There were no immediate reports of fatalities.

Road crews and state troopers were unable to divert other motorists off the interstate because the accident occurred on a stretch of road where there are no exits, Ms. Paul said.

"We have Oklahoma Transportation Authority personnel monitoring people to make sure they don't run out of gas," she said.

Jeff York, 33, of Joplin, Mo., told the Joplin Globe he was headed for San Antonio to visit family when he encountered blowing snow that limited visibility.

"Suddenly everyone was moving real slowly, and then it stopped and that's where we've been," said Mr. York, who estimated he had been stranded for five hours. "I didn't even realize I had passed the Miami exit until a woman next to me told me."

Ms. Paul and other authorities warned motorists to avoid the turnpike and all unnecessary travel in the region, which received as much as 16 inches of snow.

The slick roads, drifting snow and poor visibility caused more accidents and road closures in other parts of northern Oklahoma.

And about 1,500 people were without power in western Oklahoma City and El Reno, utility officials said.

Ponca City reported up to a foot of snow and below-freezing temperatures.

"I haven't seen it this bad before," said Larry Kitchens, a dispatcher for Ponca City fire and police.

"I've been here since 1977, and this is pretty bad."

"We've had an ambulance, a fire truck and a police car get stuck," Mr. Kitchens said. A jackknifed semi shut down northbound and southbound Interstate 35 near Stillwater for more than hour, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Officials closed Oklahoma State Highway 23 in northern Beaver County because of drifting snow and road closings in Kansas. U.S. 283 and U.S. 183 in northern Oklahoma also were closed to northbound traffic because of road closures in Kansas.

---

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/tsw/stories/022403dntexokstorms.10f6f.html

[savedbygrace]

I would like to claim it, could you just redirect it towards Colorado?

Be glad to do it. If my gronticification unit is working next time the storms roll through. It's been giving me a lot of trouble lately. I suspect government interference.

But that's OK, 'cause I've written to Mel Gibson about buying one of those neato hats he and the kids were wearing in that last movie of his. I think I can modify it to fit the gront.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***I am sick to death of this winter. When I first see a jonquil coming up (I don't care in whose yard) I
am going to kneel down and thank the Lord. ***


They're here! In NW Ark in my front yard, under the snow!