A Michigan highway was closed Monday after more than 100 vehicles were involved in a car crash as winter weather has affected the state, according to multiple reports.
The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office revealed that the highway, I-96, is “closed in both directions between exit 62 to Hudsonville and exit 55 to Zeeland,” according to WOODTV.
Per the outlet, “crashes began around 10:20 a.m.” The sheriff’s office predicted that the highway would “likely remain closed for several hours”:
The crashes began around 10:20 a.m.
“Deputies were dispatched after receiving multiple reports of numerous crashes and slide-offs in the area,” the sheriff’s office said in a release. “The incident also includes several jack-knifed semi-trucks.”
Roughly between “nine to 12 people” were reported to have been injured as a result of the car crash. The people who were injured were reported to have been taken to hospitals.
FOX Weather drone footage of the massive car crash posted to social media showed a large number of semi-trucks and smaller vehicles piled up on the highway, which was covered in snow.
One person, Pedro Mata told the Detroit News that he “was near the front of the chain-reaction,” and that he had been driving “about 30 mph when he noticed several trucks in front of him swerving and slowing down.”
Mata, who was among the “uninjured drivers” explained that he “drove to the left of the median and went into the ditch,” according to the outlet.
Another person, Clair Beach-Paver told the outlet that she had been “driving from Hudsonville to Holland, several hours before the crash,” and that she had been going roughly 20 mph “the whole way.”
“It was white out most the way,” Beach-Paver added. “I counted at least 11 cars in the ditch on my drive.”
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