Tule Fog results in Pile up on SR99 in CA...

Two killed, dozens injured in massive pileup on Highway 99

By GARANCE BURKE
11/03/07 12:50:05



At least two people were killed and dozens more were injured in a massive pileup of as many as 100 vehicles on a foggy freeway Saturday morning, the California Highway Patrol said.
At least nine big rigs were involved in the collision on Northbound Highway 99 just south of Fresno as patches of dense fog obscured visibility on the heavily traveled roadway, CHP officials said.
A 6-year-old boy and a 28-year-old man traveling in separate vehicles were killed in the chain-reaction collisions around 7:45 a.m. , said CHP Officer Paul Solorzano, Jr., who described it as one of the Central Valley's worst freeway crashes in years.
"It looked like something out of a movie, walking up and seeing all the cars mangled and crushed," Solorzano said.
Rescuers had to extract several people trapped in the wreckage, and paramedics transported more than three dozen patients to the hospital with injuries, Fresno City Fire Department spokesman Ken Shockley said.
The freeway's northbound lanes around Clovis Avenue were shut down indefinitely as investigators worked to determine the cause of the crash. Traffic backed up for miles south of the wreckage. Southbound lanes remained opened.
Authorities said no hazardous materials were spilled.
Hours after the accident, the freeway was littered with smashed cars and trucks, broken gas, auto parts and blood. A big rig carrying stacked crates of live turkeys was stranded on the normally busy highway.
Crash victims sat near the wreckage, waiting to be interviewed by investigators.
Cindy Ramirez, 21, of Selma, said her purple Mazda pickup truck was rear-ended as she was driving to her job washing windows in Shaver Lake.
"Everybody was trying to miss everybody, but it was impossible not to get hit," Ramirez said. "I'm fine physically, but I keep thinking about all of the things that could have happened."
Omar Macias, 33, was hauling asphalt from Bakersfield to Elk Grove when his truck was caught in the pileup.
"I got out to check on people at first, and then I heard more crashes around me, so I got right back in," said Macias of Bakersfield. "I feel OK but I don't what OK means right now, people got hurt."
Thick seasonal fog known as "Tule fog" typically occurs in Central California in the late fall and winter. A stretch of Highway 99 several miles south was the scene of an autumn 74-car pileup nearly a decade ago that left two people dead. "There was probably two-foot visibility in the fog when I got here. It was really bad," said Mike Bowman, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "It looked like chaos. Cars were backed up on top of each other."
Associated Press Writer Marcus Wohlsen contributed to this report from San Francisco.

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This roadway is STILL closed. Please take the Clovis exit to Golden State and then back to 99. This is CLOSED between Clovis Ave and Chestnut Ave.

 

SR99 is still closed. Be careful folks. If you can avoid the area completely, I-5 is a better route for right now, but thick fog is expected there tonite also.

 

Thank God for small favors. It was a bloody mess up there!

SR99 is now open and flowing freely.