June 11, 2013
By Michelle Rindels
Twenty-seven vehicles slammed (click here) into each other during a sandstorm that blinded drivers on Interstate 80 in rural northern Nevada, killing a truck driver, seriously injuring several other people and sapping already thin emergency resources, officials said.
Humboldt County sheriff's dispatchers called in virtually every medical, law enforcement and fire worker in the sparsely populated area after drivers reported "near-apocalyptic" conditions Monday evening on I-80 at Winnemucca, according to officials at Humboldt General Hospital there. A mine rescue crew also assisted, and a charter bus was used to transport victims who were uninjured.
"It was kind of surreal," said Jared Oscarson, captain of clinical services at the hospital, describing a curtain of blowing dirt that at times hid the crash scene from rescuers' sight. "There was kind of just chaos and destruction everywhere."...
Looking for previous dust storms in Nevada there is this in the Library of Congress from 1940.Date Created/Published: 1940 Mar. (click here)
There was one in 2004 found by NASA.
A fierce dust storm blew across northwestern Nevada on April 28, 2004, with winds that gusted up to 70 mph. This image of the blowing dust, which reduced visibility to nearly zero in some places,...
I believe there was a person killed in that pile up a couple of days ago. I hope that didn't happen because there was little to no emergency response able to reach them.
Kind of scary to think there is such weather conditions that can actually disturb the best plans of emergency services.
Ravi Dyer, 51, from Chicago, killed when his truck rear-ended vehicle. (click here)
