»Read Standard Version«
Friday in southern Wisconsin, a large traffic pileup caused by winter weather injured dozens of people and stopped Interstate 39/90 for hours, according to police.
WIFR-TV reported that at least 27 persons were hospitalized for injuries sustained in the accident at Beloit Memorial Hospital. The broadcaster reported that the degree of their injuries was not immediately known.
State Patrol officers said that snow, ice, and whiteout conditions contributed to the accident.
Friday afternoon, the majority of southern Wisconsin remained under a winter weather advisory, with more snow forecast Saturday.
The accident occurred around 12:30 p.m. in Rock County between Janesville and Beloit, according to a Facebook post by the State Patrol. Both directions of the freeway were closed when the troopers arrived.
Troopers rerouted traffic onto secondary highways. The southbound lanes reopened shortly after 8 p.m. on Friday, the State Patrol announced on Twitter.
Just before 4:00 p.m., WIFR-TV broadcasted live footage of the area showing semitrailers backed up while emergency personnel aided vehicles.
As of 6 a.m. on Friday, the National Weather Service reported that 2.2 inches of snow had fallen in the Beloit region over the previous 24 hours.
The State Patrol stated in a separate statement that a second multi-vehicle collision occurred on northbound Interstate 41 in Kenosha County near the Wisconsin-Illinois state line around 1:30 p.m. on Friday.
The reopening of these lanes occurred at 7:35 p.m. According to the State Patrol, snow, ice, and whiteout conditions all played a role in this accident.
»Snow causes a major pileup in Wisconsin, injuring several«