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Staff take away closely broken autos from Interstate 55 close to Manchac, La., on Monday.
Brett Duke/The Occasions-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate through AP
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Brett Duke/The Occasions-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate through AP
Staff take away closely broken autos from Interstate 55 close to Manchac, La., on Monday.
Brett Duke/The Occasions-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate through AP
NEW ORLEANS — Not less than seven individuals have been killed after a “superfog” of smoke from south Louisiana marsh fires and dense fog brought about a number of huge automobile crashes Monday morning involving a complete of 158 autos, authorities mentioned.
Twenty-five individuals have been injured and the variety of fatalities might improve as first responders proceed to clear the crash scenes and seek for victims, Louisiana State Police mentioned in a press launch Monday night.
Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a name for blood donors and requested for prayers “for these harm and killed.”
Movies of the wreck confirmed what regarded like an limitless junkyard of vehicles overtaking the busy interstate close to the group of Manchac. Autos have been crushed, rammed below each other and a few have been engulfed by flames. Many individuals stood on the facet of the highway wanting in disbelief on the disastrous scene, whereas others remained of their automobile ready for help.
Christopher Coll, 41, was among the many drivers in one of many pileups.
“I used to be already on the brakes, slowing down when an F-250 drove up on high of my work trailer and took me for a journey,” Coll advised The Occasions-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.
Coll might scent smoke as he heard different drivers calling for assist and the sounds of crashing vehicles and popping tires. He was capable of kick open his passenger door to flee after which helped others — pulling out one particular person by a automobile window.
Clarencia Patterson Reed was additionally within the wave of wrecked vehicles as she drove to Manchac together with her spouse and niece. Reed advised The Occasions-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate mentioned that she might see individuals waving their arms for her to cease, however when she did her automobile was hit from behind and on the facet by two different autos.
“It was ‘Growth. Growth.’ All you stored listening to was crashing for not less than half-hour,” Reed mentioned. She was capable of scramble out of her automobile, however her spouse was pinned inside and injured her leg and facet.
Louisiana State Police shared aerial pictures on their Fb web page displaying dozens of crashed vehicles and intensive particles on each northbound and southbound lanes of the elevated interstate, which passes over swamp and open waters between lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas.
As of Monday afternoon, state troopers have been nonetheless working “to inform households, examine the precise causes of the crashes” and coordinate with the state’s transportation division to have the bridge inspected.
Site visitors backed up for miles in each instructions on I-55. The dearth of visibility additionally prompted closures of elements of I-10 and the 24-mile (39-kilometer) Lake Pontchartrain Causeway at instances.
Faculty buses have been summoned to move stranded motorists from the accident websites. At noon, state police advised reporters on the scene that one automobile went over the freeway guardrail and into the water, however the driver escaped unhurt.
On social media, the National Weather Service said there have been a number of wetland fires within the area. Smoke from the fires combined with fog to create a “superfog.” Visibility improved because the fog lifted, in accordance with the company. But it surely was unclear how lengthy the marsh fires, smoke from which might be seen and smelled within the New Orleans space over the weekend, could be an element.
The Occasions-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported a number of colleges in and close to New Orleans introduced class cancellations or delayed openings because of the smoke and fog. Smoke from the Bayou Sauvage City Nationwide Wildlife Refuge was thick sufficient that town introduced places the place free masks might be picked up in jap New Orleans and within the Algiers neighborhood on the west financial institution of the Mississippi River.
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