Scary.

[Buddy'sParents]

We used to live in the Central Valley which has the worst fog of California, hands down. My friend just told me about an 100 car pile up that happened this morning. I'm waiting to hear from some friends to be sure they weren't involved or are okay.

Link.

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."

 

[ACooper]

Oh goodness............that is horrible

I know fog can be a BAD thing to drive in. We have terrible fog here, we even have school delays for it. Last year or the one before there was a pretty bad pile up headed in to Chicago.

I hope your friends are all ok, and I hope the ones affected will pull through.

 

[LionWolf]

Oh god how awful.

Ive never heard of really bad fog before.

Sayin prayers for anyone involved.

 

[Gempress]

Most of my family lives in the Central valley area: Fresno, Reedley, Visalia, etc. They're all right, fortunately. But that's still insane.

Ive never heard of really bad fog before.

BP is right about the valley fog. If you're standing in the fog, you literally have problems seeing your hand in front of your face. You know how some schools close for snow days? The schools there have fog days.

The last time our family traveled to the valley for Christmas, we ran into the fog in the middle of the night. That was so scary. The only way to find our way was to go very slowly (with the passengers pointing our emergency flashlights out the windows to try and see) and stop whenever we saw something that looked like a road sign. Then one of the us would have to get out of the car, walk up to the sign, and get as close to the lettering as possible in order to read it. And even that was difficult.

I feel so bad for those people who were killed. But I guess it's a good thing it wasn't worse.

 

[Kase]

Wow thats terrible!

 

[Renee750il]

Those fog wrecks can be so devastating. There was a 125 car pileup like that near Chattanooga in 1992 that killed 4 people. THEN the highway department finally decided to put up some fog warning signals

 

[SarahFish]

I don't really know California or America, and the fog there, but a while ago our senior biology class went on a tramp and I understand the not being able to see your hand in front of your face. We were tramping along a mountain ridge and whilst we knew how steep the cliffs were we couldn't see them at all. It's so freaky!

 

[Babyblue5290]

Wow that's scary!!

 

[Aquavibe]

well i think fog wasn't the only factor that caused something like that... you always have to drive with low speed in foggy weather... and keep the distance from the one in front of you. so i'd say... there were 2 factors here: fog and reduced attention from drivers.

 

[noludoru]

Oh my god.. and I thought the fog here some mornings is bad. I hope all your friends are okay, BP.