(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.
Storm causes 30-car pileup
2 hurt, dozens stranded hours as snow blankets Oklahoma roadways
02/24/2003
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.
