Extreme weather conditions
At least seven dead in mass pile-up due to “super fog” in the USA
Aerial photo shows emergency responders near the wreckage after a pileup on the Interstate 55 Expressway in Manchac, Louisiana.
© Gerald Herbert / dpa
Extremely thick fog has led to a massive pile-up on a highway in the southern United States. At least seven people were killed. According to police, 158 cars were involved in the accident.
At least seven people were killed in an accident in dense fog involving a total of 158 vehicles in the US state of Louisiana. At least 25 other people were injured, some of them seriously. They are according to the A mass collision west of New Orleans on Monday (local time) was taken to hospitals, state police said. It is possible that more fatalities will be found. Part of the accident site on Interstate 55 caught fire, among other things because a tanker truck loaded with a dangerous liquid caught fire. As soon as the vehicle has been recovered, the situation can be better assessed.
Combination of fog and smoke
Photos released by police show a debris field of destroyed and pushed-into one another cars on both sides of the track. There were various accidents, as the US broadcaster CNN reported. In one, several trucks collided and burst into flames, the station quoted Mike Tregre, sheriff of Saint John the Baptist Parish, as saying. A vehicle was pushed over the guardrail on the interstate, but the occupants appeared to be OK. The rescue work would probably “take a while”.
The highway section runs between Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain. According to CNN, meteorologists spoke of a “super fog” that severely impaired visibility between the communities of Ruddock and Manchac on Monday morning at the time of the pile-up. The “incredibly dense fog” was caused by a combination of fog and smoke from nearby fires, according to the National Weather Service. The “super fog” is a particularly dense fog that develops under humid, smoky conditions and can reduce visibility to less than three meters, the National Weather Service said.
Unprecedented forest fires
Louisiana has been battling unprecedented wildfires, extreme heat and severe drought since the summer. Sixty-two percent of the state is experiencing exceptional drought, the highest category, CNN reported. The city of New Orleans said the lack of rain combined with the extreme heat of the summer had dried up wetlands and lowered groundwater levels. A fire being monitored in forested wetlands is burning on and below the surface.