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MORE ON THE DUST STORM WHICH KILLED 6 IN ILLINOIS
May 4, 2023
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| A view of vehicles in a dust storm, which cut visibility to near zero and triggered a series of chain-reaction crashes involving dozens of vehicles, on a highway in Springfield, Illinois, U.S. May 1, 2023, in this picture obtained from social media.
(Thomas DeVore via TMX/via REUTERS) |
By Tyne Morgan, AgWeb.com
A dust storm in Illinois on Monday caused a 72-car pile-up along I-55. Multiple fatalities were also reported. The Illinois State Police said Monday the pileups were caused by "excessive winds blowing dirt from farm fields across the highway, resulting in zero visibility."
The interstate remained shut down until Tuesday morning. Officials said the first crash was reported at 10:55 a.m. Monday in the northbound lanes near Milepost 76, just south of Springfield.
As more details came to light Tuesday, some reports blamed "freshly plowed fields and gusty winds" as the culprit of the dust storm. There were even calls for support for mandatory conservation practices.
USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says dust storms in the Midwest are unusual. But he says the incident in Illinois was sparked by the combination of bare soils in the spring, 55-plus mile per-hour winds and the direction of those winds coming across the highway. He called it an unfortunate "perfect storm," and one that more than likely wasn't preventable.
"Even in perfect conditions you can get and you know perfect practices, you can still get a situation where you have a very short window. If topsoil is dry, they can still blow," says Rippey. "So, I think it was a really unfortunate collision of events that happened yesterday between the strong storm, the angle of the wind, the condition of the fields and the dryness over the last month. There may be no way to really prevent that, and it's just a real tragedy. Hopefully, it's a one-off and we won't see anything else like this this spring."
To read the entire article and view videos click here.
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