Blowing dirt between Arnot and Soncy caused multi-vehicle accidents closing I-40
By Billy Loftin
Saturday, April 04, 2009 at 7:31 p.m.
Read more: Local, Breaking, Community, Environment, Strange, Outdoors, Amarillo, Texas Panhandle, Dirt Storm, I 40 Closed
AMARILLO, TEXAS -- For folks driving through Amarillo Saturday, it was a slow dusty voyage. A wall of blowing dirt caused several multi-vehicle accidents, closing I-40 completely for several hours.
Just west of Amarillo between Arnot and Soncy saw the majority of the blowing dust, making visibility levels near zero.
"In that general area where these fields were the dirt was blowing so hard across I-40 visibility was down to about 10-15 feet, and as hard as the wind was blowing it's hard to keep those trucks and cars going down the highway, visibility was basically zero," Said Lt. Mike Goodson, Amarillo Fire Department.
The low visibility made it hard for emergency crews to get to the actual accidents, and with the addition of a truck fire in the middle of the storm, emergency crews had their hands full.
