Spring snowstorm leads to crashes, power outages

SALT LAKE CITY — A spring snowstorm made getting to the Conference Center tricky Sunday morning, particularly for those traveling from Utah County.

Just after 8 a.m., a vehicle slid out of control on northbound I-15 near 1200 West in Lehi, setting off a chain reaction of crashes and resulting in an eight- to 10-car pileup, said Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Ted Tingey.

"Luckily for us, we had only very minor injuries," Tingey said.

The crashes slowed traffic on northbound I-15 but didn't cause huge delays, he said. Motorists were able to exit the freeway at 1200 West, exit 282, and then get right back on.

About 9:30 a.m., seven cars were involved in two separate collisions on the westbound I-215 on-ramp from Union Park Avenue in Cottonwood Heights. Two people who got out of their cars during the incident were injured when other vehicles slid into the pileup, pushing the previously stationary cars forward.

UHP trooper Nolan Kerr said both people were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

"The best thing to do (when involved in an accident) is stay in your vehicle and wait for (law enforcement) to arrive, especially in weather like this," Kerr said. "When you get out, you just don't know what's going to happen next."

The pileup started when two cars collided atop the on-ramp while trying to avoid a stalled vehicle in the left emergency lane.

There were several other slide-offs and minor accidents along the Wasatch Front on Sunday morning, though no one was seriously injured, Tingey said.

More than 8 inches of snow had fallen in some areas of the valley by 8 a.m., according to the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City. Mountain areas, including Brighton, Snowbird and Alta, reported as much as a foot of new snow.

The Salt Lake Valley was the hardest hit, with areas of Sandy and West Jordan getting more than 8 inches of snow. In Salt Lake City, about 4 inches had fallen by 8 a.m.

The wet, heavy snow also led to power outages throughout the Salt Lake Valley. At one point overnight, nearly 29,000 people were without power, said Dave Eskelsen, Rocky Mountain Power spokesman.

Most of those outages were caused by interruptions to power lines connecting substations in the Millcreek and Olympus areas. Power to all but 9,000 homes had been restored by 7 a.m.