Drivers struggle in storm

PAYSON — Crude oil and shredded car parts covered fresh snow near Exit 250 Monday after several gargantuan pileups involving 12 semi trucks and 30 cars shut down a portion of I-15.

Police estimate the initial wrecks occurred on both sides of I-15 around 11:45 a.m., Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Richard Nielson said, then other cars and semi trucks piled on in domino-like fashion.

"People were going too fast and following too close for the conditions," he said. The white-knuckle conditions are not over, either, as forecasters predict another storm will make Wednesday morning's commute a mess.

Although a total of 12 semitrucks and 30 cars were involved Monday's chain-reaction collisions, there were no fatalities, Nielson said. EMTs rushed 18 of the accident victims to Mountain View Hospital and another nine were taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

Only one person's status was reported as serious to critical, Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Cameron Roden said, but that person is expected to recover.

The pileup was one of more than 290 crashes handled by the troopers in Salt Lake and Utah counties alone. The Utah Highway Patrol reported 241 crashes and 43 slide-offs in Salt Lake County. In Utah County, 51 crashes and 21 slide-offs were reported.

At least one traffic fatality was reported. A 34-year-old woman was killed in a one-car accident in Tooele County, Roden said. Slick conditions caused the woman's vehicle to roll into a wash where she was pronounced dead at the scene, Roden said.

The storm swept across Utah accompanied by high winds, which created blizzard-like conditions.

"Every major freeway in the state at some point closed today," said Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Nile Easton.

He said I-215, I-15, I-80 and US-6 all had some temporary closures due to either accidents or low visibility. Other road closures were reported from St. George to Brigham City.

The steady deluge of crashes taxed the resources of emergency responders and, even hours after the crashes near Payson, the aftermath was still in the clearing stages.

Crews were especially concerned with clearing the northbound lane of an estimated 600 gallons of spilled crude oil, Nielson said. The oil tanker from D&A McRae LLC sprung a leak when a truck from a Santaquin greenhouse skidded into the tank and punched a 50-cent-piece sized hole, he said. The oil poured from the 3,400 tanker and pooled in an opaque reservoir on the asphalt.