Snow showers result in numerous traffic accidents
Numerous traffic accidents occurred throughout the area Tuesday afternoon when snow showers and flurries reduced visibility and made road slippery, but no serious injuries were reported.
Multiple snow-related accidents involving numerous vehicles had Interstate 70 tied up in both directions between the Bentleyville and Speers exits, state police at the Belle Vernon barracks reported. No other details were available Tuesday evening.
The eastbound lanes of I-70 were closed for a time beginning around 3:30 p.m. as were the northbound lanes of I-79 between the Marianna/Prosperity exit and the US 19 – Amity/Lone Pine exit due to a multiple-vehicle accident at 4:30 p.m., according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Washington County seemed to get the worst of the snow and the accidents.
The county got 5 inches of snow, while the rest of the area got 3-4 inches, said Mike Fries, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh. More snow fell in higher elevations, he said.
Washington County’s emergency dispatch center received reports of nearly 150 accidents, according to a supervisor.
When accident reports began pouring in at 1:30 p.m., the center initiated “storm mode” in which extra dispatchers were called in and non-emergency calls were switches to non-emergency channels, the supervisor said.
“At that point, we were overwhelmed,” the supervisor said.
He said none of the accidents resulted in fatalities or major injuries, and all the closed road had been re-opened by 6 p.m.
Elsewhere, snow squalls caused accidents throughout the Mon Valley.
One car was towed from the 400 block of East Main Street in Monongahela after it slid on snow-covered road.
In addition, two vehicles were towed after collided at the intersection of Hill and West Main streets in New Eagle.
Several Charleroi Area school buses were stuck on Coyle Curtin Road in Fallowfield Township.
Southwest Regional Police Chief John Hartman said one vehicle flipped on its side on Airport Road in Union Township and a tractor-trailer stuck on the hill in Newell Road.
Some of the heaviest snow fell mid-afternoon as school districts were preparing to transport students home for the day.
The Yough School District delayed dismissal by roughly two hours because roads throughout the district were “horrendous,” Superintendent Dr. Janet Sardon said.
“There’s accidents everywhere, so that’s why we felt it was important for the students safety to delay the buses,” Sardon said.
Belle Vernon Area’s 25 school buses and its 13 vans were able to deliver students home safely despite the hours-long traffic backups through North Belle Vernon and Rostraver as a result of the multi-vehicle accident on I-70 that bisects the school district, several accidents on local roads and vehicles having trouble climbing hills.
“Everybody made it home a little late but safe,” BVA Transportation Manager Dave Bashada said. “We had a special needs van stuck along Route 981 near Southmoreland Intermediate School. A parent with a four-wheel drive vehicle arrived on the scene and picked up the child.”
For a while, five of BVA’s vans carrying special needs students were stuck in the I-70 stoppage. State police from the Belle Vernon barracks responded and guided the vans to local, alternate roads.
When the first blast of snow arrived, the Rostraver Police Department called Bashada and advised him it was not a good idea to send out buses because of dangerous road conditions. So school officials delayed the first wave of dismissals at BVA High School by 25 minutes. This set back the next round of dismissals at BVA Middle School and then two elementary schools, but parents were notified of the delays by way of the school’s phone alert system.
“Two waves of sometimes blinding snow hit us at the worst possible time,” BVA Superintendent Dr. John Wilkinson said. “Our transportation department met the challenge in the best possible way.”
The snow caused school bus delays in Fayette County, according to a 911 dispatch center supervisor
Two school buses were involved in separate accidents, but no injuries were reported. One occurred in German Township and one in Luzerne Township.
There were a lot of accidents in the county, but most were minor and resulted in minor or no injuries, according to the supervisor.
Accidents were reported in Greene County, but none was serious, according to state police.
Some accidents occurred in Westmoreland County, but most were minor fender benders or involved vehicles sliding off roads, according to the emergency dispatch center.
School buses were involved in two separate accidents in the county, but no injuries were reported. Several buses that were not carrying students were involved in a multiple vehicle accident near Yough High School and a bus with student on board was involved in an accident in Salem Township, according to the dispatch center.
Most of the snow fall in the area ended by 7 p.m. when a winter weather advisory issued by the National Weather Service ended, but temperatures were expected to plummet to below freezing with wind chills making it even colder by this morning.
“The big news is the wind chills. Over night toward morning, it will probably go down toward 0 to 5 below or so,” Fries said.
Today’s high temperature will be a chilly 20 degrees, according to the forecast.