Big Crash Near Flagstaff, AZ

Whiteout conditions on a snowy I-40 (survivor testaments included in linked article):

Low visibility from blowing snow and slick roads led to multiple pileups involving more than 100 vehicles west of Flagstaff on Sunday, killing at least two people, seriously injuring 10 and sending a total of 53 people to the hospital.

The pileups happened on Interstate 40 about 3 miles west of Flagstaff near Bellemont shortly after noon, said Flagstaff Fire Department Battalion Chief Mark Wilson. A portion of Interstate 40, between milepost 171 to 190, was closed for up to nine hours. One of the accident victims was pronounced dead at the scene, while another died at FMC. No information on the deceased was available Sunday evening.

Four of the 10 listed as seriously injured required immediate surgery after being brought to FMC.

..."The magnitude of it was pretty severe," Wilson said. "We had a whiteout scene with the snow, and obviously a single-vehicle accident caused multiple-vehicle accidents, which continued to pile up due to the low visibility."

He said 15 people had to be extracted from their vehicles with hydraulic equipment or hand tools.

A total of 36 firefighters from Flagstaff, Summit and Highlands Fire Departments responded to the scene, providing emergency medical services to those injured in the pileups. No fires or hazardous material spills were reported, Wilson said.

The cause of the initial accident that led to chain reaction along both directions of the interstate is still under investigation, although unsafe speed was blamed as the primary cause for most of the collisions.

...National Weather Service meteorologist Clair Ketchum said whiteout conditions occurred off-and-on Sunday afternoon in the Flagstaff area and could occur overnight as a storm rolls across the state.

Ketchum said 3.8 inches of snow had fallen by 5 p.m. Sunday near where the collisions occurred.

...Jessica Naudziunas, 22, a University of Tulsa student, was on her way to California on spring break when she was caught in the middle of the pileup.

"Most of all you just heard brakes," she said via cellphone from the accident site, adding that she fishtailed in the slush but managed to stop without hitting anything.

It was only when she got out to look around that she realized the severity of the crashes directly in front of her and behind her.

"People were in shock -- they were crying," she said. "We were stepping in blood and oil."