Two children and four adults were killed in a car crash on a Montana highway late Friday after a dust storm severely reduced visibility.
According to the Associated Press, 21 vehicles — including six semi-trucks — were involved in the accident, which occurred as winds raging at 60 miles per hour drove a dust cloud that caused drivers to lose control.
A dust storm led to a massive pileup on a Montana interstate. https://t.co/BKUKBYLeJl pic.twitter.com/Fl00rGS9sf
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 16, 2022
Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Jay Nelson characterized the incident as among the worst he has seen in his 24 years of work, adding that the storm reduced visibility to near-zero during rush hour traffic. “Everything is indicative of an isolated extreme weather event,” Nelson said, per the AP. “What could people do? It really was just panic.”
Hundreds of vehicles were backed up for miles on Interstate 90, according to The Billings Gazette. National Weather Service meteorologist Nick Vertz told the outlet that storms began appearing early in the afternoon and moved eastward.
“If they looked up in the sky while they’re in Hardin, they probably didn’t see much of what you’d think of for a thunderstorm cloud, maybe not even much at all,” Vertz explained. “It was just a surge of wind that kind of appeared out of nowhere.”
According to the National Weather Service, dust storms most commonly occur in the American Southwest, often arriving “suddenly in the form of an advancing wall of dust and debris which may be miles long and several thousand feet high.”
“They strike with little warning, making driving conditions hazardous,” the agency says. “Blinding, choking dust can quickly reduce visibility, causing accidents that may involve chain collisions, creating massive pileups. Dust storms usually last only a few minutes, but the actions a motorist takes during the storm may be the most important of his or her life.”
Ariel Dehart told CNN that she drove by the accident moments after it occurred. “The visibility was so poor and scary,” Dehart said. “The air was warm and eerie. It was like wearing sepia-colored glasses. It was so crazy.”
Dehart, who was driving in the westbound lane, recounted seeing a camper torn open by the accident.
“When I saw the ripped-open camper, my gut dropped,” she said. “But the owner just was frantically putting his decorative pillows back in the camper, and it was so sad because he was obviously so in over his head with what just happened.”
Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) mourned the accident. “I’m deeply saddened by the news of a mass casualty crash near Hardin,” he said on social media. “Please join me in prayer to lift up the victims and their loved ones. We’re grateful to our first responders for their service.”
“The Montana Highway Patrol is on the scene with other first responders and investigating the incident,” Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R-MT) added in a statement. “We will release more information as it becomes available and is appropriate out of respect of the lives lost and their loved ones.”
If a dust storm occurs, the National Weather Service recommends that drivers pull off the highway, engage the emergency brake, and turn off the lights. Drivers are also advised to avoid stopping on the traveled portion of the highway and, if it is impossible to exit the roadway, to drive slowly while occasionally honking the horn.