Less than 20 miles from us

[Shoestring]

This major crash is less than 20 miles from us, in our county, State Patrol is still cleaning up the mess, probably all throughout the day tomorrow as well

http://www.channel3000.com/news/14989363/detail.html

MADISON, Wis. -- Two people were killed and dozens more were hurt after about 100 vehicles collided into each other on Interstate 90 outside of Madison on Sunday, according to the Wisconsin State Patrol.

Area hospitals reported that about 54 people were taken to Madison area after the massive pileup in the eastbound lane near the Sigglekow Road to the Badger Interchange. Authorities said that the pileup was actually two incidents, concentrated near the 143 and 146 mile markers on I-90, affecting a roughly five-mile span.

Dane County Sheriff's Lt. Dan Bolch said earlier Sunday afternoon that the crash might have involved somewhere between 30 to 50 vehicles. State Patrol officials said on Sunday night the number of cars involved in the pileup included about 100 cars, WISC-TV reported.

Bolch said that the crashes appear to be fog-related. Law enforcement agents and emergency workers are still trying to sort everything out, he said.

Authorities said that the crash apparently began as some drivers began to slow down as fog rolled in. Then, other drivers didn't see traffic slowing and vehicles began to ram into each other in a domino effect, WISC-TV reported.

The Wisconsin State Patrol said that the pileup began at about 2:23 p.m.

Madison Fire Department spokesman Eric Dahl said that crashes continue to happen on the foggy highway even as emergency workers work to clear the road and move the injured to hospitals.

About 10 agencies from around the region responded to the crash with nearly 75 to 100 emergency workers, not including police officers.

Some emergency workers said that the pileup looked like a war zone.

Interstate 90 has been shut down in both directions where the crashes occurred as authorities continue to help the injured, rescue the stranded and clean up.

Madison Metro buses were taking some victims to nearby hotels and Red Cross and the Salvation Army were assisting.

Authorities said that accident reconstruction people are at the scene to piece together how the pileup occurred.

The State Patrol is advising travelers to take alternate routes.

The National Weather Service said that the fog is expected to linger into Monday morning.

Madison Area Hospitals Respond To Pileup

Four Madison area hospitals reported that they received victims of the pileup, including University of Wisconsin Hospital, Meriter Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital and Stoughton Hospital, WISC-TV reported.

UW Hospital officials said that the crash victims in the most critical conditions were taken there. They said that they received eight total victims between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., with one listed in critical condition and seven listed in serious condition as of 6 p.m.

Officials said that the hospital's multi-victim trauma and emergency plans both went into effect, which called for more staff to treat the victims.

"Every hospital, including this one, drills emergency plans," said UW Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette. "We drill our plan at least twice a year so that people know where they're expected to be, how they're expected to behave and what duties and tasks they're expected to perform."

Meriter officials said that they received 11 victims, most with minor injuries. They said that five of the victims walked in. They said that they didn't enact their disaster plan as they had enough staff.

"With the accident happening at 3 p.m., that's a traditional shift change time at hospitals, so we were able to have everybody just hold and have the day staff stay and the p.m.'s were coming in and everybody just held tight," said Meriter Hospital spokeswoman Mae Knowles.

Stoughton Hospital officials said that they received nine victims. They said that seven of them were treated and released while two will be held overnight. The extent of those victims' injuries weren't immediately known.

The hospital did activate its disaster plans, which brought in 40 extra staff members, WISC-TV reported.

St. Mary's Hospital received about 20 victims, officials said. About 10 ambulances -- some carrying multiple victims -- arrived at the hospital. Officials said that half of those who arrived were discharged by early Sunday evening.

"We had about 10 to 12 ambulances come by the hospital between 3 and 6:30 p.m. each carrying about two to four people, so that's a large number for an emergency department to be dealing with," said St. Mary's spokesman Steve VanDinter.

Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.

[Shoestring]

Another link, has vidoe and pictures

http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/13486922.html

[k-9max]

Wow, Its terrible that 2 lives were lost, but all in all, it could have been alot worse than what it was.

[Willowdared]

That is a sucky stretch of road!

When we drove back to Wisconsin from Cali, there were accidents coming thru and when we went back again!

[suellen446]

i hate driving in fog, i always have visions of just such a thing happening

[Beans]

I can't even imagine how you would write that report.

[Shoestring]

Only two cars fit on a mv4000 report so you would have many supplement pages

[Twan007]

wow... that is one impressive wreck... i don't think i'd even know where to start =/

[CTR man]

WOW!!! We get fog all the time, such as this, here in the San Joaquin Valley in Central CA but I can't imagine fog coupled with snow. We have had our fair share of wrecks such as this, due to the fog and speed of traffic.