A crash involving 40 vehicles on an Iowa highway Thursday afternoon has left multiple people injured as the region continues to battle icy conditions.
The Iowa State Patrol said the crash occurred near the city of Newton, around 35 miles east of Des Moines, just before noon, NBC News reported. The accident took place within the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80, authorities told the outlet.
Photos from the scene show the vehicles, including several large trucks, blocking the roadway and off to the sides. In one image, shared by CBS News, a semi-truck is shown on its side, appearing to have damaged sections of two patrol vehicles under its weight.
The Iowa State Patrol posted a video of the scene from a KCCI viewer shared with the station, writing on Facebook, "Troopers were not injured, and are going vehicle to vehicle to check on occupants. A few serious injuries and several minor injuries."
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At Least Four Deaths and Major Pileups Among Devastation as Winter Storm Pummels Northeast
"Expect long delays as we and law enforcement partners assess the impacts and the roadway gets cleared," the authorities added.
Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla told NBC affiliate WHO Thursday that the incident is "telling us vehicles are traveling way too fast for the conditions and whenever some incident is happening in front of them … they're unable to slow down in time."
"That's what we see here is the commercial motor vehicle truck traffic just could not get stopped in time and had this chain reaction crash," Dinkla added.
The accident occurred around the time the Iowa Department of Transportation cautioned residents against travel, as the north and central areas of the state were experiencing their second winter storm.
The first major snow storm of 2021, Orlena, hit the Northeast and Midwest United States on Feb. 1, dumping nearly two feet of snow in some cities.
In December, at least four people died and major devastation occurred as a result of a crash involving dozens of vehicles, as a giant snowstorm rolled through Northeast.
Pennsylvania state police confirmed to multiple outlets, including The New York Times, that the individuals who died were part of a massive pileup on Clinton County's Interstate 80, which involved between 30 and 60 vehicles, according to Fox News.
Authorities also told the Times that another man had died after being accidentally struck by a municipal snowplow in western Pennsylvania. Additionally, in a Virginia car crash, a 19-year-old man was killed, a Virginia State Police spokesperson told the Times.
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